Hong Kong Garden

Much of this week has been preparation for my upcoming trip to Hong Kong... the place Aussies so affectionately call "Honkers" (of course pronounced 'honkas'). Some people read travel books or study maps -- I prefer to read fiction, see films, and listen to music. So I'm focusing on those from Hong Kong (Wong Kar-wai, Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung, Faye Wong, etc), and those about Hong Kong... the most interesting being Siouxsie and The Banshees' Hong Kong Garden (1978), with lyrics which change perspective over four verses, from the descriptive (yet very subjective) first lines:

Harmful elements in the air, symbols clashing everywhere...

the second verse, critical of archaic cultural practices:

Junk floats on polluted water, an old custom to sell your daughter...

the third verse of the curious yet cautious tourist:

Tourists flock to see your face, Confucius has a puzzling grace...

finally the ridiculous, the voice of those who only acknowledge Hong Kong through Westernized cuisine and stereotypes:

Slanted eyes meet a new sunrise, a race of bodies small in size,
Chicken chow-mein and chop suey, Hong Kong Garden takeaway

Sioux claims the song was her reaction against racist abuse of the owners of a Chinese restaurant in the UK. In later years, Sioux would prove to be a keen critic of cultural practices and histories. See also: Swimming Horses, Arabian Knights.

Of course this tangent of research tells me very little of Hong Kong... Yet currently in my mind, Honkers will be a sublime mix of the picturesque cinematography of Kar-wai but with an underlying punk aesthetic. Here's hoping...