Introduction: Made into Hong Kong

Abstract

On the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover, this chapter introduces the dialectical dynamics of the place’s primary competing identities: colonial and post-handover. Outlined are variegated cultural elements, how these are appropriated into unique Hong Kong imaginaries, and processes by which these gain—or fail to gain—recognition by Hongkongers. Whether glossing a local author, director, cultural event, political affair, linguistic variety, public policy, or new language usage, the focus and stake of the introduction remains indebted to the serious question how is what is made into Hong Kong made into Hong Kong—and legitimated as such? “Made Into Hong Kong” illustrates how the essay volume’s gyroscopic methodological categorization into three interrelated parts—surveillance, sousveillance, and equiveillance—facilitates (and even demands) a multitude of perspectives by which to investigate and organize a careful selection of detailed underpinnings to the incoherent imaginaries earmarking Hong Kong in 2017.