Hong Kong: a metropolis of contradictions. There is so much I love about the city of Hong Kong that it is almost impossible to articulate in a single thought. What draws me year after year to return to the Fragrant Harbor; a name inspired by the city’s early activities as a major Asian trading post for fragrant incense?
Simply stated, I cannot get enough of Hong Kong’s boundless energy, chaotic urban beauty, and above all, its cultural contradictions. This began for me the first time I set foot in the Crown Jewel Colony of the British Empire in early January 1995.
For those unfamiliar with Hong Kong at that time, the indelible ties between eastern and western history and politics were being tested as the British were set to return the city to China in 1997, after promising fifty years of rule as a special administrative region (SAR) “that exists as part of the People’s Republic of China under the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ doctrine.”
The peaceful handover negotiated in the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984 followed 156 years of British administrative sovereignty over Hong Kong and ended colonialism in the region. The administrative area included Hong Kong island, the Kowloon Peninsula across Victoria Harbor, which extends north into myriad neighborhoods far into the New Territories until reaching the border of China, at Shenzhen, the most southern Chinese metropolis with over 18 million inhabitants (Image 1, above).
Prior to the period of Hong Kong’s transition to China, in 1995 I remember being introduced to a number of Hong Kong citizens (who were, may I say, extremely comfortable financially) who publicly expressed very few reservations about the city’s future. And yet during our conversations, I realized that they had already—inevitably—secured foreign national passports as well as relocation strategies to cities such as Sydney, Vancouver, or San Francisco in preparation for the impending handover of the colony to China.
What might have been for them a cunning diplomatic strategy, proved to be a premonition of the future. It is now a fact that since 1997 much has changed, and in recent years at an increasingly rapid pace. Even as a visitor, I observe profound cultural changes to the city’s identity; over the year in subtle ways, and now more bluntly with the national security law passed March 23, 2024.
Before delving further into this blog—one that serves as an introduction to a larger series of writings based on a set of subway murals—I wish to state that I am essentially an urban boy despite my professional responsibilities causing me to live mainly in small American towns. Therefore, the bigger, denser, and more congested the urban place (a metropolis!), the happier I am.
My fascination for Hong Kong
My fascination with the city of Hong Kong is fueled by my understanding of the historical and political dimensions that make a city vibrate (similar to West Berlin during the Cold War). This excitement is partially due to the intellectual agglomeration of three contemporary authors. First, Rem Koolhaas’s architectural idea of a culture of congestion described in the 1978 book Delirious New York; second, Marc Augé’s anthropological voice in the 1992 book Non-Places: An Introduction to Supermodernity; and certainly Ackbar Abbas’s 1997 examination of globalization and postcolonial trends in Culture and the Politics of Disappearance: a series of provocative essays that were timely as they were published the year of the hand over.
Those who are truly fascinated with Hong Kong and have experienced the city in person may agree with me that one quickly develops a mindset that comes from an understanding that Hong Kong is as much about being a PLACE as a space of TRANSIT. For me, this notion comes from the idea of non-spaces as Augé defines them: as a key condition in understanding our late 20th century habits, where we ‘live’ in transient spaces such as supermarkets, malls, hotels, and airports; places that are both everywhere and nowhere.
I said partially as my intellectual peregrinations have always been incomplete and needed to be challenged by on-site visits in the city. While excursions tend to be confirmations of past impressions—regularly confronted with new information found in the South China Morning Post, the city’s major daily newspaper in English—my attraction for Hong Kong remains unambiguously tied to the on-going formative process of building a palimpsest that one day will lead to a memoir formed by time passed in ‘my’ city (Image 4, above).
I have returned numerous times to Hong Kong and remain mesmerized. I wrote in a previous blog that “For me, each city is a spatial palimpsest where ancient traditions and contemporary know-how form a fascinating and contradictory urban tapestry. Of course, I have my favorite cities that are a little like home for me (Hong Kong, New York, Paris, Venice, and Vienna, for sentimental reasons); but above all, each city is a place where I leave something of myself to selfishly retrieve when I return during the next visit.” For Hong Kong, this is more than ever true now.
