Silence and cultural hybridity: The transnational and pansexual stardom of Jay Chow
Nicolas Y. B. Wong

This paper attempts to look at the construction of stardom of Jay Chow, who emerged in the show business as an R&B and hip-hop pop star in Taiwan. The most interesting thing about Jay Chow is his ‘transnational stardom’ across Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, created not only in his music career, but also on the screen. To date, he has starred in three films, namely Mak Siu-fai’s and Lau Wai-keung’s Initial D (2005), Zhang Yimou’s Curse of the Golden Flower (2006) and his own directing debut Secret (2007). Jay Chow plays the role of the ‘silent hero’ in these films. The silence stems from his lack of (dramatic) facial expression, his limited speech acts and his amateur acting skills, which, however, excite his fans by providing them with a blank text for the sake of their own imagination and fantasy. Moreover, Initial D (adapted from a famous Japanese comics) deals with illegal car-racing subculture, whereas the two subsequent films involve the operation of secrecy. His heroism and stardom, therefore, is constructed via the hidden sense of transgressiveness and mystique, which appeal most successfully among fans. Fans like grey areas and secrecy because they tend to build their devotion to their idols mainly on these two areas. In fact, Chow’s stardom also impacts Hong Kong Cinema before he officially makes his debut appearance in Initial D. The local low-budget independent film Hidden Track (2003, dir. Lam Oi-wah) actually is a story about the search for Jay Chow, without Chow’s participation in the film. Therefore, Hidden Track is a film that plays with the representation of the star qualities through the absence of the star himself, but the presence of his stardom. When academics are heatedly debating the meaning and function of transnational cinema in Asia, I would suggest looking also at the idea of transnational stardom. If the image of the nation could be commodified and sold on the screen, so could that of a star. In this paper presentation, I will argue that the construction of Jay Chow’s stardom is based on: (1) his kinship with traditional Chinese cultural values (e.g. Bruce Lee and family bonding) in his songs and music videos; (2) his silent and flabbergasted heroism, upon which fans of different sexualities could freely poach the meanings from his star image, and (3) his incorporation of foreignness (Japanese culture, R&B and rap musical style) with his own trait of Chineseness.

Conference presentations:

Wong, N. B. (2007). Cultural Hybridity, Silence and Secrecy: The Transnational and Pansexual Stardom of Jay Chou. Screenscapes: Past, Present, Future. University of Sydney. Australia. November-December 2007.

Creating a film show: a creative exploration of popular film genres in the English language development of secondary school students
Randal Holme & Alice Chik

Within ELT syllabus, the popular culture in film forms a ready source of tasks that can furnish students with a sense of engaging in authentic communication whilst setting up a strong linguistic challenge. In this project we intend to ask how an involvement in film-making can affect student-teachers’ and school-childrens’ perceptions of the role of drama and film-making in language learning by tracking a project with a group of third formers in a local Hong Kong secondary school, and a parallel group of education students. The education students will be tasked with introducing the third formers to the concept of a film genre, to teaching them some basic film language then helping them to develop, act out and film scripts that attempt a five minute realisation of an allotted genre. The third formers will be divided into groups with one or more student-teacher helpers then asked to focus on their realization. After the scripts have been written, filmed and edited, the groups will show their films at class film festival then to post them onto a website such as YouTube. The groups will then be taught the written genre of the film review and asked to produce critiques of each others’ films.

The research methodology will be qualitative and involve semi-structured focus group interviews with both the third-formers and the education students. Both groups will be interviewed close to the start of the project to explore their impressions of the usefulness of this type of project for developing English learning. The views of the education students and the third-formers will be contrasted. The groups will then be interviewed near the end of the project to ascertain how their views have or have not developed. The interviews will be transcribed and their themes identified using a grounded theory approach.

Hong Kong English pop: Fashioning multilingual identities in the informal curriculum
Phil Benson & Alice Chik

Viewing pop music as an important component of the informal curriculum for English language learning in Hong Kong, this project investigates the local production and consumption of English language pop music from the 1950s to the present day. In the light of the often ambivalent attitudes of young people towards English, we focus on the role of English-language pop in the formation of multilingual identities in an increasingly globalized city. The project draws on archive resources and interviews with local producers and consumers of English language pop. In addition to academic papers, we aim to publish a book-length history of Hong Kong popular music, focusing on issues of language, multilingualism and identity.

