Ghostly Returns: the Politics of Horror in Hong Kong Cinema

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian Lee
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
Cultural Politics ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Horror Films ◽  
Foreseeable Future ◽  
Hong Kong Cinema ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
The City

This chapter examines the trend towards Hong Kong-China co-productions, during which Hong Kong horror films have been in decline due to censorship restrictions in Mainland China. While this mega-market direction is likely to continue in the foreseeable future, Hong Kong filmmakers have made fresh attempts to revitalize this popular genre and inject it with new meanings in the changed and changing context of cultural production and cultural politics in the city. Between 2012-2014, several low to medium budget horror films were released. Local audiences responded enthusiastically and many saw these as a sign of the resilience of the local popular culture to counter or at least deflate the hegemony of the Mainland market. This chapter traces the trajectory of Hong Kong horror through the pre- and post-handover decades, situating horror within the evolving discourse of identity and the issues of local histories and collective memory. It also elaborates on the politics of horror as seem from horror films produced and released in the midst of escalating social and political tensions attributable to a popular/populist “anti-China localism”. The chapter further reflects on the cultural politics of delocalization and relocalization in the context of “re-occupying Hong Kong screens.”

Visual Arts, Representations and Interventions in Contemporary China

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Visual Arts ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Cultural Activism ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The City

This edited volume provides a multifaceted investigation of the dynamic interrelations between visual arts and urbanization in contemporary Mainland China with a focus on unseen representations and urban interventions brought about by the transformations of the urban space and the various problems associated with it. Through a wide range of illuminating case studies, the authors demonstrate how innovative artistic and creative practices initiated by various stakeholders not only raise critical awareness on socio-political issues of Chinese urbanization but also actively reshape the urban living spaces. The formation of new collaborations, agencies, aesthetics and cultural production sites facilitate diverse forms of cultural activism as they challenge the dominant ways of interpreting social changes and encourage civic participation in the production of alternative meanings in and of the city. Their significance lies in their potential to question current values and power structures as well as to foster new subjectivities for disparate individuals and social groups.

Perceived Threat of a Linguistic Community and Context Effect on Attitude toward Immigration in Hong Kong

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 250-273
Author(s):  
Francis L.F. Lee ◽  
Hai Liang
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Linguistic Community ◽  
Perceived Threat ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Mandarin Speakers ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Abstract Typically grounded in a discussion of contact vs. threat theory, much research has examined the impact of the presence of ethnic minorities in residential contexts on people’s attitude toward immigration. Yet, there has not been much evidence regarding whether the presence of a linguistically-defined minority can create similar impact under specific political conditions. This article examines Hong Kong, where the arrival of immigrants from mainland China has aroused controversies. The presence of Mandarin speakers, under the contemporary conditions, could be perceived as representing the cultural threat posed by China onto the city. Data from representative surveys were combined with district-level census data. The analysis shows that people living in a district with higher proportions of residents using Mandarin as the usual spoken language indeed favored more restrictive immigration policies. Contextual presence of Mandarin speakers also moderated the impact of tolerance and holding of negative stereotypes on attitude toward immigration.

scholarly journals Hong Kong as Alternative Sinophone Articulation: Translation and Literary Cartography in Dung Kai-Cheung’S Atlas: The Archaeology of an Imaginary City

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 771-780
Author(s):  
Long Chao
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Cultural Production ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Literary Work ◽  
Cultural Discourses ◽  
Literary Cartography ◽  
Important Position

