The Happy Valley: A History and Tour of the Hong Kong Cemetery by Ken Nicolson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is pretty much the epitome of a cemetery guidebook. It opens with a history of Hong Kong and the area where the cemetery stands, moves into the cemetery’s inspirations (including the Glasgow Necropolis, which I personally did not know enough about), and then goes into the rise and fall of the graveyard at hand. The next section offers a series of guided tours, pointing out monuments of note as well as heritage trees, wildlife to look for, and monuments in need of conservation. Finally, the book concludes with a glossary of cemetery iconography.
The only thing preventing me from giving it 5 stars is the photographs of the cemetery. They’re purely utilitarian snapshots, without any artistry at all. They serve the book’s purpose, but every other part of the book is such high quality, I wish the photos were, too.
This is a fascinating book, whether you’ve ever been to Hong Kong or not. In fact, it’s made me more determined to go at see the cemetery for myself.
I got my copy of Amazon.
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