Funded by a HKIEd Internal Research Grant

Publications:

Benson, P., and Chik, A. (in press). English as an ‘alternative language in Hong Kong popular music. In J. Lee & A. Moody (Eds.), English in Popular Culture in Asia. Hong Kong University Press.

Conference presentations:

Benson, P. (2010). Globalization, language and the making of popular music genres in 20th-century Hong Kong. The 2nd Inter-Asia Popular Music Studies Conference. Chinese University of Hong Kong, June 2010.

Chik, A. (2009). Globalizing Hong Kong popular music through fashion. Extra/Ordinary Dress Code: Costuming and the Second Skin in Asia, City University of Hong Kong, December 2009.

Chik, A. (2009). Multilingualism in the history of Hong Kong popular music: questions of language and locality. 15th Biennial International Association for the Study of Popular Music International Conference, University of Liverpool, July 2009.

Chik, A. (2009). Multilingualism in the history of Hong Kong popular music: questions of language and creativity. Third International Roundtable on Discourse Analysis: Discourse and Creativity. City University of Hong Kong, May 2009.

Chik, A. (2008). English as an 'alternative' language in Hong Kong pop music. 14th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes. City University of Hong Kong, December 2008.

Benson, P., and Chik, A. (2006). English as an 'alternative' language in Hong Kong popular music. Symposium on Englishization in Asia: Language and Cultural Issues. Chinese University of Hong Kong, November 2006.

Japanese Anime and Manga in liberal studies education: an exploratory study of ‘why and why not’ in Japan versus Hong Kong
Law Kam Yee

The high value of Japanese anime (animated cartoons) and manga (comics) in teaching and learning is clearly recognized in Japan, including in subjects related to liberal studies. Through examining the ideas, images, symbols, languages, beliefs and rituals represented in anime and manga, this project aims at explaining why and how the knowledge and learning of Japanese students in liberal studies could be constructed and enhanced effectively. Although cartoons and comics are one of the most popular entertainments of Hong Kong teenagers, and Japanese products occupy the largest share in the market, they are less adopted by local schools in teaching and learning of liberal studies. Comparing and contrasting with the experience in Japan, the second aim of the proposed project is to explain why this success in Japan has not happened in today’s Hong Kong.

Publications:

Law Kam-yee and Poon Man-wai (2010), “Something other than entertainment: A comparative study between Japan and Hong Kong on introducing Anime and Manga to classroom”, Nihon Gakkan, Society of Japanese Language Education, Hong Kong, 13, pp.56-70. (in Chinese)

Conference presentations:

Poon Man-wai and Law Kam-yee (2008), “Japanese anime and manga in liberal studies education: An exploratory study of ‘why’ and ‘why not’ in Japan versus Hong Kong,” presented in the First International Conference on “Popular Culture and Education in Asia”, organized by Hong Kong Institute of Education, 11th – 13th December.

Japan in Hong Kong, Hong Kong in Japan: the inter-relation and cross cultural movement of image and ideas between Manga and Hong Kong comics since 1990s
Law Kam Yee

Manga is one of the biggest sectors in the popular cultural industry of Japan, and so are comics in Hong Kong. The project investigates the societal image and ideas implanted in the prevailing comics in each country. As two of the most active popular cultural commodity producers and consumers in East Asia, the inter-cultural exchange and transformation, and mutual influence between Japan and Hong Kong are phenomenal. To study the inter-relation of popular cultures between the two countries, and its implications, is crucial to the further understanding on the contemporary intra-Asian cultural exchange and development.

Publications:

Law Kam-yee (2010), “Comic and Teaching: Comparison of the cultural history and educational institutions between Japan and Hong Kong,” Jiang B C ed., Go to the Mass Society, Kaohsiung: Liwen Publisher. (in Chinese)

Sexy, naughty, bitchy: identity work in online comments on Asian female singers' English language MVs
Phil Benson, Adnan Amin and Beely Huang

Sexy, naughty, bitchy is the title of a song written and recorded by Thai-American singer Tata Young, one of several Asian female singers who have recently recorded bilingually. A typical pattern among these singers has been that they are first succesful in recording in an Asian language - e.g. Tata Young in Thai, Utada Hikaru in Japanese, Coco Lee and Jolin Tsai in Mandarin Chinese - and later go on to record English songs or albums. It also seems to be a pattern that these singers use English language music videos (MVs) to project sex-positive feminist identities that are less characteristic of their Asian language work. This study is concerned with the ways in which the highly sexualised identities projected in these MVs are interwined with the singers' use of English and representations of ethnic identity in lyrics and visual imagery. In particular, we are concerned with the ways in which the 'sexy, naughty, bitchy' images projected through Asian females singers' use of English seem to trigger identity work among their fans. As our primary source of data, we use 'anonymous' comments on MVs posted on YouTube and other video sharing sites. In analysing these data, we are especially interested in the identity work, revolving around gendered categories of language and ethnicity, that takes place within the discourse of the comments themselves.

