The Gate to China: A new history of the People’s Republic and Hong Kong by Michael Sheridan is a 2021 book.
Its title is a misdescription. This is not a new history of China and HK. This book is actually a political history of HK with an emphasis on certain aspects.
These are the negotiations between the British and China on the return and handover of HK, Kowloon, and the New Territories, the politics leading to the handover in 1997, and briefly the riots in 2019.
Chapter one deals with the Ching dynasty’s surrender of these lands after the Opium Wars. Sheridan then gave us a good narrative of the leaders from China and the UK involved in the negotiations.
We learn of Xi Zhong Xun, the father of Xi Jin Ping, who was tasked by Deng Xiao Ping to pioneer reforms in the Special Economic Zones in Guangdong.
We also have pen portraits of Liao Cheng Zhi who was said to have invented the concept of One Country Two Systems, Li Qiang, Percy Cradock, David Wilson, Edward Youde, etc
What is interesting is the details of the negotiations and the red lines of China. Unfortunately, some of these details are not footnoted with supporting sources. I would have liked to know the sources.
This quibble aside, I would still recommend this book as the only other good book on the handover is an old 1994 book The Fall of Hong Kong- China’s Triumph and British Betrayal by Mark Roberti.