Hong Kong: Anthropological Essays on a Chinese Metropolis [Paperback]

Hong Kong has become a by-word for all that is modern and sparkling in Asia today.
Yet tourist brochures still play with the old cliche of Hong Kong as a place where 'East meets West'. Images of so-called 'traditional' China, junks sailing Victoria Harbour or old women praying to gods in smoky temples, mingle with those portraying Hong Kong as a consumer and business paradise.
This collection of essays attempts to transcend the old polarities. It looks at modern Hong Kong in all its splendour and diversity in the run-up to its re-absorption into Greater China in mid-97, through the mediums of film, food, architecture, rumours and slang.
It explores the question of a distinct, modern Chinese identity in Hong Kong, and even when it explores the traditional stamping ground of the older anthropology in the New Territories it finds a dramatically changed context, in particular for women.
This collection presents an intriguing insight into the process of transition from 'tradition' to 'modernity' in this Modern Chinese Metropolis.This book seeks to transcend the old 'East meets West' polarities. Looking at modern Hong Kong in all its splendour and diversity at the point of its re-absorption into China, it explores the question of a distinct, modern Chinese identity in Hong Kong. Intriguing insights.1: Introduction; 1: Identity; 2: Hong Kong Ethnicity of Folk Models And Change *; 3: Back to the Future; 2: Cultural Studies; 4: Of Mimicry and Mermaids; 5: Resurgent Chinese Power In Postmodern Disguise; 6: Treading the Margins; 3: Gender and Kinship; 7: Negotiating Tradition; 8: Jyuht F?hng N?uih; 9: Motherhood in Hong Kong; 4: Religion and Beliefs; 10: Traditional Values and Modern Meanings in the Paper Offering Industry of Hong Kong; 11: Sacred Power in the Metropolis; 12: Ghosts and the New Governor; 5: Language; 13: Bad Boys and Bad LanguageUS? 1997 G. Evans and M. Tam