LECTURE (2): Culture & Identity The Making of HK Culture & Identity since the 1960s.

LECTURE (2): Culture & IdentityLECTURE (2): Culture & Identity

The Making of HK Culture & Identity

since the 1960s

The Making of HK Culture & Identity

since the 1960s

QuestionQuestion

What role did (i) popular What role did (i) popular culture, & (ii) the government culture, & (ii) the government play in the formation of HK play in the formation of HK

culture & identity?culture & identity?

QuestionQuestion

What role did (i) popular What role did (i) popular culture, & (ii) the government culture, & (ii) the government play in the formation of HK play in the formation of HK

culture & identity?culture & identity?

What is culture?What is culture?

The role of popular culture (& the state) The role of popular culture (& the state) in cultural formation in HKin cultural formation in HK

History of popular culture (up to the History of popular culture (up to the 1970s) --- localization1970s) --- localization

Popular culture in the 1980s & 90sPopular culture in the 1980s & 90s

What is culture?What is culture?

The role of popular culture (& the state) The role of popular culture (& the state) in cultural formation in HKin cultural formation in HK

History of popular culture (up to the History of popular culture (up to the 1970s) --- localization1970s) --- localization

Popular culture in the 1980s & 90sPopular culture in the 1980s & 90s

Today’s Focuses

I. What is Culture?

Four aspects of culture within a community Four aspects of culture within a community (( 吳俊雄 吳俊雄 2002):2002):

Life Style

Folk Knowledge/ Wisdom

Ideological Elements

Systematic (Ideological) Discourse

Four Aspects of Culture

(1) Life style

shown in daily life but difficult to measure e.g. 「搏殺、機靈 …走精面」

Four Aspects of Culture

(2)    Folk knowledge/ wisdom

some systematization but largely pragmatic, superficial, spontaneous & going along with the mass;

e.g. 「在家靠父母、出外靠朋友」、「鬼叫你窮呀頂硬上」、「大難臨頭各自飛」

Four Aspects of Culture

(3) Ideological Elements

sets of more explicitly, coherently & systematically articulated ideas, knowledge & beliefs (e.g. economic knowledge, medical knowledge, conception of gender)

e.g. 「趁低吸納」、「均衡飲食」、「好人有好報」、「男主外、女主內」 )

Four Aspects of Culture

(4) Systematic Ideological Discourse

system of knowledge & beliefs that are more macro & more coherent than ideological elements.

E.g.: Confucianism, liberalism, democracy, capitalism, & socialism

II. The Role of Popular Culture

吳俊雄 (2002) on Popular Culture

• Absence of Systematic Ideological Discourse by Absence of Systematic Ideological Discourse by the Colonial Governmentthe Colonial Government

– no project of national unification & rejuvenation through language, education, art, public symbols & rituals

– main concern with law & order

… 吳俊雄

• Absence of ideological discourse by the Absence of ideological discourse by the government government leaving an leaving an ideological vacuum for popular culture to ideological vacuum for popular culture to fill up:fill up:

「因此，香港人覺得自己屬於香港，對它產生一種投入甚至自豪的感覺 … . 其實是一個適逢其會，和相對地點滴自發的過程。這與大部分地方國族意識建構成形的背景並不相同 … . 無人願意搖旗振臂號召民心，普及文化就充當先鋒，粉墨登場。 」（吳 :p.92）

III. History of Popular Culture

2 Major Developments (1950s-70s)

• Folk Culture ( 民間文化 ) Mass Culture ( 大眾文化 ) (industrialization & commercialization)

• Localization of Popular Culture ( 本土化 )

1. Folk Culture Mass Culture

early 20thC: traditional Chinese folk culturefolk culture ( 鬭蟋蟀 , 打麻雀 ); some mass culture

1950s & 60s: fast development of mass mass cultureculture (mass media industry)

influx of Chinese immigrants capital, talents (cultural capital), & market potentialsradio, movies, newspapers, & comics etc. 1967: TVB ( 無線電視台 ) – a free wireless TV broadcasting popularization of mass culture

