Before the Second World War Singapore was richer than any Asian metropolis except for Tokyo
and by far the most ethnically diverse. But in 1965 it had independence forced upon it in a
sudden rupture with newly formed Malaysia and found itself facing catastrophe. It took the
bloody-minded determination and vision of Lee Kuan Yew its founding premier to take a small
island of diverse ethnic groups with a broken economy and meld it into Asia's first globalised
city. Lion City tells this extraordinary story in doing so examining the different faces of
Singaporean life - from food to culture to art and politics - and describing how the different
ethnic groups of Singapore were forged by Lee into a distinctive Singaporean identity. It also
reveals the way that its combination of economic freedom clean government and political
authoritarianism has been studied as a model around world but particularly in Asia and how it
compares it in particular to Hong Kong at a time when fate of the latter hangs in the balance.
The book also looks at Singapore's - and east Asia's - future. Today as Hong Kong struggles to
resist assimilation into China Singapore's value as a neutral base for business is rising
again. Its strategic location between China and India is also more significant than ever at a
time when these two economies are growing rapidly in importance. Although Singapore remains one
of the most Westernized societies in Asia with strong political military and economic links
to the US in particular this is beginning to shift as China's influence in the region grows.
Finally as birth rates plummet to far below replacement levels the book examines the
demographic challenge faced by the city.
