ASIA 325: Hong Kong Cinema

Studying Hong Kong cinema allows students to understand the global reach of a major international industry and the local expression of Hong Kong identity through visual spectacle, story, style, stars, and sound. Hong Kong’s unique and complex history and extraordinary dynamism are mirrored in the themes, images and speed central to this vibrant cinema. Students will explore the varied ways in which Hong Kong’s complex hybrid identities, transnational linkages, and cultural fluidity are represented through film and examine Hong Kong cinema’s global influence and art. This course will raise and give students the tools to handle the following questions or approaches:

What is Hong Kong Cinema?
What are the stages of Hong Kong Cinema?
How do you read Hong Kong film language(s) (or: the poetics of cinema)?
What are the genres and typologies of Hong Kong cinema?
What roles do directors, cinematographers, stars, studios, and audiences play in Hong Kong cinema?

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Why should students study Hong Kong?

What is Hong Kong cinema and culture?

Why do you study Hong Kong?

What makes the course special?

Dr. Helena Wu is the author of The Handover After the Handover: Places, Things and Cultural Icons in Hong Kong (Liverpool University Press, 2020), in which she explores the manifestation of the local in colonial and post-handover Hong Kong. She has also published on the topics of Hong Kong cinema, culture, and media in Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies (2018), Chinese Martial Arts and Media Culture (2018), Hong Kong Keywords (2019), Global Media and China (2020), and Journal of Chinese Cinemas (2020).

Renren Yang’s research and teaching span twentieth-and twenty-first-century Chinese literature, cinema, and popular culture, with a focus on issues of authorship, mediation, and hybrid genres in Chinese literary and media scenes. His current book project, “A Media Genealogy of Literary Fame in Modern China: Paper, Stage, Screen, and Sphere,” traces the changing concepts, practices, and politics of celebrity authorship throughout twentieth-century Chinese history with the ongoing shift from the print to the digital regime of letters. He also published articles on Chinese web novels and surveillance cinema. Prior to moving to UBC, he taught first-year seminars at Stanford University.

Su-Anne Yeo researches and teaches in the areas of film studies, media studies, and cultural studies, with a specialization in Chinese screen cultures. She completed a PhD in Media and Communications under the supervision of Professor Chris Berry at Goldsmiths, University of London, in 2016 and is currently developing a monograph, entitled Alternative Screen Cultures in Asia Pacific, for Amsterdam University Press. Her output includes publications on various aspects of screen distribution and exhibition, and her book chapter, “Translating the Margins: New Asian Cinema, Independent Cinema, and Public Culture at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival,” from the edited collection, Chinese Film Festivals: Sites of Translation, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in spring 2017.

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ASIA324 (23W): Outside In

ASIA324 Literature of Hong Kong – Creative Project

Outside In: Modern Re-Telling of Ronald Mar’s “Streets in the Sun”

By Chloe Chong, Emily Law, Ann Wong, Veronica Wong, Damon Wong

“We were inspired by Inside Out (Disney, 2015) as the characters each embody an emotional personification of the protagonist of the movie. Naming our project “Outside-In” puts at the forefront our aim to bring out the internal turmoil of the protagonist, while allowing us the creativity to re-organise the characters and his thoughts to demonstrate his resolution of such turmoil. […] [W]e identified the protagonist’s five core emotions that deeply influenced his thoughts and behaviours: Pride, Fear, Sympathy, Shame, and Longing, along with enlightenment of Pride. Afterwards, we highlighted the various ways these emotions emerged in the story to shape our impression of the protagonist from these five perspectives and come to a profound and more nuanced understanding of him. […] To display our findings and creative endeavors, we created five social media accounts for each dominant emotional persona and created a group chat where they could ‘interact.’” — Project Rationale

ASIA324 (23W): Shrimp and Egg, Tofu Soup, and Bubble Waffle

ASIA324 Literature of Hong Kong – Creative Project

Shrimp and Egg, Tofu Soup, and Bubble Waffle: A Creative Response to Hon Lai Chu’s “Notes on an Epidemic”

By Mazin Ahmed, Aidan Chan, Gillian Lai, Kevin Yu, and Justin Wang

“Hon Lai Chu’s ‘Notes on an Epidemic’ is an ode to Hong Kong’s experience during SARS in 2003. […] Using Hon’s mention of Tofu Soup and Shrimp and Egg, and playing on the importance of family roles, we designed three recipe sheets and added details as if the recipes had been plucked from the story and brought to life. The designs of each recipe point to how food is used to convey the absurdity of this new life. Take-out menus play on the theme of isolation, as it is often eaten at home. This idea of isolation is subverted by the government by placing a recipe on the takeout menu and asking that the dish only be eaten with family. Likewise, printing a recipe onto everyday items, such as a bubble waffle wrapper, as a handout, presents an opportunity to take the recipe home for the family to participate in familial activities such as cooking together for the family to share.” — Project Rationale

