“This book is a treasure. It illustrates the uniqueness of the Hong Kong budgetary system, but more importantly, convincingly places it in a comparative context— a distinctive case of territorial autonomy. The book is a must-have for the classroom adoption of any teaching related to Hong Kong politics or budgetary system.”

—Professor Wang Xiaohu, City University of Hong Kong

“What adds value to the book is its historical-comparative analysis of budget openness, oversight institutions and practices, and deficit/surplus politics as observed in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Singapore, in the perspective of territorial autonomy. Breaking new ground in understanding some trends and issues, and making reference to the latest international studies and methodologies, this book is theoretically vigorous and of relevance to the worldwide research in comparative budgeting as well.”

—Professor Anthony B. L. Cheung, The Education University of Hong Kong

This book is a comprehensive, scholarly account of Hong Kong Public Budgeting, spanning from the pre-1997 British rule to the post-1997 Chinese rule. Transcending the existing comparative budgeting studies which are either central-government focused or symmetric local-government focused, this book presents Hong Kong Public Budgeting as a distinctive case of asymmetric territorial autonomy.

This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of comparative budgeting studies. It will also be an excellent text for public budgeting instructors and students in East Asia and Hong Kong.

Brian C.H. Fong is Associate Professor and Associate Director of The Academy of Hong Kong Studies at The Education University of Hong Kong. He is also the founding editor of Hong Kong Studies Reader Series.