2. Mass Culture: early development

(i) The early mass media industry fed

primarily on:

• Traditional Chinese culture (e.g. movies from Shanghai)

• Imported cultural products from overseas (e.g. US, Britain, Japan)

(ii) Low Status of Cantonese culture (40s-60s)

• Cantonese songs (e.g.“ 賭仔自嘆” ) representing lower taste than Mandarin songs

• English songs (e.g. “Beatles” fever in 1964) symbolizing modernity

• Co-existence of different dialects in radio programs (e.g. 福建、潮州、客家、上海、廣東、國語 )

• Predominance of Mandarin movies from Shanghai (legacy of Chinese movie tradition of 30s & 40s)

• Cantonese being considered as an informal or lesser language, or as bad Chinese writing

• Growth & decline of Cantonese movies (50s-70s)

Domination of Mandarin Movies - rise & decline of Cantonese movies

• Mandarin movies by the Shaw Brothers ( 邵氏兄弟 ): big-budget products shot in color & widescreen (e.g. director: 李翰翔 )

• Cantonese movies: – small-budget & declining in quality – mid-60s: rise of a new youth movie genre– declined by the end of the 60s again (the

Mandarin movies dominated again)

3. Mass Culture: Style & Ideological Elements

(50s-70s) (i) 吳俊雄 (2002): 本土意識

Ideological elements in local pop culture

insecurity consciousness (survival)

a traditional sense of self-help among close kin & neighbor (e.g. 人人為我 , 我為人人 )

a sense of distrust in the authority (e.g. riots in the mid 60s)

(ii) Turner (1995): A HK Identity Coming of Age in the 60s

• Characteristics of HK culture: hybrid ( 混雜 )

–a mixture of different things: Chinese & Western; tradition & modernity;

international vs.local outlook.

… Turner

• A conscious ideological role of the state in nurturing HK identity (but a limited rather than fully independent identity)

“East meets West”

A modern city with an international outlook (e.g. the annual Chinese Manufacturers’ Exhibition of HK Products)

policy of community-building in late 60s & 70s (e.g. HK Festival, Fight Crime, Clean HK)

… Turner

•Co-existing with popular culture from the market (bottom-up) e.g. Comic books:

“小流氓” “老夫子”

… Turner

“In this hybrid between over-determined, paternalistic rhetoric and the indeterminacy of popular experience, the population of HK came to identify themselves as ‘Heung Gong Yan’ (p.22)

4. Mass Culture: Localization

(i) Status of Cantonese culture in 70s:

• predominance of Cantonese as the HK language in popular culture

• Local popular TV drama series (e.g. 啼笑姻緣、狂潮、網中人、上海灘、倚天屠龍記 )

• Local popular songs – (i) songs that go with the TV drama series, & (ii) songs by local songwriters (e.g. 許冠傑 )

半斤八兩 ( 曲 / 唱 / 詞 : 許冠傑 )

我地呢班打工仔　通街走糴直頭係壞腸胃 搵個些少到月底點夠洗（奀過鬼） 確係認真濕滯 最弊波士郁Ｄ發威（癲過雞） 一味係處係唔係亂黎吠 嗡親加薪塊面拿起惡睇（扭下計） 你就認真開胃 （半斤八兩）做到隻積咁既樣 （半斤八兩）濕水炮仗點會響 （半斤八兩）夠薑喳鎗走去搶 ＊出左半斤力　想話羅番足八兩 家陣惡搵食　邊有半斤八兩咁理想（吹漲） 我地呢班打工仔　一生一世為錢幣做奴隸 個種辛苦折墮講出嚇鬼（死俾你睇） 咪話冇乜所謂 （半斤八兩）就算有福都冇你享 （半斤八兩）慘過滾水淥豬腸 （半斤八兩）雞碎咁多都要啄

獅子山下 ( 唱：羅文 ; 曲 : 顧家輝 ; 詞：黄霑 )

人生中有歡喜 難免亦常有淚我地大家在獅子山下相遇上

總算是歡笑多於唏噓人生不免崎嶇 難以絕無掛慮既是同舟在獅子山下且共濟

拋棄區分求共對* 放開 彼此心中矛盾 理想一起去追

同舟人 誓相隨 無畏更無懼 *# 同處海角天邊 攜手踏平崎嶇我地大家用艱辛努力寫下那

不朽香江名句 #

Localization

(ii) HK-Centred Perspective • early themes were China-focused

(national honor, foreign aggression, traditional family relations e.g. 家春秋 )

• a shift to “here & now” aspects of life in HK since the 50s.

