MINIPROJECT OF ELAINE WONG

RAN WRITES HERE:

I will post here from time to time some of your mini-projects, and here is part of the project that Elaine submitted to me.(we watched her video work remember?)

Characteristics of Hong Kong

Change seems to be the identity/destiny in Hong Kong, and little evidence remains as buildings are torn and reconstructed. Historians try to “capture” time in museum and use it to depict a past that has unavoidable changes outside its walls. On a sadder note, Hong Kong, as a city, may well be viewed as a “model” behind a glass box. Modern will grow out of fashion and nothing will be left except an old model.

Once seen as a “barren rock”, Hong Kong produces nothing of its own yet it is highly successful internationally, making miracles one after and other. It depends heavily on import and it is a node of transport, services and information. It may be interesting to note that what people found impossible to work in other countries it has worked here. Despite the relative poor living conditions that squeezes people in small compartments, education system that gave birth to rote learning and exam orientations, it has amazingly, still excelled as a world city. What are crucial to its success include its infrastructure, point to point convenience and efficient logistics, which however, have asserted a jeopardizing of culture for economic development and pragmatism. It has developed itself in a very short time, and now it is world famous that even the upcoming Hollywood Batman movie is going to have scenes shot in this city.

In terms of cultural observations, its citizens are less independent and more childish -- it can be explained by socio-geographical reasons though, as they are always not far from their family, and the raising of family have encouraged many citizens to be “kidults” and shed responsibility and concerns for society as grown-ups. The city-symptom of distrust can be found here, as seen from the tall fences in the city, and relatively few people would outwardly express affection or hug other people on the street in this city. To the surprise of some Europeans whom I know, what would not have worked for their cities (e.g. its citizens being childish, dependent, unwilling to face mistakes, going for superficial appearance over real substance) it has worked here, and its citizens can just lead a life in this pattern.

Hong Kong Landmarks

A traveler would not be wrong to name Louis Vuitton as a current landmark of Hong Kong in Central apart from the China Bank Tower or IFC. Shopping is so strong a force in Hong Kong that now shopping centres and designer’s stores can hardly be divorced from people’s daily lives. If landmarks are known sites for people to develop a sense of belonging, then certainly it would not be hard to find citizens of this land who have pledged loyalty to shopping for the rest of their lives. Although some may argue that there is no worthy history to be found in shopping landmarks, consumerism dictates the reverse; it appears that the history and substance of our “culture” has manifested itself in proliferating shops and shopping centres. The citizens “imagine” shopping day and night and a perspective is offered by Wai Ka-Fai’s The Shopaholics (2006). The vintage point, nevertheless, is a process and journey in which one searches for familiar sites to associate the self with the space. When there are changes taken place in these “known” shops one identifies with, the view projects distance between the cityscape and the individual, which initiates a kind of intimate engagement with the city. Beyond that, the social space that our city offers can become a site of eroticism. The searching and seeing serve as an exercise to regain appreciation and curiosity for the city as the visual excitement of unfamiliarity on the cityscape induces further investigation.

The picture below, which contains the green in Hong Kong that is greatly sacrificed for erecting those “landmarks”, is preserved in cities like New York to be a landmark itself, such as the Central Park, along with many other in-city greens.

It may be noteworthy that the enormous Central Park in New York not only offers fresh air filled with sweet vegetation, but it also preserves history such as the memorial of John Lennon’s “Imagine”. Culture, history and environment parallel economic development of the city.

On the contrary, such a sight is rare in Hong Kong. This picture, for instance, was taken at Yuen Long. We are accustomed to think of Hong Kong in terms of its glittering surface, temporary glamour and attractions that we almost forget in our daily existence about the infinitely fascinating and rocky underpinnings such as Po Toi Island and Tai Mo Shan that make Hong Kong uniquely Hong Kong and fascinating.

Hong Kong, as a site of competition and with a strong emphasis on knowledge and information acquisition, is apparently a manly gendered city (though, in illusion, many genders are possible to spring from its hybridity). With an abundance of “phallic protrusions” on its landscape, the buildings all project from the land and stand taller and taller with a sense of pride to the city’s development. Women in the city may feel discontent with strong gender division in the city, especially when they cannot fulfill the demands or gender role expectations.