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11 - Global Dreams and Nightmares: The Underside of Hong Kong as a Global City in Fruit Chan’s Hollywood, Hong Kong
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
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The tenth anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover to China took place amid great media attention. Of particular note are the full-page official newspaper declarations, in Hong Kong and abroad, that celebrate the event by attributing Hong Kong’s success to the fact that it has achieved the status of the premier world city of Asia (“Asia’s World City”) and to its economic position as “the prime gateway to China”. Indeed, the Hong Kong government published a book of commemorative glossy photographs of the city with a dust jacket in the auspicious red of a Chinese New Year money packet or, alternatively, the Communist red of Mao’s Little Red Book, as part of its effort to promote Hong Kong as a global brand (see Brand Hong Kong website). The theme of Hong Kong as “Asia’s World City” is elaborated in the following script: Gaze into the heart of a great city. Look closer and you’ll see what really makes a city great … its people. People with ideas. People with vision. People who dream outrageous dreams, and make them come true. People who embrace the new, yet who respect tradition. Inspired by culture, by art. Creative. Contemporary. 11 Global Dreams and Nightmares: The Underside of Hong Kong as a Global City in Fruit Chan’s Hollywood, Hong Kong Pheng Cheah* * My thanks to Chris Berry, Rey Chow and Linda Williams for their helpful comments on this essay. ch11(193-211).indd 193 25/05/2010 3:04 PM 194 Pheng Cheah Who excel on the world’s stage. Here, people have built a vibrant society, where education is prized. and educators stimulate young minds. A society where expression is free, where imagination is limitless, where choice is endless. Here, at the hub of Asia, people have built communications and transport networks that are the envy of the world. They nurture a solid and transparent financial framework, rule of law, accountable government. They compete hard on a level playing field. Here, at the gateway to China, people are born traders. who exult in enterprise and relish the art of the deal. Here, they strive for success, encourage success, applaud success. A progressive, stable and free society. A city of quality. A city of opportunity. Hong Kong: Asia’s world city. But what does it mean to be a global city? Does a global city have a specific cultural form, and if so, what is it? Strange as it may seem, the global city has become a cultural form. It is, of course, a description, a phenomenon that is the subject of analytical study in the social sciences. But through the instrumental imperatives and calculative logic of governments, the concept or idea of the global city has become an ideal that has circulated throughout the globe, becoming in the process a prescriptive norm to strive for — a dream or an aspiration. Accordingly, the archetypal global cities of New York, London and Tokyo have served as ideal images (Bilde), types or models for the economic and cultural development of other cities in the attempts of various countries to climb the hierarchy of the international division of labour. There is therefore an element of plasticity, self-reflection and self-making in the process of becoming a global city. One might even say, to use an old-fashioned German word I am especially fond of, that there is an irreducible dimension of Bildung. In a 1998 news report from the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC), Edward ch11(193-211).indd 194 25/05/2010 3:04 PM [44.204.164.147] Project MUSE (2024-03-19 04:20 GMT) Global Dreams and Nightmares 195 Leung, the Council’s chief economist, described this process of Bildung in the following way: “Hong Kong manufacturers and Hong Kong in general must begin to see itself as a ‘world city’ that serves as a services hub for its extended manufacturing network into the Chinese mainland and other parts of the world. As such, the decline in the number of manufacturing workers in the city hub is not necessarily a sign of trouble. Indeed, it may be a sign of economic strength” Hong Kong Trade Development Council, 1998). What does it mean for a city to see itself as global? This governmental imperative to “go global” is interesting for two reasons. First, it suggests that a certain global vision that maps Hong Kong’s position in the global capitalist system, a vision that the government...