History UsefulNotes / HongKong

!!Media associated with Hong Kong

!!Authors

!!Companies

!!Directors

!!Musicians

!!Web Video

!!Hong Kong culture

!!Tropes associated with Hong Kong and portrayals of it in media

!!!'''Tropes associated with the Kowloon Walled City in particular'''

!!Hong Kong in fiction

* The city becomes a battlefield for {{Kaiju}}s in both ''Film/PacificRim'' and ''Film/GodzillaVsKong''. Notably, both films' usage of the downtown area's neon-lit skyscrapers as settings has led to the kaiju community term "Hong Kong lighting" to describe using neon lights (from a source other [[PowerGlows than]] [[VolcanicVeins the]] [[BioluminescenceIsCool kaiju themselves]]) to illuminate otherwise-dark nighttime BehemothBattle scenes.
* The climatic battle of ''Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction'' is set in Hong Kong, though parts of it were filmed in Chicago. Inexplicably, in the film the the Stonecutters Bridge is depicted going across Victoria Harbour, while Optimus Prime at one point is flung from Hong Kong all the way to rural Sichuan.

[[caption-width-right:329:The place you shot up a good chunk of if you played ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs2012''.]]

[[caption-width-right:329:The place you shot up a good chunk of if you played ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs''.]]

* ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs'' is about an undercover cop investigating the Triads in Hong Kong. The game takes place over several different parts of Hong Kong.

* '''Capital:''' Hong Kong

* Others

!!!Tropes associated with the Kowloon Walled City in particular

Also notable is its immigrant population. There are many Filipina and Indonesian maids working in the city, and they all gather at Victoria park on Sundays. There are cases of abuse by Chinese employers, but they are generally taken care of quickly since the government has laws that provide for their general well-being while they are employed in the country, and there is a civil body set up by former immigrants who managed to become successful there. The Indian and Pakistani population is also quite significant, and it is possible to find an entire department store filled entirely by Indian workers selling goods that cater to the Indian community. In 2018, the Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge was completed, connecting the three major cities, with further plans to develop the general area as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

* '''The New Territories:''' These are the areas north of Kowloon which the British leased from China for 99 years. The lease ran out in 1997, at which point it would not have been practical to hang on to Hong Kong and Kowloon, so the Chinese got the whole lot back. This is a marked contrast to UsefulNotes/TheMenOfDowningStreet's attitude to British Sovereignty elsewhere, hence the famous rhyming couplet: "You fought a war in the Falklands, in that you were so strong. On the other hand, how kind of you to give away Hong Kong." The New Territories include the various New Towns built to relieve urban congestion downtown. They also include much of the "wild" part of the SAR, infested with: poisonous snakes, pythons, harmless snakes, huge but harmless spiders, semi-wild cattle and water buffalo, semi-wild monkeys and wild boar, which allow for "wilderness" scenes even in such a small and urbanized country. (It should be noted that a significant portion of Hong Kong is protected nature preserve.) Also present are many scattered villages, some still retaining old-fashioned tribal features such as village walls and most looking surprisingly poor.

* '''Politics:''' Since the handover in 1997, Hong Kong has existed within the Chinese state under the idea of "One country, two systems". This was part of the handover deal with the British, which aimed to guarantee that Hong Kong would retain many of its existing freedoms for at least 50 years after the handover, however no plans are explicitly stated for how Hong Kong will be handled after those 50 years are up (in 2047). Under this system, Hong Kong is governed by its own Legislative Council ([=LegCo=]) headed by a Chief Executive. The [=LegCo=] is, at least on paper, similar to a devolved government in the United Kingdom or a state government in the USA -- responsible for administering affairs within the Hong Kong SAR, or at least, anything not reserved to Beijing. Hong Kong also retains a separate judiciary from mainland China, and is governed by its own separate constitution -- the Basic Law. The system trundled along without much attention for the first ten or so years after the handover. But in TheNewTens and TheNewTwenties, an increasing amount of pro-democracy and anti-China sentiment has arisen, with large-scale demonstrations frequently occurring for extended periods of time. These have happened mostly in response to perceived power grabs by the mainland government or apparent erosion of the [=SAR's=] freedoms, which accumulated (or escalated, depending on the opinion) to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019–2020_Hong_Kong_protests the biggest wave of protests and clashes ever happened to the city]]. The introduction of the National Security Law in 2020, which was thought as the response to the protest from the CCP and essentially criminalized criticism over the Chinese and Hong Kong government, only served to complicate matters further, leading to criticisms that the CCP is trying to take back control of Hong Kong 27 years too early. Unfortunately, no easy solution appears to be on the horizon, and it led to [[TheMigration the second "migration wave" out of the town]] .

