It was always worth going to hear a lecture by Hugh Baker, now Emeritus Professor of Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies. He had the knack of picking out the interesting tit-bit that turned a scholarly presentation into a performance delivered with verve. There was no doubt about the scholarship but he went beyond mere knowledge, bringing things Chinese to life.

The same is true of Ancestral Images. In one sense, this is not a new work. Back in the 1970s, Baker did a series on Hong Kong television on Hong Kong life and history, which drew on his research work in a clan village in the New Territories. From this developed a series of short pieces in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), which were subsequently published in three slim volumes, with the same title as the present book. These went out of print when the SCMP withdrew from book publishing. A selection appeared in 1990, published by the Hong Kong University Press, which has now decided to publish all the original 120 articles in one volume. We are the beneficiaries. Baker has slightly revised the articles, to make them reflect the huge changes that have taken place in Hong Kong and the New Territories since the 1970s, but their essential freshness is there. Baker's own photographs provide charming illustrations. Baker is somewhat dismissive of his photographic skills but the pictures chosen are apt and informative. They are also historical records in their own right, since much of what they depict has long since disappeared. The material is primarily concerned with Hong Kong, but the reader will find many reflections on Chinese society more widely, historical matters, such as the Imperial Customs Service, and the wrestling of Chinese students with the vagaries of the English language. There is no claim to original scholarship, but one would have to put in many long hours to accumulate what Baker presents in easily understood and digestible form. Food and death and burials are perhaps the most recurring themes, but there are also many reflections on gods and religion. Baker is always stimulating, occasionally provocative, but never boring. Reading the collection straight through throws up some repetition but, taken as it should be, dipping in here and there, one does not notice this but rather enjoys the clever linking of the past and the present.