SOCI 2015 – Hong Kong Popular Culture Final Project: Crises, commemorations and celebrations – media mega events Charity concerts to help victims of the Sichuan earthquake

SOCI 2015 – Hong Kong Popular Culture Final Project: Crises, commemorations and celebrations – media mega events Charity concerts to help victims of the Sichuan earthquake

Name: Lam Tsz Kan Kanis UID: 2013707059 Professor: Dr. C.H. Ng Tutorial session: Monday 1130 Tutor: Collin Li

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Table of Contents

A. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 3

B. Two Major fund raising events to Sichuan Earthquake

1. TVB fund raising events ........................................................................................................................ 4

2. Artists 512 Fund Raising Campaign ..................................................................................................... 5

C. Portrayals of the national-‐local and human-‐nature dichotomies

1. TVB fund raising events ........................................................................................................................ 6

2. Artists 512 Fund Raising Campaign ..................................................................................................... 8

D. Campaigns’ impact on people’s identity ............................................................................. 10

E. Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 12

F. Reference list .................................................................................................................................. 13

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A. Introduction

(Translation: “Hong Kong China” sounds goddamn wrong; “Motherfucker” sounds less goddamn wrong; “Hong Kong Africa” sounds less wrong.) (Blood Lei Lo Mei, 2014) This photo not only provokes me to think about the identity of Hong Kong

people, but also the position of Hong Kong. The sovereignty of Hong Kong has

been returned from Britain to China for almost 20 years, however, the hearts of

Hong Kong people were likely left in 1997. Hong Kong people have never

stopped struggling the identity of Hong Kong and Hong Kong people from 1997,

mainly because of the differences in political and cultural field.

“Do you think you are Chinese or Hong Kong Yan?” “How do you fill the blank of

nationality in the form?” These sorts of questions are asked from time to time,

and I have heard a variety of answer, for example, I am Hongkonger but Chinese,

I am Chinese but Hongkonger, HKSAR in nationality Etc. The identity of

“HongKong Yan” is extremely important to all Hong Kong people. However,

Chinese government does want Hong Kong people to get involved into

nationalism by different programs in media. We can see there are various TV

programs showing the gratitude and glamor towards China, or playing national

anthem before 6pm news report after the handover of Hong Kong to China. It is

so apparent that Chinese government wants Hong Kong people to have a great

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sense of belonging to China. Yet, is the re-‐sinicization successful in constructing

the identity of Chinese among Hong Kong people?

Sichuan suffered a torturing catastrophe in 2008, which the earthquake took

away many people’s lives and destroyed houses and school. Hong Kong people

raised the highest fund to aid the victims in Sichuan among the Chinese while

they are struggling their identity of Chinese the most as well. This paper is to

explore how the fund raising campaigns for the victims in 2008 Sichuan

Earthquake in Hong Kong portrayed the relationship and dichotomies of China

and Hong Kong, and how these all representations impact on Hong Kong people’s

identity. This paper relies on two major events, first is “United wills to Sichuan’s

earthquake relief” (眾志城成抗震救災) on TVB, second is “Artists 512 Fund-‐

raising Campaign” (演藝界 512關懷行動), which many artists from mainland

China, Hong Kong and Taiwan joined and raised a large sum of money to Sichuan.

B) Two major fund raising campaigns

1. “United wills to Sichuan’s earthquake relief”

This program actually had two series, namely “United wills to Sichuan’s

earthquake relief” and “Love of 7 millions Hong Kong people” (七百萬人的愛心).

The campaign gathered over 100 artists to perform and encourage Hong Kong

people to donate money to Sichuan, and it successfully raised over 2.2 billions. At

the beginning of “United wills to Sichuan’s earthquake relief”, Lisa Wang started

a speech claiming the earthquake took many compatriots’ (同胞) lives and

ruined their homes, and even there was long distance between Hong Kong and

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Sichuan, our hearts were linked together. Henry Tang, the previous Chief

Secretary for Administration, gave a speech afterwards saying that the love and

care from Hong Kong compatriots’ were the support to Sichuan compatriots. A

series of video clips broadcasting the situation in Sichuan were followed by,

convincing Hong Kong people to donate money to help the people in need. Many

artists performed and encouraged citizens to donate money, for example, Lisa

sang “Brave Chinese” (勇敢的中國人), Joey Yung stated we were all Chinese so

Hong Kong people would stand by them.

