Ackbar Abbas’s article, “Building on Disappearance,” delves deep into the ramifications of Hong Kong’s rapid urbanization, examining the *vanishing* effects it has had on the built environment, urban fabric, and cultural heritage. Abbas explores the relationship between architectural entities and collective memory; it highlights the heightened significance of the theme of disappearance in Hong Kong cinema, particularly in the aftermath of the pivotal 1997 handover to China. His analysis underscores the profound impact of vanishing edifices, the loss of architectural continuity, and the erasure of cultural landmarks on the city’s sociocultural tapestry. And he touches on the anxiety people in Hong Kong have been experiencing under the socio-political uncertainties. This echoes the idea I mentioned in my first Reading Response, that Hong Kong people are and have always been experiencing such turbulence in this ever changing landscape, creating an unique cityscape.
Notably, the passage draws attention to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the clock tower as iconic yet evanescent symbols, which have both shaped and perpetuated a colonial subjectivity, while concurrently fostering a sense of identity and belonging. It emphasizes how Hong Kong cinema has captured the ethereal quality of the city’s spatiality and structures, effectively rendering the transient nature of the urban fabric through cinematic narratives. And this reminds me of the group project we did last month, also resonating the theme of *vanishing* landmarks in Hong Kong like the payphones, an iconic symbol in Hong Kong cinema and an icon that has been juxtaposing the rapid urbanization in the ever-changing architectural fabric in Hong Kong.
-Wong Chun Fung 3036237831