A couple of months prior to each of my visits, I meticulously prepare by planning to revisit iconic places that have meaning for me. While many of them are about old Hong Kong showcasing heritage sites, other are new and contemporary architectural marvels that have popped up since my last visit. Considering myself an urban flâneur, my inquisitive mind immediately jumpstarts when, on the front steps of my hotel, I am ready to embrace the city’s sounds, smells, and visual stimuli.
What makes Hong Kong unique for me
Contrary to a city such as Paris, which is deeply anchored in my mind by culture, history, and revolutions, Hong Kong is a beast in its own right. A city that is divided geographically by one of the busiest and most important economic waterways in the world, the island of Hong Kong (Kennedy Town to Central, Wan Chai, Admiralty, and extending to Causeway Bay) identifies itself primarily by its old neighborhoods tucked away and hidden between majestic modern and overpowering skyscrapers (Image 6, below).
The mainland of Kowloon (Tsim Sha Tsui, Jordan, and Mongkok) include some of the densest neighborhoods in the world where you will find an extraordinary twenty-four-hour street life, encompassing a number of historic pockets of great beauty, charm, and almost forgotten serenity within the urban jungle.
The contradiction between tradition and innovation at every level one confronts me each time I land at the airport on Lantau Island, 20 minutes west of the city center. Then, the state-of-the-art subway network brings me to the heart of Hong Kong and my journey seems to begin again. The immediacy of understanding that this is a special place flavors all the activities from the sight of world architecture, strolling through dense urban neighborhoods and lush, domesticated landscapes, visiting museums and heritage sites, and, of course, indulging in shopping sprees, all followed by exquisite authentic Cantonese food; especially luncheon at Maxim’s Palace in Central where dim sum is still presented in carts for patrons to choose from.
Sheung Wang and Sai Ying Pun, two old Hong Kong neighborhoods
Over many years, I have enjoyed staying at hotels on the mainland. However, during my recent visits, I have come to favor hotels on Hong Kong Island in Sheung Wan and Sia Ying Pun. These neighborhoods have dramatic topography and exhort charm through iconic names such as Hollywood Road, Upper Lascar Row, the Man Mo Temple. Blending tradition with modernity you will find antique stores, temples, wet markets, and far too many hole-in-the-wall eateries, all which need courage to patronize, but offer staples of authentic food.
Both neighborhoods are traversed by Des Voeux Road, a main artery that follows the original coastline and is bordered to the east by the business district Central, and to the west by the more vernacular district Kennedy Town. They are in close proximity to several MTR subway stations, tram and bus stops, and within a healthy walking distance of the Star Ferry Boat to Kowloon. Despite it being deeply Cantonese, I feel strangely at home in this neighborhood.
I call Sheung Wang and Sai Ying Pun authentic because the residents are part of the old Hong Kong Cantonese-dominant neighborhood community: frenetic, feverish, and frenzied. And while one can find chic boutiques and old-fashioned dim sum restaurants within the upper levels of mini skyscrapers that often date back to the 1950s, neither of the districts host the outrageous luxury malls found in Central, Wan Chai, and further west in Causeway Bay; shopping centers of a Blade Runner fantasy atmosphere for avid hip young consumers.
A cornucopia of food
As mentioned in my introduction, what makes my visits so memorable is difficult to synthesize in words. Contrary to Paris and many European historic centers, there are few remaining heritage buildings, monuments, and public spaces. And yet, my delight when visiting Hong Kong relies on the belief that one has to live the city through its multiple contradictions, while remaining open-minded when wandering from place to place.
Each corner of the city is a visual and olfactory feast with countless food stalls and indoor markets that offer—at least to me—a cornucopia of foods, including dried seafood that I have never seen previously. My diet is certainly more adventurous than many, but browsing through these beautifully presented goods, I am sometimes at a loss of what I am seeing, or how to actually eat it. I do indulge in my western comfort food, finding many bakeries that offer croissants and pastries that measure up to those of Paris, Venice, and Vienna (Image 9 and 10 above, and 11 below).
