Arts - Hong Kong - page 614

Other varieties of Chinese opera being performed in Hong Kong by local and/or visiting
troupes include Peking opera, a highly refined form that uses almost no scenery but different
kinds of traditional props; and Kun opera, the oldest form and one designated a Masterpiece
of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by Unesco.
Liu Yichang (1918-), Hong Kong's most respected senior writer, is the author of the
stream of consciousness novella Tête-bêchewhich inspired Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood
for Love.
Literature
Hong Kong has long suffered from the misconception that it does not have a literature of its
own, but, in fact, the city has seen a thriving microclimate in the vast landscape of Chinese
literature, where the same sun shining on other parts of China has spawned distinct smells,
textures and voices.
From the 1920s to the 1940s, Hong Kong was a haven for Chinese writers on the run.
These émigrés continued their writing here, their influence lasting until the 1970s when the
first generation of writers born and/or raised locally came into their own. The relative creat-
ive freedom offered by the city has spawned works in a variety of genres and subjects, from
prose poems to experimental novels, from swordplay romance to life as a make-up artist for
the dead.
Hong Kong Collage: Contemporary Stories and Writing (ed Martha PY Cheung; 1998) is
an important collection of fiction and essays by 15 contemporary local writers. To Pierce
the Material Screen: an Anthology of Twentieth Century Hong Kong Literature (ed Eva
Hung; Renditions; 2008) is a two-volume anthology featuring established figures, younger
names and emerging voices, and spans 75 years. In From the Bluest Part of the Harbour:
Poems from Hong Kong (ed Andrew Parkin; 1996), 12 modern poets reveal the emotions of
Hong Kong people in the run-up to 1997. For critical articles on Hong Kong literature,
check out the special Hong Kong issue (winter 2008) of the Journal of Modern Literature in
Chinese (Lingnan University of Hong Kong).
The major literary festival in the city is the Hong Kong Literary Festival
( www.festival.org.hk ) , which seems to be held in a different month every year.
The website www.renditions.org has excellent info on Chinese literature published in Eng-
lish. Hong Kong University Press ( www.hkupress.org ) also publishes works by local
Chinese writers.