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This chapter discusses the history of Happy Valley, a district in Hong Kong where important cultural heritages mingle with the different emerging forms of urbanism. The focus of this chapter is on the three cemeteries found along Happy Valley: the Hong Kong Cemetery, the Parsee Cemetery, and the Jewish Cemetery. While Happy Valley to several Hong Kong resides is synonymous with horse-racing, Happy Valley did not derived its name from the fun and excitement of racing. Happy Valley is a British euphemism for cemeteries during the 1800s. The cemeteries within the Happy Valley were built in the early 1800s to address the urgent need for burial space. Carrying the Western ideals and traditions, these cemeteries were designed by the British as public parks where people could enjoy a moment of peace and escape from the noise of cosmopolitan life; however the concept of cemeteries as public parks did not transpose comfortably into Hong Kong. This is because of the cultural differences with British and Chinese traditions and Chinese cemeteries rarely having surplus land space for ornamental planting. Despite the differences with the British and Chinese traditions and the relatively small allocated space for ornamental planting, the Happy Valley cemeteries nevertheless proved havens for the beautiful interplay of the cultures and traditions of Britain and China. These cemeteries, apart from providing places to lay the dead, served as cultural heritages of Hong Kong and valuable public spaces for meditation.

This chapter discusses the Hong Kong Cemetery, which was also known as the Protestant Cemetery and the Colonial Cemetery. It discusses Happy Valley and the Happy Valley racecourse, which is located below the Hong Kong Cemetery. Aside from discussing the history of the cemetery, the chapter also looks at the older cemeteries in Wan Chai and the different monuments found in the Hong Kong Cemetery.

This chapter discusses the introduction of the concept of the cemetery garden and its evolution in Hong Kong. In 1845, after Hong Kong was subjected to British rule, the Royal Engineers headed by Lieutenant T. B. Collinson sketched and established a cemetery in Wong Nei Chung which would later become Happy Valley. These once paddy field before the British invasion, the areas surrounding the flat lands of Happy Valley, became a place for the dead. In addition to discussing the introduction of the cemetery garden, the chapter addresses the issues of how Western cemetery design principles were applied in the British colony of Hong Kong, in particular with the creation and design of the Hong Kong Cemetery in Happy Valley. By the turn of the 1890s, the Hong Kong Cemetery had taken on a number of “Loudonesque” features. Although not as grand as its European city cemeteries, the Hong Kong Cemetery was in every aspect “Loudonesque.” While the Hong Kong Cemetery flourished as a cemetery garden, setting the role model for subsequent cemeteries particularly the local cemetery garden design, the Hong Kong Cemetery started to decline in the 1900s. The fall of the Hong Kong Cemetery was due to the increasing notion of cultural identity among Chinese nationals, the unfair allocation of cemetery space, the ravages of war, and the increasing urbanism, natural deterioration, and human error.

This chapter examines the ways in which Penn State University football “fans draw their sense of community from the shared belief that Happy Valley is not only a mythic place, but a singularly righteous one as well.” It puts legendary coach Joe Paterno at the center of the narrative and sees “Happy Valley as a fantastical American Brigadoon” that may vanish after him. The State College, Pennsylvania, area acquired the “Happy Valley” nickname because of its seeming immunity to the economic misery of the Great Depression. Paterno came to State College as an assistant coach in 1950. Four years later, Brigadoon debuted in American movie theaters. It was the tale of an enchanted village that appeared once every hundred years; by covenant, if anyone left, the village would disappear forever. This chapter discusses Paterno's success with Penn State's football team and argues that he has done far more good for the game and for Penn State than he can possibly undo in his fading years.

This chapter traces the social history of deviance amongst Europeans in colonial Kenya. In order to contain deviance within manageable bounds, it argues, a practical project of social control was combined with a discursive neutralisation of what might otherwise bring colonial rule into disrepute. Combining attention to cultural production with analysis of social control mechanisms reveals the salience of gender and class in the protection of a salutary white settler identity. The chapter approaches critically Kenya's outstanding reputation as a place of colonial eccentricity. It reconstructs that reputation within a narrative that highlights the changing nature of colonial society through a history of the treatment – by state and society – of deviants themselves.