Urban murals
Perhaps for me the unexpected encounters are magic. One that remains memorable as a metaphor of my feelings towards Hong Kong happened when walking through one of the connecting galleries of the MTR station at Sai Ying Pun (Entrance/ Exit B1 and B2 Lift Lobby Concourse). Joining the main underground entrance to the two platforms of the Island Line, I discovered a wonderful mural formed by 12 panels, each measuring approximately 8 by 7 feet. Rendered as a bas relief by artist Louise Solway Chan, it showcases the daily lives of the citizens of Hong Kong. Each of the panels was designed and installed for the opening of the new Sai Ying Pun MTR station. Who better to talk of this art than the artist herself:
Art in Station Architecture
“Inside, Outside —
North, South, East, West”
The vibrancy of street life in Sai Ying Pun combines with some of the area’s dramatic topography provide the inspiration for six [12] painted bas reliefs, which depict vistas down major streets on its norther, southern, eastern, and western aspects. The use of long perspectives draws the viewer into each scene, which are portrayed during the changing seasons. Summer is seen after a typhoon, autumn during the Mid-Autumn Festival, winter with warmly dressed pedestrians and Chinese New Year marked by the arrival of an auspicious trifoliate orange tree.
Conclusion
I have admired this art since first encountering it, and a series of future blogs will connect my interpretation of the city using Chan’s subject matter of people gathering in the streets. As a teaser to future blogs, I am including the panels below.
Panel 1: Car mechanics, FRP panel 2.4m x 1.6m (cropped section) showing the resident dogs keeping one eye open. The mechanic is playing bubble blast and burst game on his iPhone 3 the latest phone the time this panel was made….
Panel 2: Lantern shop, FRP bas-relief panel 2.4m x 2.2m Paper worshipping shop, in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival. Popular cartoon characters lanterns. Angry Birds were a big craze, as was the film, Cars. Placing it in time…
Panel 3: Tea shop, FRP bas-relief panel, in acrylics 2.4m x 2.2m Tea shop based on a traditional shop in Queens Road West. The man holding the tea cake is my father, the old man behind is calculating the bill with a wooden abacus.
Panel 4: Dried seafood panel, FRP panel 2.4m x 2.2m Note the man delivering the large bottles of water, he appears in another panel walking home with his vegetables from the market, see panel with the lady trying on shoes…
Panel 5: Dai Pai Dong (outdoor eating place) FRP bas-relief panel, in acrylics 2.4m x 2.2m Every panel has a lone foreigner, spot the pink shirt eating under the umbrella. The old lady moves between the two panels, burning paper money during Hungry Ghost Festival.
Panel 6: Sophisticuts, FRP bas-relief panel, in acrylics 2.4m x 2.2m Based on a hairdresser located up the steep steps before the escalator was built. The flames are being stoked by the old lady, appeasing hungry ghosts.
Panel 7: Fruit stall, FRP panel, in acrylics 2.4m x 1. 6m Real fruits – lychees, pineapples, durian – as well as garlic, ginger, walnuts, noodles (and even light bulbs) were cast from life, giving a realistic texture.
Panel 8: Shoe stall, FRP panel, painted 2.4m x 2.2m Mid-Autumn Festival – a girl, being carried by her grandmother, holds a traditional fish lantern ready for the evening moon festival. As a woman nearby tries on shoes …
Panel 9: After the typhoon, FRP panel, 2.4m x 2.2m Facing east towards IFC. Summer represented by the after-effects of a typhoon, blown out umbrellas and broken trees, as the sun breaks through.
Panel 10: Construction of the escalator, FRP panel, 2.4m x 2.2m Centre Street facing south, towards Caine Road. Christmas, represented by gold-covered pots of red poinsettia’s, festive decorations, and people in winter clothes.
Panel 11: Lunar New Year, FRP panel, 2.4m x 2.2m Queens Road West, Lunar New Year, symbolized by an auspicious orange tree being wheeled into the scene. 2011, the Year of the Snake, the side of the tram decorated with a golden snake.
Panel 12: Fish stall, FRP panel in acrylics 2.4 x 1.6m Fishmonger smoking. One of my favourite panels as the little boy is my son watching the crabs blow bubbles.
Additional blogs pertaining to Hong Kong
Hong Kong Shopping Mall
Hong Kong: Bauhaus style Central Market
Hong Kong: a lesson in stairs (Central Market)
Hong Kong: the history of Central Market
Bathroom at the Novotel in Hong Kong
Hong Kong: a lesson in stairs (Billie Tsien and Tod Williams)