Also, Hong Kong was the first non-Japanese country to have received the ''Manga/{{Doraemon}}'' franchise, just three years (1973) after the original debut in Japan.

** For lively scenes, there are such districts as Lan Kwai Fong, a couple of streets of wall-to-wall bars and the place to see in the (calendar) New Year; or Wan Chai, the World of Suzie Wong, where there are "girlie bars" full of Filipina and Thai "escorts".[[note]]Suzie herself was a Chinese hooker back in the '50s when Wanchai was still the waterfront. Reclamation has since pushed the seafront back.[[/note]] The oldest girlie bar in Wan Chai is probably the Bottoms Up Club, whose sign proudly notes that it was featured in the James Bond film ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun''. There are ordinary bars and restaurants in Wanchai too.

* '''Politics:''' Since the handover in 1997, Hong Kong has existed within the Chinese state under the idea of "One country, two systems". This was part of the handover deal with the British, which aimed to guarantee that Hong Kong would retain many of its existing freedoms for at least 50 years after the handover, however no plans are explicitly stated for how Hong Kong will be handled after those 50 years are up (in 2047). Under this system, Hong Kong is governed by its own Legislative Council ([=LegCo=]) headed by a Chief Executive. The [=LegCo=] is, at least on paper, similar to a devolved government in the United Kingdom or a state government in the USA -- responsible for administering affairs within the Hong Kong SAR, or at least, anything not reserved to Beijing. Hong Kong also retains a separate judiciary from mainland China, and is governed by its own separate constitution -- the Basic Law. The system trundled along without much attention for the first ten or so years after the handover. But in TheNewTens and TheNewTwenties, an increasing amount of pro-democracy and anti-China sentiment has arisen, with large-scale demonstrations frequently occurring for extended periods of time. These have happened mostly in response to perceived power grabs by the mainland government or apparent erosion of the [=SAR's=] freedoms, which accumulated (or escalated, depending on the opinion) to [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%932020_Hong_Kong_protests the biggest wave of protests and clashes ever happened to the city]]. The introduction of the National Security Law in 2020, which was thought as the response to the protest from the CCP and essentially criminalized criticism over the Chinese and Hong Kong government, only served to complicate matters further, leading to criticisms that the CCP is trying to take back control of Hong Kong 27 years too early. Unfortunately, no easy solution appears to be on the horizon, and it led to [[TheMigration the second "migration wave" out of the town]] .

** Chief Executive: Carrie Lam
** Chief Secretary: Matthew Cheung

* '''Politics:''' Since the handover in 1997, Hong Kong has existed within the Chinese state under the idea of "One country, two systems". This was part of the handover deal with the British, which aimed to guarantee that Hong Kong would retain many of its existing freedoms for at least 50 years after the handover, however no plans are explicitly stated for how Hong Kong will be handled after those 50 years are up (in 2047). Under this system, Hong Kong is governed by its own Legislative Council ([=LegCo=]) headed by a Chief Executive. The [=LegCo=] is, at least on paper, similar to a devolved government in the United Kingdom or a state government in the USA -- responsible for administering affairs within the Hong Kong SAR, or at least, anything not reserved to Beijing. Hong Kong also retains a separate judiciary from mainland China, and is governed by its own separate constitution -- the Basic Law. The system trundled along without much attention for the first ten or so years after the handover. But in TheNewTens and TheNewTwenties, an increasing amount of pro-democracy and anti-China sentiment has arisen, with large-scale demonstrations frequently occurring for extended periods of time. These have happened mostly in response to perceived power grabs by the mainland government or apparent erosion of the [=SAR's=] freedoms. The introduction of a new security law in 2020, which essentially criminalised criticism of the Chinese government, only served to complicate matters further, leading to criticisms that the CCP is trying to take back control of Hong Kong 27 years too early. Unfortunately, no easy solution appears to be on the horizon.

