ABSTRACT
The social and cultural history of Formosa/Taiwan intersects with Hong Kong frequently, from early contacts between China and the West to colonial forays by the Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch that promoted Taiwan's intermittent autonomy. Hong Kong and Taipei share many characteristic experiences of modernity as well as culture and media. Taipei thus is relevant to Hong Kong's status and connections in both its socioeconomic development and its difficult space inside and outside of China. In many ways, Singapore seems to offer a laboratory comparison for Hong Kong. Hong Kong has nearly ten times the regional headquarters that the smaller city-state has; Singapore even uses Hong Kong intermediaries for some participation in the growing Mainland economy an ironic reversal of the meanings of distance. This chapter ends with the battle of dueling skyscrapers, tourist projects, and economic infrastructures for the twenty-first century now raging across the regions.
