Category: 2022 Blog

Cat Links Lecture 2: Filming the Modern Asian City

Reading Response: Leo Ou-Fan Lee

Posted on tommy921@connect.hku.hk

After reading Leo’s “The Urban Milieu of Shanghai Cinema” and several reflection, I have gained few insights about Chinese film culture. Leo’s work explored different aspects about Chinese film culture including film audience, film culture and narrative conventions. Actually, the ideas in the film is really vogue and difficult to understand if we are not situating in that background. Although the reading is difficult to understand, I am thankful to the reading that it offered me a glimpse into the film culture of Shanghai in 1930s which is precious and hard to be seen in our daily life. According to

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Cat Links Lecture 2: Filming the Modern Asian City

[Reading Response: Leo Ou-Fan Lee]

Posted on u3600267@connect.hku.hk

The reading of “The Urban Milieu of Shanghai Cinema” detailed explain the concept of filming industry development in China (Shanghai), how Hollywood and Chinese movie affect each other, and the link between the urban environment and filming. For example, many Hollywood movies’ titles use four Chinese characters to boost traditional Chinese culture. The writer also mentioned the relationship between filming and new-style writers writing in the 1930s, such as Lu Xun and Xu Chi. The writer suggested that the inheritance of Chinese cinema is a debatable point. After reading these readings, I understand more about cinema and filming, and also

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Cat Links Lecture 2: Filming the Modern Asian City, Uncategorized

Reading Response: Lee Ou-fan

Posted on matt1clh@connect.hku.hk

The article starts by describing the urban milieu of Early Shanghai, where films were produced for the very purpose of leisure. The demand for entertainment was high because of the industrialization of China, that people desired better standards of living. The high demand was illustrated by the popularity of Chinese movies and film reviews in magazines. The quality of films in the 30s was not bad either, compared to Laborer’s Love. It is precisely because of the French and British concessions that influenced the film culture and qualities. Producers had an entirely new perspective to film from Hollywood and had

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Cat Links Final Video Essay

[Video Essay] Crisis City

Posted on vanawei@hku.hk

Video link: https://youtu.be/z7j91E7NEdY Description of the theme: The maximum utilization of rooftops distinguishes Hong Kong from the other metropolises. The rooftop has been functioning as an alternative living place for the less-privileged working-class people since the post-war period.[1] The traditional residential feature is continuing and intensifying with the advance of modernization and urbanization, as the additional space provided by rooftops partly negotiates the tension between the scarcity of land resources and the consistent request for more space caused by the exceeding population and economic growth. In contemporary life, the rooftop is serving more functions in addition to a living place,

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Cat Links 2022 Blog, FINAL VIDEO ESSAY

[Video Essay] Hybrid City

Posted on mathur2@connect.hku.hk

Link to Video: https://youtu.be/RYcMjUZFiRs   Concept Hypethral spaces like sidewalks are the circulatory system of walkable cities like Hong Kong. They provide an access point, a platform, like blank pages of a notebook, to fill in one’s experiences of the city. However, they seem to encapsulate a series of dichotomies- not hidden but not the focal object, open, unsheltered but restricting accessibility and routes, used by everyone but outside one’s ownership. They are public, but everyone narrates their private route, weaving in and out, sewing their traipsing experience into a communal urban fabric. Each narrative flows together, creating the mesh

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Cat Links 2022 Blog, Lecture 7: Monsters, Materials & Skyscrapers

[READING RESPONSE] WILLIAM M. TSUTSUI

Posted on u3583475@connect.hku.hk

  In my opinion, the reason why Japan’s disaster film industry is very popular is closely related to the country’s own experience and attributes. As an island country, Japan, located on the Pacific Rim seismic belt, has to experience large and small earthquakes. In the 1950s-1960s, Japanese people were recovering from the trauma of World War II. The monster films during this period well reflected the domestic situation and gave the Japanese people a way to sympathize and find ways to vent. When people watch these films, they can easily bring their tragic experience into the world, and then they

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Cat Links 2022 Blog, Final Video Essay

[Video Essay] Mobile City

Posted on u3591979@connect.hku.hk

Title: Mobile City Site: Bridge Director: Zhou Yingqi YouTube link: https://youtu.be/pZOsfNtbpyo As one of the first cities from China which had directly confronted the lethal corona virus on a massive scale, Wuhan had faced many difficulties across multiple dimensions that were unforeseen and thus placed major challenges against this city and its vulnerable residents. However, due to its high abundance and availability of constructed bridges of good build quality, this city was enabled to withstand the crisis effectively as its bridges helped to deliver ample benefits economically, socially, and financially for city itself. For the purposes of this report, it

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Cat Links 2022 Blog, Final Video Essay

[Video Essay] Disappearing City

Posted on u3592376@connect.hku.hk

Site: Playground Theme: Disappearing City Method of conducting research: I did a couple of field observations in different playgrounds during the busiest hours of the day, during sunset. By shooting the playground both horizontally and vertically, I recorded the number of people hanging in the sites. I further developed my conclusion that there were not as many children playing in the playgrounds as it used to be. The theme, setting and components The story, disappearing city, follows “me” and my friend when we were still the best friends during my childhood. After elementary school classes, we very often spent our

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Cat Links Final Video Essay

[Video Essay] Disappearing city: The disappearance of distinctive culture

Posted on mlx0830@connect.hku.hk

The Video Essay Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6nkc2Q4qX8&list=PL5PP0NHM6bT9DpggvjwrrlG26bJ50vEr0&index=1  Title: Disappearing city: The disappearance of distinctive culture Site: Alleyway (Hohhot, China） “Culture heritage provides us an automatic sense of unity and belonging.”(2019) Background: Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia, has a very strong ethnic integration character and geographical advantages by virtue of its political and geographical conditions. The province of Inner Mongolia is adjacent to Gansu Province on the left and Mongolia on the north. This situation and condition makes Inner Mongolia’s political center, Hohhot, have many residents of Mongolian, Hui and other ethnic minorities. At the same time, I believe that Inner Mongolia

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