My parents and my grandparents had lived a significant portion of their lives over there and it's clear from my discussions with them that they clearly associate themselves with Hong Kong and not with China. And so, I'd say it's a very fair presumption that the "Chinese culture" that I've been exposed to all these years is indeed of the HK variety. But, what exactly is that?
"Heunggongyun" is a term used rather frequently in the couple of papers that I've read so far, literally "Hong Kong people" (Tam 1997 & Mathews 1997). The authors use it to denote the culture developed in Hong Kong and distinct from that of China's. According to these articles, Hong Kong describes a space not merely in which Eastern and Western values meet but as a one where they are integrated. Add to that the diversity and emphasis on city-life that comes with living in an international business hub as well as the possibility of great self-created success and you may very well have the core ingredients of "heunggongyun".
Of course, the concept described above may very well be a bit antiquated. These articles were, after all, written in 1997, just as reunification occurred. With such a major change, certainly a sufficient amount of time would be required before any trends in the evolution of the "heunggongyun" mindset could be observed. According to the Mathews, the attitude in Hong Kong had already been shifting away from "Hong Kong apart from China" to "Hong Kong a part of China" and I'd imagine it's only kept shifting in that direction ever since. Also, my impression is that, since 1997, China, at least its urban centres, has become vastly more Westernized as well as affluent. And as a final point, it does seem the idea that one can achieve great successes through personal effort seems more of an artifact of Hong Kong during the post-war and ~1960's period. And so, taken all together, the concept of "heunggongyun" today is probably much less distinct from Chinese culture than what it was when these articles were written.
Nevertheless, antiquated or not, these readings have been informative, to say the least (there should be a couple more posts just from these two readings coming up). Hopefully, this is the right track. I certainly feel like I'm getting closer to something ... important.
1. Siumi Maria Tam (1997). "Eating Metropolitaneity: Hong Kong Identity in yumcha". Australian Journal of Anthropology. 8:291-306.
2. Gordon Mathews (1997). "Heungongyahn: On the Past, Present, and Future of Hong Kong Identity". Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars. 29:3-13.
"Heunggongyun" is a term used rather frequently in the couple of papers that I've read so far, literally "Hong Kong people" (Tam 1997 & Mathews 1997). The authors use it to denote the culture developed in Hong Kong and distinct from that of China's. According to these articles, Hong Kong describes a space not merely in which Eastern and Western values meet but as a one where they are integrated. Add to that the diversity and emphasis on city-life that comes with living in an international business hub as well as the possibility of great self-created success and you may very well have the core ingredients of "heunggongyun".
Of course, the concept described above may very well be a bit antiquated. These articles were, after all, written in 1997, just as reunification occurred. With such a major change, certainly a sufficient amount of time would be required before any trends in the evolution of the "heunggongyun" mindset could be observed. According to the Mathews, the attitude in Hong Kong had already been shifting away from "Hong Kong apart from China" to "Hong Kong a part of China" and I'd imagine it's only kept shifting in that direction ever since. Also, my impression is that, since 1997, China, at least its urban centres, has become vastly more Westernized as well as affluent. And as a final point, it does seem the idea that one can achieve great successes through personal effort seems more of an artifact of Hong Kong during the post-war and ~1960's period. And so, taken all together, the concept of "heunggongyun" today is probably much less distinct from Chinese culture than what it was when these articles were written.
Nevertheless, antiquated or not, these readings have been informative, to say the least (there should be a couple more posts just from these two readings coming up). Hopefully, this is the right track. I certainly feel like I'm getting closer to something ... important.
1. Siumi Maria Tam (1997). "Eating Metropolitaneity: Hong Kong Identity in yumcha". Australian Journal of Anthropology. 8:291-306.
2. Gordon Mathews (1997). "Heungongyahn: On the Past, Present, and Future of Hong Kong Identity". Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars. 29:3-13.
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