Book Title

The 70's Biweekly: Social Activism and Alternative Cultural Production in 1970s Hong Kong

Editor

PAN Lu (Department of Chinese History and Culture)

Publisher

Hong Kong University Press

Year of Publication

2023

ISBN

9789888805709

Introduction

Taking The 70’s Biweekly—an independent youth publication in the 1970s’ Hong Kong—as the main thread, this edited volume investigates an unexplored trajectory of Hong Kong’s cultural and art production in the 1970s that represents the making of a dissent space by independent press and activist groups in the city. The 70’s Biweekly stands out from many other independent magazines with its unique blending of radical political theories, social activism, avant-garde art, and local art and literature creations. By taking the magazine as a nodal point of social and cultural activism from and around which actions, debates, community, and artistic practices are formed and generated, this book fills gaps in studies on how young Hong Kong cultural producers carved out an alternative creative and political space to speak against established authorities.

Split into three parts, this book provides readers with a panoramic view of the political and cultural activisms in Hong Kong during the 1970s, writings on art and film, and crucially, interviews with former founders and contributors that reflect on how their participation led them to engage ideologically with their activism and community that extended far beyond the temporal and physical bounds of the magazine.

Content

Foreword by Mok Chiu-yu vii Acknowledgments xvii

1. Introduction 1 Lu Pan

Part I. Radicalism and Its Discontents

2. The Impossible Decolonization and the Radical Thought of Ng Chung-yin 29 Law Wing-sang

3. The Formation of Hong Kong’s Radical New Left, 1970–1974 51 Yang Yang

4. The Imaginary of Asia and World Consciousness in 1970s Hong Kong: The Case of The 70’s Biweekly 80 Ip Po Yee and Lee Chun Fung

Part II. Aesthetic and Literary Counterpublics

5. The Making of an Aesthetic Counterpublic in 1970s Hong Kong: A Visual Exploration of The 70’s Biweekly 113 Lu Pan

6. Film Criticism in The 70’s Biweekly 141 Tom Cunliffe

7. A Critical Study of The 70’s Biweekly and Its Political Cinematic Practices 169 Emilie Choi Sin-yi

8. The Erotic, the Avant-Garde, and the Anarchist Arts: The Imaginations and Representations of Radical Politics in The 70’s Biweekly 196 Ella Mei Ting Li

Part III. Interviews with Former Members

John Sham Kin-fun: I Admit We Were Making Trouble! 225

Wat Wai-ching: The Grassroots Member of The 70’s with Deep Love and Righteousness 235

Yeung Po-hi: The 70’s Was a Free Space 245

Kan Fook-wing: In Retrospect, the Struggles Were Like Sowing Seeds 253

Yuen Che-hung: Accumulating My Ignorance in the Years at The 70’s 259

List of Contributors 267

Index 269

* Owners of respective book covers are credited. Book covers are for reference only. FH is unable to accept responsibility of any inaccurate information.