Events
Traditions and Subversions: Cultural-politics of Hong Kong Music Within and Without China
10 May 2013
4:00 – 6:00 pm
Activities Room, 2/F, Art Museum East Wing, Institute of Chinese Studies
Professor Yu Siu WahDepartment of Music
Tel: 39437107
Music, or yue in the Chinese context, has long been entwined with theories of politics and governance since its very beginning, a fact mostly neglected by students and teachers of music in Hong Kong. While censorship of subversive works of art has been witnessed in the past, politically sensitive contents survived the vigilance of the colonial government precisely because those who were responsible for the scrutiny of performing arts were relatively uninformed of the culture of post-1949 China. Such a tradition was prevalent during the pre-handover decades and some aspects of it have continued after the return of sovereignty of Hong Kong from the British to the PRC government in 1997. This talk focuses on examples which are subversive within the greater Chinese context, and pertinent and provocative without. .