Session Abstract

This panel engages the AHA theme of “History and the Other Disciplines” by examining the history of Hong Kong cinema and its complex connections to China and the West from the 1950s to 1990s.  The study of Hong Kong history has to be situated in a larger context that includes the British colony’s multi-level ties with the Chinese Mainland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.  By studying the global connections of Hong Kong cinema, this panel explores the tensions between modern commercial society and human freedom of thought, expression and public discussion.  Working across the disciplines of history, cinema studies, literature and political theory, and drawing on archival sources, personal notes, fiction, movie scripts, and most importantly films, the panelists ask questions relating to film censorship, leftist film promotion, dissent, resistance, and the mediated representation of the past.  Specifically, they probe how the colonial government attempted to de-politicize the screen and project the Colony as a paradise of commerce and entertainment, and how these projected images have been variously appropriated for diverse political and cultural ends.  Responses to these questions link Hong Kong’s past with broader historical issues, including struggles between two ideological blocs during the Cold War and tensions between commercialism and its leftist or liberal opponents.

The panel, which includes participants from various disciplines, will present papers that tie the study of films to a historical analysis of Hong Kong and its global connections.  Kenny Ng’s paper reveals that the British colonial government sought to curb freedom of expression and exert control over cinema in Hong Kong by imposing censorship on local and Hollywood movies during the Cold War era to remove undesirable political messages from the screen.  Kwok Wai Hui’s research demonstrates that to survive film censorship and more importantly to attract audiences in the Colony, Hong Kong leftist film promoters employed commercial tactics to package revolutionary and patriotic messages in opera films imported from the People’s Republic of China.  Yet, she argues that these tactics undermined the very ends of liberation and enlightenment that they pursued.  Guangxin Fan’s paper investigates the way in which people defend their liberty and individuality against the levelling force of the free market.  Martial artist and popular film star, Bruce Lee, searched for a genuine self via practicing Jeet Kune Do, and rejected any form of imitation and mass production in martial arts instruction.  Ironically, to popularize his philosophy to the broader public, Lee had to rely on the most powerful modern media, namely film, characterized with mass production and consumption.  Kristine Harris’s paper tracks afterimages of classic iconography from twentieth-century Hong Kong and Shanghai films in recent and contemporary film, visual art, and mixed media installations created by both Chinese and Western artists. In so doing, she considers the changing significance of these iconic markers and moments from the past in an increasingly commercialized society.  Commenting on this panel will be Poshek Fu, who has been working on the history of Hong Kong cinema in a global context.