Myself a Mandarin (Oxford in Asia Paperbacks)

I agree with the other reviewers. This is an excellent book that will help gweilos understand the Cantonese (and, to a lesser extent, Chinese and Asians in general) a bit better. If you're a Westerner planning to move to Asia, this may help to prepare you for the experience of never quite knowing what the real problem is and never getting a straight answer (at least not the first 20 times you ask the question). I lived in Hong Kong for 6 years and can't say that I totally understand the mindset of the "locals", but this book helped. And it was fun to read! I had bought at least 5 copies by the time I left Hong Kong (most of which went to friends and family), and I wish that I had purchased more. It's a classic.

One reason this book is now unobtainable in Hong Kong is the number of copies I have bought and given (or had 'borrowed' by) friends over the years. Dated but entertaining, excellent account of living in HK, away from Mid-Levels and the expatriate lifestyle. Bob Howlett

This is a completely charming account of Austin Coates' period as a Special Magistrate in Hong Kong's New Territories. I've never read a foreigner who combines so well a frank portrayal of the difficulties in understanding the rural Cantonese mentality, with such sympathy. Coates comes at his subject with a singular highly intuitive vision, and it's impossible not to come away enriched.

This exceptionally well written book of anecdotes and personal experiences should be required reading for any Westerner visiting or conducting business in China or other countries where the Chinese culture subsists. At times humourous, at times tragic it leads the reader through a series of situations experienced by the author, an Englishman, as he plys his trade as a special magistrate in post-war Hong Kong. It has helped me to understand some of the more baffling moments of my life here in Hong Kong in the 1990s. Thoroughly recommended.

Myself a Mandarin is one of the few books available which truly delivers on its promise to educate foreigners on how the Chinese live, think, and interact. Most other books making this promise merely recount Chinese history or personal travel sagas. Austin Coates draws on judicial cases which he adjudicated as a British colonial magistrate in Hong Kong in the 1950s to highlight aspects of the Chinese personality. The book is limited slightly by locale -- some of the observations may be less applicable to people from other parts of a country as vast as China -- and time. Myself a Mandarin nonetheless offers much of lasting value and is therefore a must-buy for any China hand.