【Commentary】Overseas perspective: How long does Hong Kong’s bustling entertainment community have?
“Does innovation stop when the ability to explore political themes ends entirely?”
Hong Kong put itself on the map in the late 19th century as a world-class destination for artists and live performers.
As a Canadian working in entertainment, my colleagues and friends used to tour around Hong Kong regularly, sharing their innovative, revolutionary pieces of dance, theatre, music, and film. Prior to the pandemic and especially prior to Summer 2019, it was widely considered to be a world-class destination for presenting work.
2020 came along, and had brought with it a temporary end to arts and entertainment in Hong Kong. All over the world, shows have been cancelled, tours have been postponed, and, like pulling the rug from underneath our feet, the National Security Law snuck in without notice, before many of us could safely say what we wanted to say.
At what point does Hong Kong cease to be a world-class arts and entertainment destination? Does innovation stop when the ability to explore political themes ends entirely?
Creators take risks. Wong Kar-Wai took the risk of bringing sensitive topics into his films, and became the face of Hong Kong films, being recognised internationally. He was what put Hong Kong on the map for me as an artist, turned it into an important destination for my artistic career.
But what do we, as politically-driven creators, get to say about Hong Kong? As it seems, if we ever want to go back, not a lot.
In the case of Tsang Chi-Ho, of Headliner, they seem to have come to the end of their road. He states eloquently, “Art is supposed to reflect life, and when life is nothing but politics, a pandemic, and even violence, wouldn’t these elements naturally work their way into your creations?”
He is absolutely right. We can only write about what we know, so guess what we would write when all we know is to keep fighting against our oppressors? It is a common rhetoric in live art communities in Canada, that creating apolitical art is the most privileged thing an artist can do, except...
Except when such creation facilitates healing—healing of trauma or pain by creating a manifestation of joy or celebration for life. That’s what art can be, under the right circumstances.
Artists in Hong Kong, creators for live TV, theatre, film, are all being forced to evaluate their livelihoods, passions, and love for their home, up against a government that won’t allow the artists to work in peace unless their demands are met. When those demands are to ‘restore order’, what is left for us to say?
It looks like our only choice is to keep our heads up—as filmmaker Sunny Chan was quoted, “march onwards with a smile.” In my observations of Hong Kong from a distance, this juxtaposition, this constant necessity to keep up the spirit and continue despite seemingly insurmountable pressures and hardship, permeates the fog being cast upon the city by the North, and is undeniably going to be what wins the fight.
Look at Retroll Hip Hop—one of possibly countless small groups of young creatives who are writing songs of revolution. Their outlook is, despite all odds, completely optimistic. Their hope and strength shines through their music. Their love for their city, their language, is in itself inherently political, while simultaneously simple, undetectable, and purely of the culture. How can any policy censor lyrics like “Strangers become brothers, climbing this peak from all directions”, “Will the force of our times be victorious? Stand united, and never forget our initial goal”?
It seems that in 2020, there is little room for working around these metaphors. Again, what else can your art reflect when your life is besieged by oppression?
Our website interviewed a Hongkonger playwright—who has been dealing with ever-growing censorship metrics for several years, witnessing the freedom of speech in entertainment slowly being erased. He reiterated my exact thoughts well, “I believe one of the many responsibilities of the arts is to respond to society, including current social affairs… If we don’t persist, then no one will.”
Canada isn’t a stranger to the self-censorship that Hong Kong creators have long been subject to. The Chinese Consulate rules over our lives in Vancouver and Toronto in a big way. It’s not just China, our own Canadian government has a history of atrocities over many centuries, waiting to be told and shared. Canadians can sympathise with the very same propaganda, violence and silencing that Hongkongers are facing. Our generation is collectively facing and battling corruption internationally, and we’re all up against different beasts. Police brutality, decolonisation, and state-sanctioned violence against demonstrators and marginalised people are wars that we fight together. As creators, we know what to write, how to perform, and what (or what not) to say to keep our higher-ups happy. I believe that this, under neoliberalism, is universal.
I sometimes think of Sydney Risk, a known pioneer of theatre creation in Vancouver, who worked in and created theatre from 1939 until his death in 1985. He and his actors were routinely arrested onstage for the content they chose to create and perform. In our community, we look back at this with pride in how far we’ve come, how we continue to make great strides and take bigger, riskier leaps.
What more can I do but to tell Hongkongers that they are welcome to come and make their art here? From across the Pacific, I hope that Hongkongers working in entertainment can feel our support to keep moving forward, to keep making the work, to keep the story alive. These creations are deeply healing, reformative and powerful. How many times have you walked out of a film or play feeling like you could do anything? The importance of maintaining our stance in entertainment is undeniable.
We Are HKers’ interview with Dr. Karen Mak nicely sums up my thoughts on this matter—“Some things simply do not change overnight. Just like the million-year-old clonal Pando trees—while it may look healthy and strong, it could be actually slowly dying on the inside, taking a few hundred years to die. The movement is like a natural process, and we cannot be shortsighted. Remember that we will only have hope if we remain steadfast.”
Indeed, hope and hopelessness must exist simultaneously. How else to better document this than through the vibrant live performance scene? Hongkongers are quick-witted, fast thinkers, and the creators, writers and performers that come out of Hong Kong are twice as much so—I sincerely believe that the flame in their hearts will not be put out, even as we reach what may be seen as the end of a chapter in this story of revolution. What else can I say? Keep writing, keep telling your stories and singing your songs. If one day you wake up and your platform, your medium has been stolen by corruption, you can find us, find those like you around the world, and we will lift you up again.
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This article was featured on Apply Daily English Version. See the article @ https://hk.appledaily.com/feature/20201031/EH6SXJ2OWNB5FPX72SWUYWNTXY/