• HK Identity: Symbolic construction of Mainlander (vs. HK) in the image of “Ah Chan” ( 阿燦 ) in late 70s

Localization

(iii) HK Style

HK culture: hybrid ( 混 雜 ) – with both Chinese & Western elements, & yet representing neither. Example: Cantonese MoviesBreakthrough in the late 70s & the 80s: Comedy e.g. 【鬼馬雙星】 ( 許氏兄弟 ); New Kung-fu genre e.g. 李小龍系列、劉家良的 【洪熙官】、袁和平的【醉拳】New generation: 王晶、吳宇森、麥當雄、成龍 New wave: 許鞍華、方育平、徐克

… 吳俊雄

• After the 1970s of rapid economic development …

insecurity consciousness economic optimism (the discourse on prosperity & stability)

1. Local Identity in Pop Songs in the 80s

Context: “1997” issue – identity crisis Context: market imperative (music

industry)

2. The Rise of Stephen Chow in the 90s

周星馳 --- 無里頭文化

IV. Popular Culture in the 80s & 90s

1.1. Local Identity in Pop Songs in the 80sLocal Identity in Pop Songs in the 80s

“香港人在中英談判之際亦體會到不能自主的迷惘，因而在文化上努力填補身份的匱乏 … 【獅子山下】 (1979) 可說標示著從同舟共濟到本土意識的自覺建構的重要過渡 …八十年代初政治情況的轉變令香港人不能在停留於民間意識 /生活風格，被迫面對自己的身份，“香港”在不同的就位之下有不同形態，本土意識的論述儼然已進入了意識形態的階段。” ( 朱耀偉 2002)

(a) City folk songs: 【香港香港】 : 香港，我心中的故鄉，這裡

讓我生長，有我喜歡的親友共陽光 …

(b) Songs on emigrationSam Hui: 【悶到透】、 【我是太空人】

(c) Band music on identity anxiety (relationship with China):

Beyond: 【大地】 ; 達明一派 : 【你還愛我嗎】 *

2.2. The Rise of Stephen Chow in the 90sThe Rise of Stephen Chow in the 90s

Character: ordinary person ( 小人物 )

Culture of senselessness ( 無里頭文化 )

「『里頭』可解作分寸或準則，『無里頭』因而可解作無分寸或無準則、行事為人不依慣常方式，反映出一種吊兒郎當的性格。」 ( 黄成榮 )

(a) Postmodernism-a new cultural style in the West in mid-late 20thC (e.g. movies, literature, & painting), as a reaction against modernism

Modernism vs. Postmodernismrational anti-rationalclear & coherent ambiguouslinear non-linear ( 時空錯置 )

morality/ function pleasure ( 愉悅 )

「我們可以用三項標準來判斷後現代的電影：第一 …是技巧，第二 …是內容， 第三…是精神。」

「所謂後現代的內容 …『虛擬比真實更真實。』…他們從虛擬世界的真實性出發 …無法回答如何分辨真偽的問題 …你究竟想說什麽？或究竟你的目的是什麽？後現代哲學家一定含糊其詞，不知所云。不過，我不是一位後現代哲學家，周星馳也不是。我們沒有那麼多的顧忌 … 除了快樂，其餘免談。」

( 周掌宇、于欣怡 2004)

(b) Social Context for its Popularity

Two Possible Interpretations:

1. reaction against the previous stage of modernism in prevailing culture

2. reaction against the political climate (generated by the “1997” issue) --- subversive ( 顛覆 ); can’t be too serious etc.

Video Show:

“ 他來自江湖” (1989)

主演 :

周星馳