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Project Details

Funding Scheme :

General Research Fund

Project Number :

12612817

Project Title(English) :

Interpreting Hong Kong Poetry: One City, Two (Language) Systems

Project Title(Chinese) :

闡釋香港詩歌: 一城二(言)制

Principal Investigator(English) :

Dr Ho, Tammy Lai-ming

Principal Investigator(Chinese) :

Department :

Department of English Language & Literature

Institution :

Hong Kong Baptist University

E-mail Address :

tammyh@hkbu.edu.hk

Tel :

Co - Investigator(s) :

Panel :

Humanities, Social Sciences

Subject Area :

Humanities and Arts

Exercise Year :

2017 / 18

Fund Approved :

139,000

Project Status :

Completed

Completion Date :

31-8-2019

Project Objectives :

To identify, collect and annotate English and Chinese poems on post-1997 Hong Kong published in full-length collections, anthologies, print periodicals and online platforms, both locally and abroad

To investigate how a multi-dimensional and multi-perspectival ‘Hong Kong’ is made visible in the literary imagination

To offer a bridge between English and Chinese poems on post-1997 Hong Kong through translation and comparative analysis

To locate the role of poetry in Hong Kong’s identity formation in a post-1997 environment

To provide a broader understanding on pertinent questions of narrating Hong Kong and what constitutes a ‘Hong Kong poem’

To make visible the scholarly value of Hong Kong poetry by means of the following: 1) presenting parts of this research in conferences and seminars; 2) organising a two-day international conference on “Writing Hong Kong”; 3) editing a special journal issue which will feature select expanded papers from the “Writing Hong Kong” conference; 4) the publication of an annotated bilingual pamphlet of select poems about Hong Kong in Chinese translated into English; and 5) the publication of two research articles

Abstract as per original application
(English/Chinese):

This research aims to study poetry on post-1997 Hong Kong written in both Chinese and English. It focuses on their representations of Hong Kong as city or urban timespace, and examines their concerns and preoccupations regarding the city. Analyses of the poems will draw out issues of thought and action, subjective emotions and social affect, poetics and politics. The objective of the study is to show how a multi-dimensional and multi-perspectival ‘Hong Kong’ is made visible in the literary imagination. Because both Chinese and English poems will be discussed, a further aim of this study is to offer a bridge between the two languages, often seen and studied as two separate and discrete domains. I will ask questions such as: How can the Hong Kong portrayed in English and Chinese poetry be discussed on the same scholarly platform? How does such a discussion enable their similarities and differences to be apprehended? And how does this discussion help deepen understanding of the creativity of English and Chinese in Hong Kong literature and culture? Hong Kong’s historical and political backgrounds constitute its bilingual reality, which is reflected in representations of the city in English and Chinese poetry. This reality unfortunately leads to what I call a ‘separatist bilingualism’, as there is little contact between works portraying the city written in the two languages, as if Hong Kong existed in two linguistic and cultural universes. In 2014, the Umbrella Movement provided a glimpse at the poetic and interlingual possibilities for bridging this gap. The movement sparked an unprecedented cross-pollination of exchange between the two languages. Publications such as CURA, Drunken Boat and The Margins published Chinese poems about the socio-political situation in Hong Kong translated into English, while the local Hong Kong poetry journal Voice and Verse published English poems about the Umbrella Movement translated into Chinese. This linguistic and cultural exchange demonstrated that there is room and demand for interlingual discussion of poetry written about the city. These two groups of texts emerging from a single historical moment will be the starting point of this study which will expand into a broader investigation of post-1997 poetic perspectives on Hong Kong.

此研究旨在探討以97年後香港為題創作的中英文詩詞。研究集中討論詩詞如何展現香港作為一個城市或「都市時空」（urban timespace）的處境，同時討論詩詞對香港整體走向所流露的關注及思慮。分析將呈現行動與想法之間的矛盾、各種主觀感情、社會情緒，以及詩學與政治之間的關係。是次研究將展示文學創作的想像如何呈現出一個「多面向」（multi-dimensional）、「多角度」（multi-perspectival）的香港。由於中英詩詞皆為研究的對象，此研究亦希望為兩種語言提供一道橋樑，帶動並結合中英詩學的討論，打破過往中英詩詞研究的鴻溝。我亦將提出以下問題：如何在同一學術平台上討論中英詩詞中描述的香港？這項討論將如何幫助我們去理解中英詩詞的異同？又如何令我們加深香港文學及文化裡中英文創作的認識？香港的歷史及政治背景造就了城市的雙語文化，此文化亦可見於中英詩詞中的香港。與此同時，雙語的處境卻造成了我提出的「分離雙語現象」（separatist bilingualism）。以香港為創作主題的中英文學作品往往未有任何交流，猶如香港處於兩個平行的語言及文化世界。然而，2014年的雨傘運動卻提供了一個跨語言及詩學體制的研究機會，並開展了前所未見的雙語交流，有望進一步拉近中英創作的距離。一系列英語刊物，其中包括《CURA》、《Drunken Boat》及《The Margins》等皆出版了講述香港社會政治處境的英譯中文詩詞。同時，香港《聲韻詩刊》也刊登了講述雨傘運動的中譯英文詩詞。此雙語文化交流反映跨語言的詩學討論絕對有發展的空間及需求。兩組同樣討論雨傘運動的中英文學作品將成為是次研究的基礎，並藉此進一步探討97後的詩詞對香港所持有的看法。