Abstract Following the 2014 Umbrella Movement, Hong Kong society has witnessed a series of fights between social (youth) activists and its Special Administrative Government (SAR). What was at stake really boils down to the issue of Hong Kong’s self-positioning vis-a-vis the rising economic and political strength of Mainland China. This issue is certainly nothing new, given that most cultural discourses in the 1990s, both within and outside Hong Kong, have focused on the city’s postcolonial status after the handover. This article therefore proposes to approach such an issue from the perspective of the Sinophone to bring to light how cultural production in Hong Kong can generate alternative thinking. It considers specifically a literary work by a native Hong Kong writer, namely, Dung Kai-cheung’s Atlas: The Archaeology of an Imaginary City (Atlas), through the lens of translation. By analysing how Dung Kai-cheung engages in three levels of translation to paint a kaleidoscopic image of Hong Kong, this article shows how the concept of Sinophone can inspire, enlighten and even question existing knowledge about Hong Kong’s history and culture. Eventually, Atlas, shown as deprived of a nativist or nationalistic discourse, creates new epistemic possibilities for understanding Hong Kong. As part of the ongoing global Sinophone cultures, Atlas also exemplifies how Hong Kong can be imagined to hold an equally important position vis-a-vis Mainland China.

Hong Kong unrest runs serious risk of escalation

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mainland Chinese ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Property ◽  
Chinese Military ◽  
Serious Injuries ◽  
First Time ◽  
The City

Significance The strike is a major escalation of the months-long anti-government protest movement, causing serious economic disruption for the first time and setting a precedent. The government’s suspension of a controversial bill allowing extradition to mainland China has failed to satisfy activists and a significant section of the public. Police today continue to clash with protesters in several locations around the city, resulting in arrests, serious injuries and destruction of public property. Impacts Use of mainland Chinese military riot police is now realistic. The longer protests continue, the more opportunities there are for miscalculation or radical tactics on both sides that deepen animosities. Limited mainland intervention as a last resort still seems more likely than a risky attempt to intimidate using overwhelming force.

From transnational to Chinese national?

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-117
Author(s):  
Siu Keung Cheung
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Equal Weight ◽  
National Authority ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Active Player ◽  
Systemic Control ◽  
Hong Kong Cinema ◽  
The City

Purpose This paper aims to challenge the longstanding cosmopolitan interpretation of Hong Kong, particularly why this global city fails to absorb China equally through its great inclusiveness and flexibility as before. On the contrary, rising tensions, conflicts and resistance could be founded between Hong Kong and China these days. Design/methodology/approach By using Hong Kong cinema as an analytical lens, this paper seeks to throw light on the cinematic landscape of post-1997 Hong Kong and, by implications, the overall destiny of postcolonial Hong Kong under Chinese rule. Findings The postcolonial Hong Kong, although lacking a symmetric status and equal weight, remains an active player with Chinese hegemony that appeals to the newfound market power to consolidate their systemic control on the city. By acting upon itself with the subjectivity and reflexivity from itself, postcolonial Hong Kong takes many actions to do justice that criticizes the political and ideological correctness and challenges the contemporary national authority from one-party rule. Originality/value This paper demonstrates a new in-betweenness in the relation to the making of postcolonial Hong Kong. This paper advances insights into a postcolonial reinvention of the politics of disappearance that remains underexplored.

scholarly journals The rupture in Hong Kong cinema: Post-2000 Hong Kong cinema(s) as both a transnational cinema and a national cinema

Lumina ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-83
Author(s):  
Fangyu Chen
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Local Culture ◽  
Young Generation ◽  
Transnational Cinema ◽  
National Cinema ◽  
Hong Kong Cinema ◽  
Economic Boom ◽  
Film Market

This paper traces artistic and ideological discrepancies between the young generation of Hong Kong filmmakers and their predecessors – the established generation who contributed to the glory days of Hong Kong cinema during its economic boom. By tracing studies of national cinema and transnational cinema in the last three decades, the author argues that current Hong Kong cinema has split into two: a transnational cinema represented by the established generation of filmmakers; and a national cinema that is driven by the emerging generation who struggles for better preservation of Hong Kong local culture and their own cultural identities. To conduct the research, 47 people were interviewed including13 established filmmakers, 16 young filmmakers and18 film students from 3 universities in Hong Kong. The three groups of respondents generally represent three perspectives: that of the established film practitioners, who have a vested interest in the current co-production era; that of the emerging young film practitioners, who above all crave a flourishing local film market and whose productions exhibit stronger Hong Kong cultural identities; lastly, that of the, who were predominantly born in the 1990s and have the most extreme views against mainland China and whose filmmaking ideologies and practices foreshadow the future of the industry.

