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Frederick Stewart, born in Buchan, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, was the first Head of the Hong Kong Government Education Department and known by his contemporaries as the “founder of Hong Kong Government education”. He was the first headmaster of the Central School, now Queen’s College, which led Hong Kong education from 1862 until 1911, when the first university in Hong Kong was established. Stewart became Registrar General and “Protector of Chinese”. Then, as Colonial Secretary, he was the first person appointed from the Hong Kong civil service to head the permanent government administration. As Colonial Secretary, he occasionally acted as Governor of Hong Kong. Up to his death, he was, “The Government’s chief advisor on educational matters”.

            As teacher, magistrate and administrator, Stewart dealt with people from Chinese, Portuguese, Indian, Japanese, Western and cross-cultural families. The story of his life is a window into the whole life of the Hong Kong community at thattime.

            Stewart was keenly aware of his historical context at the meeting of the two cultures of East and West, and of his role as a facilitator in the modernisation of Chinese thought. His consistent policy was to educate pupils in Western knowledge, while preserving their Chinese identity, and he insisted on equal time for Chinese and English studies. Although retiring, unassuming and modest, Stewart was highly popular among the Chinese, foreign and Portuguese communities. By the end of his life, Stewart’s intimate knowledge of Hong Kong was considered unequalled among non-Chinese in Hong Kong at the time.

     This Life of Frederick Stewart was first published in 1997, when the change in Hong Kong, which took place in that year, made it an appropriate time to reassess the purposes of the continued meeting of East and West, and the educational and cultural means by which co-operation is promoted.

       THE MONKEY IN ME is a tour de force on the fall of the American Empire, the current world economic crisis and the very real crisis of conscience in our culture. It provides a moment of reflection on being human, on our failures, and our ardent desire to find a place of repose on a planet beset by contradictions. Set in Hong Kong and China, The Monkey In Me is decisive, romantic and melancholy, searching for answers. CALEB KAVON challenges our consciences and our lives. He looks forward to the real changes that we all must make in the new millennium.

   In his translation, CHAPMAN CHEN brings the text closer to his readers by localizing many of the references to popular culture and present-day materialism.