Syd Goldsmith’s first taste of China’s Cultural Revolution is blood on his tongue.
It’s 1967. Hong Kong is simmering, plagued by communist-led riots and strikes, crippled transport, punishing water-rationing, takeover threats from Beijing and roadside bombs. And Syd — the only Caucasian Foreign Service Officer at the American Consulate General who speaks Cantonese — is made responsible for reporting and analysis of the Hong Kong government’s ability to survive.
The CIA station chief and the head of Macau’s gold syndicate play major roles in Syd’s story, along with Newsweek’s Sydney Liu and Maynard Parker, and a steady stream of inquiring foreign correspondents and China-watchers. Richard Nixon makes a cameo appearance — to talk football with Syd since the consul general won’t see him — in this riveting memoir of a year when Hong Kong’s “borrowed time” seemed about to expire.

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Table of contents
- About the author
- Title page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Epigraph
- Acknowledgements
- CHAPTER 1: Between Two Worlds
- CHAPTER 2: Serendipity
- CHAPTER 3: Musical Honeymoon
- CHAPTER 4: New Beginnings
- CHAPTER 5: Cat and Mouse
- CHAPTER 6: Goodbye Pravda
- CHAPTER 7: Amah Failure
- CHAPTER 8: Learning Cantonese
- CHAPTER 9: Hal Christie’s Parting Gifts
- CHAPTER 10: The Tricks They Try
- CHAPTER 11: Extravagant Invitations
- CHAPTER 12: Kam-lan
- CHAPTER 13: Political Apprentice
- CHAPTER 14: My First Chinese Wedding
- CHAPTER 15: Leisure Time
- CHAPTER 16: Tidbits
- CHAPTER 17: Richard Nixon, CODEL
- CHAPTER 18: Hong Kong Non-Politics
- CHAPTER 19: Macau Capitulates
- CHAPTER 20: Why China Didn’t Take Macau Back
- CHAPTER 21: Apprentice No Longer
- CHAPTER 22: CIA Insight
- CHAPTER 23: Hong Kong Simmers
- CHAPTER 24: Newsweek Reporters
- CHAPTER 25: Labor Strife Boils Over
- CHAPTER 26: More Pregnant Than Ever
- CHAPTER 27: Riot Report
- CHAPTER 28: Wall of Worry
- CHAPTER 29: Master Spy
- CHAPTER 30: Real and Fake Blood
- CHAPTER 31: Finally. It’s a Girl
- CHAPTER 32: Bad News From Peking
- CHAPTER 33: Sitting on the Fence
- CHAPTER 34: Reporters, Academics, Nemesis
- CHAPTER 35: Life Goes On
- CHAPTER 36: Life Without Water
- CHAPTER 37: Psych Warfare at the Border
- CHAPTER 38: Senior Staff Meetings
- CHAPTER 39: Precious Treasures
- CHAPTER 40: Attack Across the Border
- CHAPTER 41: Impeccable Agent
- CHAPTER 42: Incipient Civil War
- CHAPTER 43: Climactic Crackdown
- CHAPTER 44: Family Dynamic
- CHAPTER 45: Burned
- CHAPTER 46: Endless Jitters
- CHAPTER 47: Arrests, Attacks, Assassination
- CHAPTER 48: Y.C. Explains
- CHAPTER 49: Fear and Loathing
- CHAPTER 50: Water!
- CHAPTER 51: Don’t Tell Washington Yet
- CHAPTER 52: Music Reigns Again
- CHAPTER 53: Dénouement
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Yes, you can access Hong Kong on the Brink by Syd Goldsmith in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Politics & International Relations & Political Biographies. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.