“Love of 7 millions Hong Kong people” is the continued episode of “United wills

to Sichuan’s earthquake relief” which added more elements and details about

how Hong Kong ordinary people felt towards the earthquake to encourage

people to donate money. It reported how people in Mainland China and Hong

Kong stood in moment of silence to the dead in Sichuan earthquake, and

interviewed Hong Kong citizens and showed all the donation methods all over

Hong Kong to advocate people to aid Sichuan.

2. “Artists 512 Fund-‐raising Campaign”

This huge event held in Hong Kong, which assembled over 200 artists from China,

Hong Kong and Taiwan to appeal all compatriots in China to donate money to the

victims in Sichuan, which was live-‐broadcasted on different channels in Hong

Kong, Taiwan and China. This show started with a moment of silence,

encouraging speeches and singing “Promise” (承諾) together, a rewritten song of

Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies (海闊天空). Many sharing and performances by

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various artists were followed by, and the campaign eventually raised over 34

millions Hong Kong dollars.

C) Portrayals of the national-‐local and human-‐nature dichotomies

1. “United wills to Sichuan’s earthquake relief”

During the fund raising program, TVB seldom directly delivered a message that

Hong Kong and China is a family in their own words. On the contrary, they

portrayed this kind of relationship by interviews with passengers, messages on

their message board and the donation activity outside.

Most of the interviewees conveyed a message that Hong Kong and China is

related, and Hong Kong people are the compatriots of Chinese. Therefore, I have

cited out some representing interviews to show how media portray the national-‐

local dichotomy to Hong Kong people. Miss Lam, a middle aged woman, said she

felt so pain when she saw the death on TV, and it felt the same as she lost the

relatives too. A mainland student at HKUST believed Hong Kong compatriots

would support Chinese people so much. Miss Yim, a secondary school student,

cried, “Being a Chinese compatriot, I felt very upset. We have the same blood

running through our bodies. However, I am very sad because I can only sit here

and keep watching the TV.” (TVB, 2008)

TVB showed the message on the message board regarding how Hong Kong

people support victims in Sichuan at the end of “Love of 7 millions Hong Kong

people”, for example, “Sichuan compatriots, cheer up! Hong Kong compatriots

will support you! I want the dead compatriots to know, please don't worry. All

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Chinese will work together to overcome this plight and tragedy! You are not

alone, and we will never forget you.” “Sichuan people and soldiers, God bless you.

Cheer up! You have the support from 13 billions of Chinese!” “Work together,

help each other, unite our wills, all Chinese will succeed in getting over this

plight.” “We, Chinese, are not afraid of difficulties and never give up! Joint our

hands and hearts to overcome this tragic moment. Don't be afraid, Sichuan

compatriots! You have us to back you up. We are proud of those ambulance men!

China! Cheer up!” Besides these all messages on TVB’s message board, it also

showed what Hong Kong people wrote on the wishing tree in the shopping mall,

which was “Same nation, same pain. Hong Kong people will support Sichuan

compatriots.” (TVB, 2008)

The most interesting I have discovered in the campaign is, TVB seldom directly

dealt with the ideas of nationalism or conveyed the message that Hong Kong

people are Chinese in their stance, as they want to pretend impartial. The hosts

of “Love of 7 millions Hong Kong people”, Amigo Chui and Anna Yau never used

the words “compatriots”, “same nation”, “kinship” to portray the relationship of

Hong Kong people and Chinese but rather stated to help the “victims” in Sichuan.

