Defying the Dragon tells a remarkable story of audacity: of how the people of Hong Kong challenged the authority of the People’s Republic of China, just as its president reached the height of his powers. Is Xi’s China as unshakeable as it seems? What are its real interests in Hong Kong? Why are Beijing’s time-honored ways and means no longer working there? And where does this leave the Hongkongers themselves? Stephen Vines has lived in Hong Kong for over three decades, described by the last governor, Lord Patten, as ‘one of Hong Kong’s most distinguished and long-serving journalists’. In this book he unpacks the history of the Hong Kong-China relationship and its wider significance – right up to the astonishing convergence of political turmoil and international insecurity following the outbreak of coronavirus. Vividly describing the 2019-20 uprising from street level, Vines explains how and why it unfolded and charts its enormous, global repercussions. Now, amidst the pandemic, the international community is reassessing its relationship with Beijing, at the very moment when Hong Kong’s rebellion has exposed the regime’s inherent weakness. In a crisis that has become existential all round, what lies ahead for Hong Kong, China and the world?