While the Cold War is often discussed in terms of conflicts between empires and nations, this article brings in a city and its stateless people as a part of the "Global South" in the reflection on Cold War contests. This article explores Cold War Asia from a non-nation-state perspective, focusing on the refugees who settled in British Hong Kong after fleeing communist China. Besides describing how Hong Kong became a stopover for refugees amid Asia's hot wars as a result of the great powers' geopolitical contests, this article also examines Hong Kong’s refugee novels and interpret the agency of the refugees.