ASIA324 (23W): AsiaBnB

ASIA324 Literature of Hong Kong – Creative Project

AsiaBnB: A Creative Response to Cecil Clementi’s “Hong Kong” and Leung Ping-Kwan’s “A Response to Cecil Clementi”

By Julie Eng, Wen-Ling Hsieh, Johnson Lu, Ming Shiu, Wells Suen, and Edwin Tan

“Our choice of medium, which is as an AirBnB webpage, was meant to be a satirical / parodic take on Leung Ping-Kwan’s criticisms of Cecil Clementi’s work with a modern twist. This serves to humorously evoke the imagery presented in both literary works as if the disagreement occurred in a more modern time point, but also brings forth the criticisms of Leung Ping-Kwan into a more tangible form by framing them in a medium that is more relatable to a modern audience. By using an interactive web-page interface which allows the opinions of Leung and Clementi to interact and clash with each other in a more direct manner, the nuanced discourse between their contrasting ideologies may benefit from being able to debate and refute each other’s perspective, creating a more direct conflict that is elevated and transferred from the original works of each author, whilst maintaining an easily interpretable format and allowing ideas to build upon the literary foundations laid out by the initial pair of texts.” — Project Rationale

ASIA324 (23W): Tattoos from The Ashes

ASIA324 Literature of Hong Kong – Creative Project

Tattoos from The Ashes: A Creative Response to Eileen Chang’s “From the Ashes”

By Lawrence Liu, Elisha Ng, Angela Ngan, Lois Sew, Andrew Tan

“Our project was inspired by Eileen Chang’s [way of] storytelling in “From the Ashes,” which vividly portrays the impact of war on individuals. We focused on how even small details can shape people’s lives during a difficult time. We aimed to continue this exploration by imagining what happens to the characters after the war, using tattoos as symbols of their experiences. We chose tattoos because they are meaningful and lasting, much like the effects of war on people. We developed stories for each character based on their personalities and how they dealt with the war. […] War is an impactful event that continues to occur in present times. Our team is grateful to say that we have never experienced anything remotely similar to being in a war. As such, we tried our best to put ourselves in the perspectives of the characters that we chose. We wish to emphasize the characters’ resilience during the war and their ability to push themselves to continue living to the best of their ability. We want to highlight the importance of being resilient, strong, and fearless even during the scariest and toughest times.” — Project Rationale

ASIA324 (23W): Intersection

ASIA324 Literature of Hong Kong – Creative Project

Intersection: A Creative Response to Liu Yichang’s “Intersection”

By Coco Chan, Crystal Chung, Katie Edwards, Isabelle Kang, and Dylan Louie

“Our project, ‘Intersection’, is presented as a comic strip, enabling the storytelling of Ah Xing’s story in a vertical, and Chunyu Bai’s in a horizontal sequence. At the centre, the different paths converge, crafting the story that symbolises the intersection of urban experiences. This enables the utilisation of visual elements; colour and visual metaphors, depicting and contrasting urban experiences. This enriches our project symbolism that resonates with viewers differently depending on their lived experiences. This invites viewers to a personal exploration of urban dynamics, encouraging them to interpret the urban experience in Hong Kong. The subjective nature of our work enables individual reflection among viewers as they discover intersections amidst urban narratives.” — Project Rationale

ASIA324 (23W): Teahouse of Memories

ASIA324 Literature of Hong Kong – Creative Project

Teahouse of Memories: A Creative Response to Dung Kai Cheung’s “The Rise and Fall of Wing Shing Street”

By Isabelle Chan, Wise Lau, Kellie Ng, Gloria Wu, and Kathleen Yuan

“This creative project, ‘Teahouse of Memories’, is centered on the impermanence of memory and the complex relationship between individuals and their cultural history. The narrative still unfolds from the protagonist’s lens, who grapples with feelings of displacement from his personal history. As such, this alludes to his greater belonging to Hong Kong, as symbolized by his exploration of the evocative ‘Teahouse of Memories’. While still fictional, this teahouse represents the transient nature of places, and the ways in which they foster the remembrance of the forgotten locals, amidst the relentless march of urbanization.” — Project Rationale