However, the tactics TVB used were adopting others’ opinions to show the

similarity of “us”, Chinese and Hong Kong people. There is always a dichotomy

between the identity of Hong Kong people and Chinese. Hongkongers love to

separate their identity into “they” and “we” because of different cultural and

political backgrounds. Yet, the media, TVB played a very important role in

narrowing down the dichotomy between the identity of local and national. It

successfully depicted a picture that Hongkongers and Chinese have the same

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blood and hearts by the songs, interviews and so on to let Hong Kong people

believe that they also feel the same pain as what Mainland Chinese felt. And this

is the reason of why Hong Kong people had to and did donate much money and

resources to help the compatriots in Sichuan. The chief message that Hong Kong

citizens had received from TVB was, we should unite together and abandon the

dichotomy of identity at such torturing moment.

TVB also put emphasis on the dichotomy of human and nature to link up Hong

Kong people and Chinese. Earthquake in Sichuan was an unpredictable and huge

disaster, which killed 69197 people and was the greatest disaster since the

establishment of the People’s Republic of China. One of the slogans TVB had

adopted in the campaign was “Ruthless catastrophe, infinitive love” (天災無情，

人間有愛), which was to bring out an idea that as a human, we have to help the

people who are in need under such heart-‐wrenching circumstance. TVB, as a

major media, had shaped Hong Kong people as a community with love and are

willing to donate and share the thing that we have to help the victims in Sichuan,

who were seriously injured in the earthquake. The name of the program, “Love

of 7 millions Hong Kong people” can prove my saying. Since Hong Kong people

are benevolent and caring human beings, we were persuaded to aid victims in

Sichuan who are perceived as our compatriots and hurt by the ruthless disaster.

2. “Artists 512 Fund-‐raising Campaign”

This massive campaign gathered artists and audience from China, Taiwan and

Hong Kong, which was broadcasted by the media of these three places. The

campaign started with the rewritten song of Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies, which

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has been called a national anthem of Hong Kong in recent days. “Boundless

Oceans, Vast Skies” is a song depicting the feeling of dream chasing and the spirit

of never give up, and it is a great and sacrosanct symbol of Hong Kong. The magic

moment is the lyrics was changed to mandarin and sung to raise fund to Chinese

who are always perceived “irrelevant” with Hong Kong people.

《承諾》 “Promise” 不必說你們背後還有我 No doubt, you have me as back 未來就是崎嶇也會陪你過 We will help you overcome the plight 一個你一個我 You and I 扛起不需要脆弱 hold on and have no weakness 前面越走一定會越寬闊 We can have a blight future 誰都會有恐懼面對黑暗的角落 Everyone is fear to face the darkness 為了你我再苦也不躲 Oh no but I will be with you 我要你重獲原來的生活 I must help you get on the right track 認定了這一輩子的承諾 This is my lifelong promise

The “you” and “me” in this part of lyrics are no longer the symbol of identity

separation that had been widely used in 1970-‐1990, but try to link up the

kinship of Hong Kong people and Chinese people. When “they” are in need, “we”

must help them, and even it is a promise.

Beside this rewritten song, artists from these three places sang a lot of Chinese

songs to encourage people in Sichuan and aim to raise fund, for example, “Brave

Chinese”, “Red Flag waving” (紅旗飄飄) and “Great China” (大中國). “We should

not distinguish China, Taiwan and Hong Kong apart, it is time for us to sing Great

China together.” Stated by one of the hosts of the campaign, Eric Tsang. This

statement implied a message that people from these three places are in the same

family and we should be united to support China and Sichuan. Again, the event

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had tried to narrow down the dichotomy of national-‐local among Chinese and

Hong Kong people, and human and nature, as the effect what TVB brought.

D) Campaigns’ impact on people’s identity

A TVB drama “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” in 1979 portrayed Hong Kong

people as hard-‐working and smart, whereas mainlanders are naïve, foolish. It

has established the contradiction between “we” and “they”, and the proud and

exclusive indigenousness of Hong Kong as well. (Ng, 2003) Therefore, Hong Kong

people always have a strong wish to keep distance from mainlanders, as they

fear the cultural and political infringement and differences. “The Hong Kong

people’s cognitive distance between the image ‘Chinese’ and their self-‐image as

‘Hongkongers’” and “the mainlander was Hong Kong’s most significant ‘other’.”

