Reading respond to Hong Kong: Culture and the politics of disappearance from Abbas, M. A.
This article discusses the vanishing Hong Kong culture and politics. It examines how Hong Kong’s unique urban environment and landscape disappeared due to government policies. The text analyzes how the built environment and architecture of Hong Kong reflect a sense of transience and impermanence, as the city continuously experiences demolition, redevelopment, and change. For example, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the clock tower shows an imaginary community but works to keep the colonial subject in place, occupied with gazing at images of identity.
As Hong Kong’s environment built these unique structures, Hong Kong filmmakers have captured the “ephemerality of the city’s spaces and structures” in their work. This suggests that films depicting the transient nature of Hong Kong’s built environment and urban landscape are relevant examples. The document states that the theme of disappearance has become heightened in Hong Kong cinema due to the 1997 handover to China and anxieties around the city’s future as a distinct cultural entity. So, films made around that pivotal political transition likely explore this theme.
For me, I appreciate the HKCEC, which was made in 1989. It has a progressive design, and variable usage. It is also a popular filming spot. In Transformer 4, HKCEC burst into pieces during the combat of Transformers. However, it is disappointing that no more unique and highlighted landmarks were built these days.
Ning Yu Xuan