Mark will give a power-point presentation introducing his new book. His father, a London psychiatrist, did an excellent job of concealing his Irish identity. So Mark had to discover it for himself. In the 1970s, he spent three and a half years working in Belfast during the Troubles; it was also an excellent way to learn about his family and its history. He often visited the Republic of Ireland, where he met two Taoiseachs, Charlie Haughey and Garrett Fitzgerald, and many others, from priests to dairy farmers. From 1978, the story moves to Asia, where Mark discovers the Irish contribution to Hong Kong, China and Japan. He visits Faku, the small town in Liaoning province, where his grandfather served as a missionary from 1897 to 1942. He discovers a Christian congregation there. He also learns of the one-to-one replica of the Titanic being built in Sichuan province and the Irish nun who taught Gaelic to the future Empress of Japan. The final chapter describes the growing Chinese community in Ireland. It includes Hazel Chu, Mayor of Dublin, daughter of two Hong Kong migrants who fell in love in a Chinese restaurant there, and a Shenyang shipyard worker who learnt Gaelic and went to Ireland to practice it. In Belfast, he finds a Presbyterian church that has been turned into the Water Margin, a Chinese restaurant.
The Speaker
Mark O’Neill was born in London, England and educated at Marlborough College and New College, Oxford. He worked in Washington, DC, Manchester and Belfast before coming to Hong Kong in 1978. He has lived in Asia ever since. He worked as a journalist for 30 years here, in Taiwan, India, the PRC and Japan, for Reuters, SCMP and many other publications. Since 2006, he has been writing books on Chinese history and society. Nine have editions in Chinese, simplified and traditional, as well as English, including China’s Great Liberal of the 20th Century – Hu Shih.
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