How Hong Kong Transformed the Global Wine Trade: Culture, Geopolitics,

Description

This timely and innovative book provides insight into the rapid growth of the wine trade in Hong Kong after the withdrawal of the import duty on wine in February 2008 and outlines Hong Kong’s journey towards becoming a successful global wine consumption and trading hub that has transformed the wine industry worldwide. The book draws on information from over 40 visits to private cellars,... Read more

This timely and innovative book provides insight into the rapid growth of the wine trade in Hong Kong after the withdrawal of the import duty on wine in February 2008 and outlines Hong Kong’s journey towards becoming a successful global wine consumption and trading hub that has transformed the wine industry worldwide.

The book draws on information from over 40 visits to private cellars, storages, vineyards, and attendance at seminars, tasting sessions and trade fairs, as well as other wine related events; over 70 interviews and focus groups conducted with consumers, collectors, diplomats, trade ministers, and other professionals such as auctioneers, distributors, educators, restaurant managers, and sommeliers; and a wide range of marketing material. The findings of this book have practical implications, with the aim of identifying target consumers, outlining a successful formula for transforming a region into a wine hub, mapping connections amongst key individuals driving the wine trade, and assessing the potential impact of geopolitical uncertainties on the global wine trade. The book aims to contribute to the growing academic literature on business management, global consumer culture, luxury branding and marketing, and wine research. It illustrates the growth of the Hong Kong wine trade, the development of wine education, and changing consumption practices in the broader context of mainland China and other East Asian regions, highlighting their relationship with the West. The book explores what this transformation tells us about the economic history, cultural ideology, geopolitical changes, and social transformation of the region and how the creation of the wine trade was driven by visionary policymakers, inquisitive consumers, and entrepreneurial individuals.

This book is relevant to courses in the fields of Anthropology, Asian Studies, Business Management, Geography, Geopolitics, Intercultural Communications, Luxury Brand Marketing, Public Health, Sociology, Tourism, and Wine Education, but equally importantly, it is of interest to professionals working in the food and beverage industry and related business sectors.

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Author(s)

Biography

Hang Kei Ho is a Visiting Professor in the Department of Cultures in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Helsinki and holds the Title of Docent in Sociology in the Faculty of Social Sciences. He is also affiliated with the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) and the Helsinki Institute of Urban and Regional Studies (Urbaria). In addition, he serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is a multidisciplinary scholar who has held academic positions in Finland, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK and has lectured across Anthropology, Asian Studies, Business Management, Development Studies, Economic Geography, Public Health, Sociology, and Urban Studies. He holds a PhD in Geography from University College London, an MBA, and multiple master’s degrees spanning engineering and the humanities.

Critics' Reviews

"This is a very timely book - examining a place which is no longer ‘emerging’ but is now central to the world of wine and the way that wine is being culturally reshaped in the 21^st century. The exploration goes well beyond the political and financial however, to the fascinating cultural synthesis which occurs when the local Hong Kong and the mainland Chinese markets (they are not the same) meet the residual colonial Western understanding of wine. Hang Kei Ho notes that at times there are conflicts - but that a dynamic new context for understanding wine is emerging."

Dr Steve Charters MW, Professor of Wine Marketing, Burgundy School of Business

"Hong Kong’s role as a cultural wine hub is key to understanding wine globalisation. Hang Kei Ho offers a unique insight into the city’s history with wine and alcohol, highlighting how Hong Kong connects East and West through taste, consumption, and politics. A little gem for all food and wine experts!"

Marion Demossier, University of Southampton, author of Burgundy: The Global Story of Terroir

"Most recent writing about Hong Kong has focused on politics and protests, but there is also a vibrant cultural side to the city. This book is the first to analyse wine in Hong Kong - it does an admirable job of describing wine’s regional history, its economics, and above all its consumers. It is well-written and thorough - anyone interested in wine, or in Hong Kong’s contemporary cultural milieu, will gain much from reading it."

Gordon Mathews, Professor of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

"Hang Kei Ho has crafted a fascinating account of the emergence and changing fortunes of the Hong Kong wine trade through the vicissitudes of the geopolitical relationships between China and the rest of the world from the Opium Wars to the present. I greatly enjoyed his fascinating insights and interesting anecdotes about the culture of wine in this too often neglected but nevertheless important corner of the wine world."

Tim Unwin, Professor of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London

How Hong Kong Transformed the Global Wine Trade Culture, Geopolitics, and Taste

Description

Table of Contents

Author(s)

Biography

Critics' Reviews

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