Realisation of objectives:

Please see "Summary of objectives addressed to date" below.

Summary of objectives addressed:

	Objectives	Addressed	Percentage achieved
1.	To identify, collect and annotate English and Chinese poems on post-1997 Hong Kong published in full-length collections, anthologies, print periodicals and online platforms, both locally and abroad	Yes	90%
2.	To investigate how a multi-dimensional and multi-perspectival ‘Hong Kong’ is made visible in the literary imagination	Yes	90%
3.	To offer a bridge between English and Chinese poems on post-1997 Hong Kong through translation and comparative analysis	Yes	50%
4.	To locate the role of poetry in Hong Kong’s identity formation in a post-1997 environment	Yes	80%
5.	To provide a broader understanding on pertinent questions of narrating Hong Kong and what constitutes a ‘Hong Kong poem’	Yes	80%
6.	To make visible the scholarly value of Hong Kong poetry by means of the following: 1) presenting parts of this research in conferences and seminars; 2) organising a two-day international conference on “Writing Hong Kong”; 3) editing a special journal issue which will feature select expanded papers from the “Writing Hong Kong” conference; 4) the publication of an annotated bilingual pamphlet of select poems about Hong Kong in Chinese translated into English; and 5) the publication of two research articles	Yes	80%

Research Outcome

Major findings and research outcome:

Nearly 1380 poems, in both Chinese and English, and published locally and abroad, after the 1997 handover, have been identified and collected for further study. Although this list is not exhaustive, these poems are vital and significant in building a body of work to scrutinise the representation of Hong Kong after its transition from a British colony to its current new political identity. It is also through reading these poems that I have gained the confidence and knowledge to put together new poems about Hong Kong for a number of international outlets, including the prestigious World Literature Today, Cordite Poetry Magazine, and Swedish PEN's PEN/Opp, and a forthcoming bilingual poetry anthology on Hong Kong entitled Hong Kong 2020, making Hong Kong poetry and the poets from the city more visible, not only in Hong Kong but in the world as a whole.

Potential for further development of the research
and the proposed course of action:

This research—or some version of it—should be repeated periodically in the future to document and chart the development of Hong Kong poetry. As the identity of Hong Kong continues to undergo tremendous change, the city's representation in poetry, a form of expression that differs from other more straightforward media, is particularly pertinent and provides an alternative perspective on the city. More work needs to be done on cross-translating English-language and Chinese-language poems about Hong Kong. Conversations and interviews with some of the poets are also indispensable.

Layman's Summary of
Completion Report:

As well as having a unique common-law status as a former British colony, Hong Kong is geographically a Chinese city. This dual history has bestowed on the city a unique identity and its people pride themselves on their firm ideals, creative and free expression, linguistic versatility, and more. The close study of the poetry written by Hong Kong writers or poems about the city allows readers, researchers and those curious about Hong Kong to learn more about the topics and matter that particularly concern and preoccupy the people here.

Research Output

Peer-reviewed journal publication(s)
arising directly from this research project :
(* denotes the corresponding author)

Recognized international conference(s)
in which paper(s) related to this research
project was/were delivered :

Month/Year/City	Title	Conference Name
Hong Kong	“Twin Cities / Twin Cinema”	The Third Global Creative Industries Conference
Macau	“Marvels of a City Evoked in Poetry”	International EFL Conference for Creative Writing Instruction
Kobe, Japan	“Poetic Resistance and Empowerment”	The Asian Conference on Cultural Studies (ACCS)
Manila, the Philippines	“Holding onto Cantonese, even in English”	Contemporary Perspectives on/in Postcolonial and Diasporic Literature and Theory
Hong Kong, Hong Kong	“Crossing the Cantonese-English Border of a ‘Border Town’”	Borders Inside and Out: Representing the Border Across Cultures Symposium

Other impact
(e.g. award of patents or prizes,
collaboration with other research institutions,
technology transfer, etc.):

SCREEN ID: SCRRM00542