Hong Kong: Changing Geographies of a Media Capital

Abstract

Thanks to its stunning entry into the ranks of world cinema in the 1970s, the history of the Hong Kong film industry up to 1997 is relatively well known. However, the coincidence of the Asian economic recession and the city's reintegration into the People's Republic of China (PRC) has worked to obscure recent developments. This article analyses contemporary Hong Kong cinema and its relations with the government of the mainland. We argue that the economic, cultural and geopolitical location of the city is contributing to developments that will allow the art cinema of the People's Republic of China to engage in international, Hollywood-dominated markets. Matters to do with production investment, censorship and film exhibition business are analysed in terms of the development of and revisions to the Closer Economic Partnership arrangement that now governs trade between the PRC and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).