The article, ‘Building on Disappearance’, written by Abbas, introduced a significant concept/ relationship —— disappearance of history and colonial space. Spaces in Hong Kong once colonized by Britain, now back to mainland China represents will how the ‘disappearance’ as a form of the visual art. The writer explained further about disappearance in the context of Hong Kong by three real building which results in different aspects of the notion of disappearance. The purpose of preservation of the clock tower located in Hong Kong Cultural Center reflects small or even negative impacts to present the sense of community, since its preservation only keeps the colonial subject in place and neglects the development of a critical sense of community. Disappearance more specifically can be understood as the substitution conflictual colonial history of Hong Kong, to the harmonious accommodation of Chinese culture in colonial architecture in the example of the preservation of Flagstaff House. It is interesting to have the insight into impacts resulted from the conflict of two cultures in Hong Kong by the context of disappearance. This reminds the fact that there is a hysteresis between the city and its representations —— between the city’s erratic historical fortunes and the attempts to explain its itinerary in terms of available models like modernization, dependency, or development.
Xingquan WANG UID: 3035980742
Good summary with appropriate personal reflection! You have incorporated complex concepts of the reading in your response and demonstrated contextual understanding of the Chinese and HK social realities. It would be even better to see more of your own thinking included in the response rather than dedicating most of the portion to summarizing the reading.
*NOTE: The previous is the comment for your L4 Reading Response. Please refer to the following for the comment of this response:
A structured piece of writing! You have intertwined the examples illustrated in the reading in your response to support your arguments well. Some important concepts such as the ‘sense of community’ is discussed. To further improve, you should establish a stronger connection to explain how the ideas of ‘disappearance’, ‘modernization’ and ‘dependency’ are interrelated.