“Made in Hong Kong”: the (re)production of publicness in the cinematic urban topography of contemporary Hong Kong

This chapter explores the cinematic representation of the socio-spatial (re)production of publicness in contemporary Hong Kong, by analysing a series of Hong Kong city films. The chapter argues that Hong Kong urban cinema has demonstrated a cinematic urban topography of the city and the fluid urban space engendered by everyday practices. By highlighting different types of urban spaces represented in the films, it examines how Hong Kong urban cinema shows deliberate layers of the city in terms of physical, social and psychological factors. Then, the chapter will shed light on the cinematic representation of the spatial appropriations of public space and the blurred public-private boundary in Hong Kong, as well as the reduction of this fluidity against a privatised urban environment. It concludes by showing how cinematic materials could be applied in urban studies relating to the historical urban milieu and a chronological study of everyday spatial appropriations in Hong Kong. At the same time, based on a general consideration of the local social background, this study offers an insight and an interdisciplinary visual method to examine the relationship between the urban strategic plan and people’s everyday socio-spatial practices in a dynamic urban context