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PART฀ONE฀ Hong฀Kong฀Blue:฀ Where฀Have฀All฀the฀Flaneurs฀Gone?฀ Walking฀in฀Between฀Eternal฀ Dual฀Compression฀ 14฀Hon g฀Kong฀Blue฀ With฀cities,฀it฀is฀as฀with฀dreams:฀everything฀imaginable฀can฀be฀dreamed,฀but฀ even฀the฀most฀unexpected฀dream฀is฀a฀rebus฀that฀conceals฀a฀desire฀or,฀its฀ reverse,฀a฀fear.฀Cities,฀like฀dreams,฀are฀made฀of฀desires฀and฀fears,฀even฀if฀ the฀threa d฀o f฀thei r฀discours e฀i s฀secret ,฀thei r฀rule s฀ar e฀absurd ,฀thei r฀ perspectives฀deceitful,฀and฀everything฀conceals฀something฀else.฀ Italo฀Calvino฀ To฀me฀it฀[Chungking฀Express]฀feels฀like฀a฀diary฀or฀a฀map.฀All฀the฀scenes฀ were฀shot฀according฀to฀the฀logic฀of฀the฀place.฀If฀you฀go฀to฀Hong฀Kong฀after฀ seeing฀Chungking฀Express,฀you฀won't฀get฀lost.฀ Wong฀Kar-wai฀ I n Par t One of this book I intend to superimpose the social/historical account of Hong Kong's urban space as subjected to a dual compression between the local an d th e globa l wit h th e representatio n o f Hon g Kong' s cityscap e experienced by its walkers in Wong Kar-wai's film Chungking Express. In so doing, I hope to provide a study of Hong Kong, generated through the dialogue between these two versions of the same city, to articulate questions with regard to th e ne w myt h o f globalizatio n lingerin g i n contemporar y Hon g Kong . Chapter One , an illustrative rather tha n exhaustiv e interpretation o f Hong Kong's urban space , brings to light to what extent and in what ways Hong Kong's urban spac e has been shape d b y th e force s o f a dual compression . Global compression refers to space collapsing to serve the purpose of global capital accumulation, and local compression, space collapsing to accommodate urban densities of population and housing, aggravated by global compression. I wil l giv e concret e example s t o illustrat e no t onl y th e spatia l change s engendered by global compression, such as, among others, Hong Kong Disney and Chek Lap Kok International Airport, but also the changes engendered by local compression in response to globalization and its demands, for example, overpopulation an d public housing. The urban discourses will be followe d by Chapte r Two , a critical readin g o f Hong Kon g director Won g Kar-wai' s 1994 film Chungking Express, with a particular emphasis on the director-asfldneufs impressionisti c mode of representing the city and a detailed analysis of the walkers marooned in the dream evoked by the global city mirage. The concluding section focuses on the interaction between the above two stories of Hong Kong, seeking understanding of the global city from the montage of the officia l accoun t an d privat e account , th e disjunctio n an d conjunctio n between the narrative and images of the film, and the rhetoric and rationale of the urban development blueprint . ...

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