Those Were the Days :: December in HONG KONG (Part 2)

[Kilgore Trout]

Did you see Part 1?

[pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce]

'...stay away from the evil cult - Falon Gong.' Interesting.

I don't think anybody would ever describe HK as a beautiful city. In fact, it's far from it. But that ugliness works unlike any other Asian city I've visited. If only it weren't so bloody expensive.

[ColDayMan]

Me want to go there now!

[Kilgore Trout]

Originally Posted by pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce

'...stay away from the evil cult - Falon Gong.' Interesting.

Hong Kong has freedom of speech, association, etc (basically, things China doesn't have) so Falun Gong is legal and active here. They maintain these big anti-Communist Party protest installations at prominent locations. Unfortunately, some shady organization has recently started installing counter-installations that attack Falun Gong, which is what you see here. They're pretty unpopular and there have been attempts to vandalize their banners.

I don't think anybody would ever describe HK as a beautiful city. In fact, it's far from it. But that ugliness works unlike any other Asian city I've visited. If only it weren't so bloody expensive.

Every Asian city shares a similar spectrum of ugliness: on one side there's the kind of attractive ugliness that comes from sheer human vitality, and on the other there's the kind of depressing ugliness that comes from gaudy, overbearing or blandly repetitive architecture.

[KevinFromTexas]

No cars. How common of a sight is that?

[OhioGuy]

Very nice to see!

[gothamite]

really outstanding! both Parts.

[ChiTownCity]

Just curious, I know about Korea and Japan's huge Pop scene that's becoming increasingly popular over here (especially with the help of Gangnam style now). What is the music scene like in Hong Kong? Does China have anything similar going on?

[Kilgore Trout]

Originally Posted by ChiTownCity

Just curious, I know about Korea and Japan's huge Pop scene that's becoming increasingly popular over here (especially with the help of Gangnam style now). What is the music scene like in Hong Kong? Does China have anything similar going on?

Hong Kong is the original pop music capital of Asia. The industry really took off in the 1970s with influence across Asia. Most Chinese pop stars are still a product of the Hong Kong industry, including people from Hong Kong, Taiwan, mainland China and Malaysia.

China is a real backwater when it comes to producing pop music; very few of its homegrown pop singers are famous outside its borders. That said, it's a huge consumer market, so the Hong Kong and Taiwan industries now rely pretty heavily on listeners in China.

Just as a sidenote, you have to make a distinction between different languages when it comes to Chinese pop: the two big industries are in Cantonese and Mandarin, but there's also Hokkien pop music that is popular in Taiwan, Fujian, Malaysia and Singapore.

[mello]

There is something about that sunset shot on the harbor with the toy planes in the square frames that is just epic!! I love scenes like that. Great thread --

[Tony]

Great thread, excellent photos like Part 1.

Threads like this shouldn't sink so quickly.