Hong Kong’s “local” identity: Chinese or English poetry?

Abstract

What is "local" for Hong Kong poetry and who gets to determine it has become a topic increasingly significant to date with respect to Hong Kong's retrogression to China in 1997 and the protests against China's dominance since then. This is also related to the fact that Hong Kong used to be a place under British colonial rule and writing in English was common practice -- despite most of the residents here also speak and write in fluent Chinese. To explore this issue of local or "native consciousness" for Hong Kong poetry, I compare the works of two poets: Louise S.W. Ho, an ethnic Chinese poet who writes in English, and Yip Fai, a native Hong Kong resident who writes modern Chinese poetry, to see how they render their works with "local qualities". By examining their use of language and manipulation of the cultural and physical "space" of the city, I try to show how these poets strive to describe contemporary Hong Kong life in their works. The poetry of Liu Waitong referencing to the 2014 Hong Kong Umbrella Movement and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre are also discussed. It is noted that there is no specific conclusion on whether modern Chinese poetry being more "local" for Hong Kong than the English poetry, or vice versa.