Performing (Comic) Abjection in the Hong Kong Ghost Story

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicia Chan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Horror Films ◽  
The Self ◽  
Wave Period ◽  
Rigor Mortis ◽  
Ghost Story ◽  
Special Effects ◽  
Hong Kong Cinema ◽  
Run Up ◽  
Second Wave

Horror films in Hong Kong cinema have eschewed terror in favour of comedy, where supernatural beings take the form of hopping vampires, wandering spirits and underworld demons rendered in latex masks and movie slime. This chapter explores the comic presentation of these subjects in Hong Kong horror, where the self-reflexive exposure of the cinematic machinery of costume and special effects appear to put it at odds with the spectral affectivity of the Hong Kong ghost story. This chapter returns to two classic films from the mid-1980s, A Chinese Ghost Story (Tsui Hark 1987) and Rouge (Stanley Kwan 1988), films from the ‘second wave’ period long noted to carry ‘Hong Kong’ as a subject of concern in the run up to the British handover of 1997, and revisits their historical positioning in the light of more recent post-1997 incarnations such as Visible Secret (Ann Hui 2001), My Left Eye Sees Ghosts (Johnnie To 2002), and Rigor Mortis (Juno Mak 2013).

Just another Chinese city? Hong Kong’s post-1997 role to the European Union

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-196
Author(s):  
Suetyi Lai
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Economic Bloc ◽  
The City ◽  
The Eu

Purpose By overviewing the role of Hong Kong to the European Union (EU), the world’s largest economic bloc and a key global actor, the purpose of this paper is to understand any change in international prominence and status of Hong Kong after two decades of its sovereignty return. Design/methodology/approach It is based on analysis of statistics, government discourses and official documents. Findings Main findings are that although the function of Hong Kong as an entrepot of China–EU trade and the ranking of the city as the EU’s trade partners have both diminished, the city sustains its roles as a platform to enter Mainland China, a regional hub in Asia, a major international capital market, a diplomatic counterpart and a partner in socio-cultural aspects to the EU. This paper agrees with the EU’s view that continuous well-functioning of Hong Kong under “One Country, Two System” serves stake of the Union which is keen on helping the SAR to ensure its high autonomy. Yet, the determinants remain Hong Kong and Beijing Governments, which have been and should continue to make use of Hong Kong’s closer tie with the mainland to promote international importance of both the city and China. Originality/value Research on relations between Hong Kong and the EU has been few, especially so in the past decades. This paper serves as a stock-take of the most recent developments in Hong Kong–EU relation.

scholarly journals Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge – An Infrastructural Marvel but?

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11S) ◽  
pp. 246-251
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Infrastructure Project ◽  
Economic Boom ◽  
The Pearl River ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The City

Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge (HZMB) is believed to be an infrastructure wonder. It is the longest sea bridge in the world which connects Hong Kong with Macau and mainland China. The bridge is seen as an omen of economic boom in the Pearl River Delta, but it brings its own environmental and other challenges to the area also. The congestion in the area is supposed to get worse and so is the air pollution in the city. The big question for local Hong Kong residents is whether the Bridge is worth the cost that has been paid for it. The case has the following objectives: • To provide a context in which the student will look at the political symbolism and economic benefits of large infrastructure projects • To illustrate that, in order to get some kind of economic benefit, the problems that may emerge both related to environment and people • To provide a comprehensive insight into the cost benefit analysis of an infrastructure project.

The City in Flux: Toward an Urban Topology of Hong Kong Cinema

Telos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (197) ◽  
pp. 35-55
Author(s):  
Vivian P. Y. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Hong Kong Cinema ◽  
The City ◽  
Urban Topology
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