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Hong Kong culture
OpinionComment
Adam Au
Adam Au

Opinion | How a culture bureau can help Hong Kong become an arts powerhouse once more

  • A renewed focus on art and culture, backed by generous government support, will build on the resurgence in interest in Canto-pop and Hong Kong identity
  • Tapping the potential of the creative industries will not only benefit Hong Kong’s economy, but also offer young people new opportunities

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A woman poses with large portraits of members of the boy group Mirror, at an exhibition in Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui on September 11. Photo: Dickson Lee
Adam Au
Recently, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor indicated that she intends to set up new bureaus for housing and culture. At the same time, Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong has urged Hong Kong to expand its international reach in arts and culture and promote deeper integration with China’s rich cultural heritage. This sentiment was echoed by Beijing’s 14th five-year plan.
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There is a public consensus that housing has been the Achilles’ heel of every government administration in Hong Kong. But what about art and culture? Are they amenities or a form of “collective nostalgia” of past Hong Kong glory, and do they have the potential to drive today’s economy?

Hong Kong is the birthplace of Canto-pop, which in the 1980s and 1990s was worshipped by the diaspora of Chinese-speaking people around the world and other Asian societies. Hong Kong’s popular culture, along with the wider creative industry, is overdue for a hard reboot.
Hong Kong singer Alan Tam performs in Genting Highland, Malaysia, on August 20, 1999. Canto-pop was popular all across Asia during its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s. Photo: AP
Hong Kong singer Alan Tam performs in Genting Highland, Malaysia, on August 20, 1999. Canto-pop was popular all across Asia during its heyday in the 1980s and 1990s. Photo: AP

Disenchanted by the lack of economic opportunities and fearful of losing their Hong Kong identity amid the drive for integration with the mainland, Hongkongers in their 20s and 30s are increasingly turning to local entertainment. This partly explains the renaissance in local culture.

The popularity of Canto-pop sensation Mirror, and Hong Kong’s record-breaking medal haul at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are frequently cited as evidence of a resurgence of local pride.

Whatever the reasons behind this revival, for the arts and culture sector to truly prosper and deliver quantifiable benefits for Hong Kong, intelligent city planning is crucial. For example, locating a high concentration of cultural enterprises and a creative workforce in the same area would encourage creative partnerships.

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Clustering together newly established businesses and young innovators will unlock opportunities for synergy and breed new specialisations and disciplines.

This, in turn, can create distinctive living and working spaces that can boost even more creative exchanges and engender a strong sense of communal identity. Young Hongkongers would love nothing more than to have a community they can call their own.

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