The collection of essays presented in this volume is the outcome of a workshop at the University of Zurich in 2016. It addresses the past as well as present of Hong Kong, with an aim critically to examine the less obvious or forgotten relations not only with China but, rather, with a much larger sphere of many kinds of interaction wherein Hong Kong performs the roles of hub and intermediator: Hong Kong during the Cold War period is examined by Brigit Knüsel Adamec and Xiaojue Wang. In their respective essays, they address the emerging discourse of liberalism and popular radio and film culture in the making. Hong Kong in transition before and after the Handover is explored by Andrea Riemenschnitter and Andrea Bachner with respect to cultural production, in this case Leung Ping-kwan’s poems and Fruit Chan’s film. The present Hong Kong – in terms of its political landscape, social responses, and cultural expression (television and cinema) – is scrutinized by Yiu-wai Chu, Alvin Wong, and Helena Wu. With all these different facets of Hong Kong, the issue aims to open up an extended space for Hong Kong to relate to different times over the course of history, to reconnect with places where different sociopolitical landscapes unfold, meet, and trespass national boundaries and, ultimately, to encompass new ways of reading and possibly expounding the critical perspectives brought forward by the emergent field of Sinophone studies and the geopolitical fluidity of the Sinosphere.
