Soundscapes and the Urban Imagination of Hong Kong in the Works of Eileen Chang

Abstract

This article discusses how Eileen Chang's works express the soundscape of Hong Kong and the significance of Hong Kong to her creation from the perspective of hearing. Chang's construction of Hong Kong's image took sound and acoustic senses as important media, linking “sound” with “memory”. Significant soundscapes can be divided into three categories, including the ‘city sounds’ of Hong Kong, the sounds of bombing in war, and the incomplete silence. The construction of soundscape implied the author’s psychological trauma and historical memory, and the aural experience ultimately fitted the “bleakness” theme of Eileen Chang’s creation, reflecting her personal view and understanding of the troubled world and life when she started writing in Hong Kong, a threshold space between civilization and barbarism, where cultures mingle.