Abstract
Since the 1960s, the discourse of British colonizers and Hong Kong post-war boomers has focused on the rise of the “city” and has pointed to the rapid changes in urban Hong Kong as a mark of its superiority to the motherland. Their concerns persist: Hong Kongers are still asking what alternative model could be generated to replace or “improve” Hong Kong’s modern, urban subjectivity. While Hong Kong’s land and cultural imaginary have been “encircled” and bounded by its dominant economic model, the practices of organic communities, which are the focus of this chapter, call into question the legitimacy of such practices and reimagine the land as a site of local creativity and eco-cosmopolitan imagination—a site where different ideologies can be contested and practiced.
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Notes
- 1.
Traditional characters are used in this chapter. As this chapter articulates the cultural phenomena of Hong Kong, the author finds it appropriate to keep the traditional Chinese characters for terms that are used and circulated in the city.
- 2.
For a preliminary discussion of organic communities in Hong Kong, see “Green Activism in the City: Hong Kong Independent Ecofilms in the Post-2008 Era,” Situations 11:1 (2018): 39–57.
- 3.
Ying E Chi is a non-profit arts organization that was established by a group of Hong Kong independent filmmakers in 1997. As outlined in their website, the institution’s mission is to “unite local independent filmmakers, as well as to distribute and promote independent films.” Details can be found on their webpage: http://yingechi.org/about/
- 4.
Further information can be found on their website: https://sangwoodgoon.wordpress.com/filmfestival/
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Yee, W.L.M. (2019). Contemplating Land: An Ecocritique of Hong Kong. In: Chang, Cj. (eds) Chinese Environmental Humanities. Chinese Literature and Culture in the World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18634-0_12
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