* '''Hong Kong Island (Hong Kong Side):''' Home of towering postmodern glass skyscrapers around which black-eared kites soar as if auditioning for an ''Eagle Star'' commercial. Also present are double-decker trams, the Happy Valley racecourse and a number of parks. One such park is Ocean Park, which is by the smallish town of Aberdeen, home of the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. Ocean Park includes a theme park, aviary, aquarium (with sharks!), seal and dolphin shows and pandas (which, in typical panda fashion, don't actually do much). The crowded streets, trams, eye-catching skyscrapers and the old prison/courthouse building and legislative Council building are popular backdrops for action movies and beat-em-up computer games: one of the ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' series features the characters holding up a tram as they fight, some episodes of ''Tekken'' have the China Bank tower clearly visible in the background.

* '''The Kowloon Peninsula (Kowloon Side)''', a short trip across the Victoria Harbour (actually a strait separating Hong Kong Side from the mainland). The crossing can be made by the Star Ferry, the Mass Transit Railway, or one of three road tunnels. The harbour itself is one of the busiest areas of water in the world, but is narrowing as more and more land is reclaimed. (The wreck of the ''Queen Elizabeth'' was never really a secret service base and has long since been removed, in case any Bond fans were wondering.) Kowloon is home to many street markets, often open long after dark, hence their nickname "night markets". The most famous one is the one at Temple Street. There are also hotels, residential neighbourhoods and declining industrial areas, as well as a seriously huge container port. Also the terminus of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, and home to the former Kai-tak Airport, where planes flew above densely-populated residential area on a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PCOcyt7BPI daily basis]].

* '''The New Territories:''' These are the areas north of Kowloon which the British leased from China for 99 years. The lease ran out in 1997, at which point it would not have been practical to hang on to Hong Kong and Kowloon, so the Chinese got the whole lot back. This is a marked contrast to UsefulNotes/TheMenOfDowningStreet's attitude to British Sovereignty elsewhere, hence the famous rhyming couplet: "You fought a war in the Falklands, in that you were so strong. On the other hand, how kind of you to give away Hong Kong". The New Territories include the various New Towns built to relieve urban congestion downtown. They also include much of the "wild" part of the SAR, infested with: poisonous snakes, pythons, harmless snakes, huge but harmless spiders, semi-wild cattle and water buffalo, semi-wild monkeys and wild boar, which allow for "wilderness" scenes even in such a small and urbanized country. (It should be noted that a significant portion of Hong Kong is protected nature preserve.) Also present are many scattered villages, some still retaining old-fashioned tribal features such as village walls and most looking surprisingly poor.
* '''The Outlying Islands.''' A cluster of various islands of various sizes. The largest is Lantau. It is home to various beaches, a number of small towns, Hong Kong's small [[Ride/DisneyThemeParks Disneyland park]] and a giant statue of the Buddha. There are a number of monasteries, mostly Chinese or Tibetan Buddhist, but one Trappist (you don't hear a lot from them for obvious reasons). The famous Shaolin monks have a Kung Fu school but no monastery to current knowledge. Off the coasts of this island, one may see the Chinese White Dolphin, a species that has almost no skin pigmentation as an adult and as a result always looks white or pink. They are lively and will jump high, so tourists enjoy watching them. Also home of the Hong Kong International Airport.