(Ma & Fung, 2008) However, this kind of cognition has been being changed since

1990s because of the re-‐sinicization. Media, therefore, is used for tacit

glorification. Hong Kong people originally sang “Under Lion Rock” to praise their

own identity, however, things changed in the post 1997. The artists started to

sing songs to celebrate the handover to China, our motherland. “The media have

been flooded with icons and images of China, mixing and blending with existing

Hong Kong icons.” (Ma & Fung, 2008) And people’s emotions and cognition

towards China have kept changing in a positive way, which was clearly shown in

the major fund-‐raising events.

Hong Kong people no longer exclude mainlanders as “they” but try to use “we” or

even “compatriots” to show their willingness and hearts to accept their identity

as being a Chinese, or just a Hongkonger but Chinese, or Chinese but

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Hongkonger. Therefore, we can see Hong Kong people showed their great pain

and pity to the victims in Sichuan and donated 1 billion dollars to China for relief

work because they started to accept and believe “they” are one of “us” or “we”

are one of “them”.

Ma and Fung (2008) argued the concept of “Imagined community” by Anderson

(1991) focus too much on cognitive instead of feeling and emotions, which are

significant components of national and cultural identity. Therefore, a research

done by them is to show Hong Kong people’s feelings towards national flag and

anthem.

The results showed that over 50% of Hong Kong people have better affection and

pride towards national flag and anthem, which was the first time to have such

number of people showing affection since the handover. (Ma and Fung, 2011)

The media played an important role in constructing such identification and

affections, and the fund raising events mentioned above can be the proof. The

two campaigns broadcasted the destruction in Sichuan and how former

president and premier went to Sichuan to instruct the relief work and comfort

the victims. This kind of depiction would give Hong Kong citizens a better image

of China, showing that China is improving and no longer close itself. Moreover,

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the heavy report is sort of re-‐sinicization to convince Hong Kong people that they

can no longer separate or exclude themselves from China, and they should offer

help instead. These all re-‐sinicization movements have definitely impacted on

people’s identity that they would try to recognize or accept themselves as

Chinese.

E) Conclusion

Re-‐sinicization is always a challenging task in Hong Kong as many of them are

still confused about their identity. Hong Kong people are still in the national-‐local

dichotomy as even they start to accept or glamorize China, they still cannot

abandon their identity of Hong Kong Yan and the proud indigenousness of Hong

Kong. The two fund raising events are actually smart tactics to do tacit

glamorization towards China among Hong Kong people by emotion avocation,

and the research by Ma and Fung showed that Hong Kong people were really

changing their cognition and affections towards China. However, the dark sides

of China still scare Hong Kong people away and the progress of re-‐sinicization

and nationalism are still in a predicament.

(Word Count: 2675)

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Reference list:

Anderson, B (1991). Imagined communities. London: Verso.

Blood Lei Lo Mei, (2014, December). Goddamn Hong Kong China [digital image] Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/BloodLoMei/photos/a.684849621561419.1073741832.535290686517314/820012701378443/?type=1&theater Ng, C.H (2003) 「普及媒介建構本土意識」in study guide for Reading Hong Kong Popular Cultures 1930-‐2000, chapter 6, at http://www.hku.hk/hkcsp/ccex.html. Television Broadcasts Limited (2008). “United wills to Sichuan’s earthquake relief” (眾志城成抗震救災). Hong Kong. Television Broadcasts Limited Television Broadcasts Limited (2008). “Love of 7 millions Hong Kong people” (七百萬人的愛心). Hong Kong. Television Broadcasts Limited Ma, K.W. and Anthony, Y.H. Fung (2008) Negotiating local and national identifications: Hong Kong identity surveys1996-‐2006 in Joseph M. Chan and Francis L.F. Lee (eds) Media and Politics in Post-‐handover Hong Kong. London: Routledge. pp. 39-‐58. 呂大樂，吳俊雄，馬傑偉：《香港．生活．文化》（香港：牛津大學出版社，2011 年），頁

55-67。

SOCI 2015 – Hong Kong Popular Culture Final Project: Crises, commemorations and celebrations – media mega events Charity concerts to help victims of the Sichuan earthquake

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