Telling the Story of Hong Kong, by Will Hagle

Cultural Cross Sections Will Hagle Photo courtesy of the author Following decades of British colonial rule to the rapidly tightening grip of mainland China and all the stories told about that chunk of land along the way, Hong Kong has grown accustomed to outsiders imposing manufactured identities and narratives upon it. Any attempt to summarize—let alone explain—what has been happening on its city streets for five months and counting would be a uniquely modern form of cultural imperialism. That story would be best told by those who are there. I can only tell you about what I’ve learned, from where I am and where I’ve been. During the span of the 2019 anti-extradition law amendment protests, which have since evolved beyond opposing the bill that would have allowed for the extradition of certain arrested residents to mainland China, I have been to Hong Kong and back in my adopted hometown of Los Angeles, thinking about the fragile concept of location-based identity. What I’ve learned is this: if the true nature of a location can be grappled with, confronted, and preserved anywhere, it is in literature; and the literature of Hong Kong portrays a place as complex, vibrant, challenging, and politically unstable as current news dispatches would suggest. If the true nature of a location can be grappled with, confronted, and preserved anywhere, it is in literature; and the literature of Hong Kong portrays a place as complex, vibrant,... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'

[ World Literature Today | 2019-12-17 15:28:20 UTC ]

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