* '''Transport:''' As most people live in tower blocks and there are few parking places, many families have no cars so public transport is very important. It includes the trams on Hong Kong side, a tram-train light rail system called the LRT in parts of the New Territories, and a huge number of double-decker buses and minibuses plying their trade all over the SAR. The MTR is an underground rail network whose speed, cleanliness and reliability would shame the [[UsefulNotes/TheLondonUnderground London Tube]], the UsefulNotes/NewYorkSubway or UsefulNotes/LeMetropolitain. The company recently took over the Kowloon-Canton Railway and so now handles the above-ground trains also. Rickshaws are a thing of the past now: the last few in town stand forlorn by the Star Ferry pier, for sale to anyone who wants one as a curiosity. Indeed, transportation is very convenient in general - there are a lot of buses and light buses (coming in green and red varieties - the former has fixed stops and the latter doesn't).

* '''Politics:''' Since the handover in 1997, Hong Kong has existed within the Chinese state under the idea of "One country, two systems". This was part of the handover deal with the British, which aimed to guarantee that Hong Kong would retain many of its existing freedoms for at least 50 years after the handover, however no plans are explicitly stated for how Hong Kong will be handled after those 50 years are up (in 2047). Under this system, Hong Kong is governed by its own Legislative Council ([=LegCo=]) headed by a Chief Executive. The [=LegCo=] is, at least on paper, similar to a devolved government in the United Kingdom or a state government in the USA - responsible for administering affairs within the Hong Kong SAR, or at least, anything not reserved to Beijing. Hong Kong also retains a separate judiciary from mainland China, and is governed by its own separate constitution - the Basic Law. The system trundled along without much attention for the first ten or so years after the handover. But in TheNewTens and TheNewTwenties, an increasing amount of pro-democracy and anti-China sentiment has arisen, with large-scale demonstrations frequently occurring for extended periods of time. These have happened mostly in response to perceived power grabs by the mainland government or apparent erosion of the [=SAR's=] freedoms. The introduction of a new security law in 2020, which essentially criminalised criticism of the Chinese government, only served to complicate matters further, leading to criticisms that the CCP is trying to take back control of Hong Kong 27 years too early. Unfortunately, no easy solution appears to be on the horizon.

* [[https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/1362182787139137537 From what has been shown in promotional material]], ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon 3}}''[='=]s HubLevel, Splatsville, is modeled heavily after Hong Kong, with extensive use of mixed-use high-rise buildings that have shutter-doored businesses on the ground floor and apartments on subsequent floors as well as neon signs as part of the architectural style. The area shown in the first trailer is based on Kowloon Walled City, with the passenger jet flying low over the city being a reference to how the real-life Walled City was located near Kai Tak Airport and had similar flights passing by all the time.

** For lively scenes, there are such districts as Lan Kwai Fong, a couple of streets of wall-to-wall bars and the place to see in the (calendar) New Year; or Wan Chai, the World of Suzie Wong, where there are "girlie bars" full of Filipina and Thai "escorts". (Suzie herself was a Chinese hooker back in the '50s when Wanchai was still the waterfront. Reclamation has since pushed the seafront back). The oldest girlie bar in Wan Chai is probably the Bottoms Up Club, whose sign proudly notes that it was featured in the James Bond film ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun''. There are ordinary bars and restaurants in Wanchai too.

[[folder:Web Video]]
* [=RiceGum=]'s [=YouTube=] video "Why I Left The Clout House (im sorry)" is an infamous travel vlog taking him through Hong Kong and features him mocking the locals (e.g. suggesting the residents eat cat and dog meat -- in spite of their consumption being banned since 1950 -- and looking for brothels) as well as putting the [[InterchangeableAsianCultures Japanese flag]] on his commentary upon his arrival. %%Suffice to say, people in Hong Kong largely regard the video to be an act of blatant racism.
[[/folder]]

%%[[/folder]]

* '''Natural environment:''' The climate is hot and humid most of the year, but not hot and humid enough for a full-on rainforest--described by local sources to be "subtropical" to be more specific. The result is a sort of half-hearted jungle about twenty to forty feet high (10 meters or so) with creepers, thorns spikes and sharp-edged leaves: it is a nightmare to push through if you get off the many hiking trails. Local wildlife includes cobras and kraits, Burmese pythons, pangolins, macaques, water buffalo, boars, various kinds of deer, fifteen species of bat, mongooses and sundry lizards, rats. The Mai Po marshes are a famous reserve for migratory water birds. There was even a (small) crocodile once. They brought in an Australian crocodile hunter (not [[Creator/SteveIrwin that one]]) and it's now in the aforementioned Mai Po Wetlands park.

