The Disappearance of Hong Kong in Comics, Advertising and Graphic Design

Abstract

Wendy Siuyi Wong’s The Disappearance of Hong Kong in Comics, Advertising and Graphic Design is a compilation of two decades of research on Hong Kong’s visual culture from the end of the Second World War to the present. In it, Wong’s stated purpose is ‘to examine Hong Kong’s struggle against the disappearance of its unique identity under the historic challenges of colonialism and the more recent reimposition of Chinese authoritarian government control, as reflected in three under-researched visual media: comics, advertising and graphic design’ (p. 1). The title’s reference to disappearance was inspired by Ackbar Abbas’s now-classic study in which he argued that Hong Kong’s peculiar lack of cultural identity is due to its status as ‘not so much a place as a space of transit’.1 Wong, who is currently Professor of Design at York University in Toronto, focuses on visual media during a particularly transformative period in the city’s history. The small and relatively insignificant British colony grew rapidly due to waves of mainland Chinese immigration after the Japanese defeat, developed industries, and became a global trade hub, yet the 1997 handover and Hong Kong’s contested status within China since then has created cultural anxieties. Once renowned for its popular film and music, twenty years later, Hong Kong is no longer as influential as it was, and is in danger of becoming just another Chinese city. One valuable part of Wong’s aim has been to document and analyse lesser-known aspects of Hong Kong’s unique culture before they potentially disappear.