Tigers once came to Hong Kong. They preyed on pigs, chickens, cattle and deer. They sometimes killed people. They came to Hong Kong most years through to the end of the 1950s, and possibly into the 1960s. As long as there were South China tigers in the wild, Hong Kong saw some of them.

They stopped coming when they were on their way to extinction in their homeland across the border. Not many people know this, and not many people believe it to be true. But it is true, tigers came. And this is the first written history of the Hong Kong tiger.

The Speaker

John Saeki spends his working days writing and designing maps, charts and information graphics on world news. When he is not composing explainers on pandemics, political turmoil and endangered wildlife, he heads through woodland valleys and over the hills, looking in wonder at this strange planet we live on.

His first book, The Tiger Hunters of Tai O, was published by Blacksmith Books in 2017, featuring a fictional tiger in the hills of Lantau Island. After that, he went on the trail of real tigers that came to Hong Kong and found an unexpected treasure trove of forgotten history. He now lives in windswept Yorkshire, and often talks with family and friends of the wonderful animals he came across in his 20 years in the subtropics of Hong Kong.

PROGRAMME

Time: 7pm-8pm, Hong Kong Time (11am UK time)

Venue: Online via Zoom   

Admission: Zoom links are free for members of RASHK and sister societies only. 

Non-members are welcome depending on availability.

Registration: Please email membership@royalasiaticsociety.org.hk and provide your membership number, if applicable, at the time of registration. 

Registration will be closed at 12 noon on the event date.

Zoom links will be sent before or by 1pm on the event date.