* '''Crime:''' There is a fair deal of drug abuse and protection racketeering overseen by the famous [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triads]] (called Tongs in some Western fiction) such as the Wo Group and the 14K society. Most of these groups are in uneasy truce with each other most of the time, so if you happen to see large posses of young men with knives squaring off in the street, look around for the cameras: [[YouJustRuinedTheShot it's more likely to be a movie scene than a real gang war]]. Mostly the Triads won't stand for physical harm coming to foreign tourists as [[PragmaticVillainy it's bad for business]], so if you visit Hong Kong, you won't get mugged. You probably will get scandalously overcharged, but that's another story. Hong Kong is also known for its stringent gun control, and there hasn't been a civilian shooting for many years. Any sort of firearm releasing kinetic energy of over 2 Joules are banned, and troops of armed cops are known to storm citizen residences when they have evidence of modified/smuggled guns. There is a local lottery - Mark Six. Gambling is also legal in a limited sense. The Jockey Club is in charge of the famous horse races, the Mark Six and is the only legal source for football gambling. Consequently, it is very rich, and can afford to run numerous charities and medical clinics.

* BilingualDialogue: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code-switching_in_Hong_Kong Code-switching]] is a phenomenon where two languages are mixed together in the same situation. In Hong Kong, though a majority of the population speaks Cantonese as their native tongue, many English words tend to be thrown in as well as a result of code-switching--in Hong Kong media, especially SliceOfLife-type media, there's a high chance of this being showcased.

%%[[folder:Web Video]]
%%* [=RiceGum=]'s [=YouTube=] video "Why I Left The Clout House (im sorry)" is an infamous travel vlog taking him through Hong Kong and features him mocking the locals (e.g. suggesting the residents eat cat and dog meat--in spite of their consumption being banned since 1950--and looking for brothels) as well as putting the [[InterchangeableAsianCultures Japanese flag]] on his commentary upon his arrival, which outraged ''many'' people in Hong Kong, who largely regarded the video to be an act of blatant racism.

A notable area of the city was the Kowloon Walled City, which could be described as an anarchic city. The Walled City was technically under Chinese control (in 1898, the UK took over everything south of the Sham Chun River--forming the New Territories--with the ''exception'' of the City), but being in the middle of British land made it rather difficult for the Chinese to govern, so they simply did not bother and left the City to its own devices. Even in the colonial days, it became notorious as a den of lawlessness, with brothels, {{opium den}}s, and {{back alley doctor}}s. Violent crime, on the other hand, was surprisingly low as the Triads effectively took over the City to be their base of operations and they did not take kindly to hooliganism on their front porch. And despite the really bad standard of living, people generally carried on with their lives in their own tight-knit communities. Eventually the PRC and Britain decided they'd had enough, evicted everyone on really short notice, and demolished the whole place in 1993. The site is now a nice public park, but if you want to see the Walled City in all its hideousness, catch the movie ''Film/{{Bloodsport}}'' starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. At one point, the Walled City was the most densely populated area on Earth.

Hong Kong (香港, ''Hēunggóng''). Formerly a British trading colony, now a Special Administrative Region of the [[RedChina People's Republic of China]] since its handover in 1997.

* The 1995 French film ''Guardian Angels'' stars Creator/GerardDepardieu as a French cabaret owner who must go to Hong Kong to protect the son of a gangster friend of his who stole $15 million to the Triads and got killed.

* The city becomes a battlefield for {{Kaiju}}s in both ''Film/PacificRim'' and ''Film/GodzillaVsKong''.