It represents one of the finest traditions in Chinese culture: the tradition of creativity, of the freedom of thought, freedom of spirit and freedom of the imagination. These are the characteristics of Hong Kong literature. The Best China, an expression traditionally used to refer to the finest crockery brought out when one is entertaining special guests, has been adapted here to mean the best chinese tradition of free-thinking discursive prose. This anthology of essays from Hong Kong and the diaspora, ranging across the past hundred and seventy years, records the intellectual ferment that has characterized the city since its founding in 1842, sometimes restless and questioning, sometimes meditative and lyrical, buoyed by an all-pervasive and indomitable spirit of freedom.