Conference presentations:

Benson, P. (2009). ‘Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy’: Identity work in online comment on East Asian female singers’ music videos. 15th Biennial International Association for the Study of Popular Music International Conference. University of Liverpool, July 2009.

Benson, P. (2008). ‘Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy’: Identity work in online comments on Asian female singers’ music videos. 14th Conference of the International Association for World Englishes. City University of Hong Kong, December 2008.

When popular culture meets tourism: Cultural exchange for students in Hong Kong and Taiwan
Rebecca H. C. Chen & Sebrina M. J. Wang

Interest in hospitality and tourism issues has surged in recent years, both in popular culture and at universities. For example, food is a part of popular culture, and the beliefs, identities, and trends in a culture affect people’s eating practices. Currently, e-learning is particularly attractive for educational purposes. The communication, collaboration, and negotiation aspects of the Internet have given teachers an easier way to create a learning environment for learners to construct their knowledge through participation, interactions, and supports from their instructors and their peers. This study attempts to explore students’ online utterances and interactions to determine what the use of popular culture texts contributes to collaborative learning for hospitality and tourism culture, and to understand online collaborative characteristics among students from two universities in an asynchronous computer mediated communication (ACMC) environment.  Students will first read articles online about hospitality culture and then discuss them on the discussion board.  After finishing two discussions on different topics, each pair will be required to do an online project.  Finally, students’ perceived value of the popular culture texts and ACMC activities for language learning will be explored from three aspects: being aware of hospitality and tourism culture, learning more language for hospitality purposes, and increasing opportunities for interaction with other learners.

Conference presentation:

Chen, R. H. C. and Wang, S. M. J. (2011) When popular culture meets tourism: Cultural exchange for students in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Second International Conference on Popular Culture and Education. Hong Kong Institute of Education, December 2011.

The possibility of intercultural dialogue: Canto-pop as the mediational tool
Ronald Tang

This project reports the findings of a pilot study, the aim of which is to explore how the idea of intercultural partnership in learning can be realized. Students from different cultures are invited to join a discussion online under the theme: Hong Kong people’s identity crisis between 1989 and 1997. Guiding questions supplemented with song lyrics, video clips, and extracts of relevant articles are provided as mediational tools. Groups composed of students from different cultural background will be formed and they will be further divided into two categories: one is guided by the principle of intercultural dialogue which is defined as a process comprising an open and respectful exchange or interaction between individuals, groups and organizations with different cultural backgrounds or world views; the other is just allowed to freely express their views. The conversations of the discussion will be analysed to see if there is any difference between the two categories of students in terms of their communication patterns conducive to learning. A questionnaire will also be used to understand the extent to which they are satisfied with the arrangement of the pedagogical design in general. 

Conference presentation:

Tang, R. (2011) The possibility of intercultural dialogue: Canto-pop as the mediational tool. Second International Conference on Popular Culture and Education. Hong Kong Institute of Education, December 2011.

The study of international relations and foreign policies through motion picture and movies
Simon Shen

International relations and diplomacy are not hot subjects in Hong Kong. Part of the reasons leading to their lack of development is their sense of remoteness from our everyday life. However, when students can study the subjects through living images and music, they are generally being attracted. As a form of mass media, movie and cinema has the profound impact in shaping one’s -understandings of the world around them. Is compiling a teaching module to teach Chinese foreign policy through the means of using movies possible? This research aims at studying such possibility by proposing a comprehensive framework to study the history of modern and contemporary Chinese foreign policy after the first Anglo-Chinese War in 1839, the questions to be asked include (a) what are the advantages and limitations of using movies to teach Chinese foreign policy; (b) how many periods should the framework cover; (c) how many viewpoints should the framework cover; (d) which moving categories should be included; and (e) which movies should be used to illustrate the above parameters respectively.

Conference presentation:

Shen, S. (2011) The study of international relations and foreign policies through motion picture and movies. Second International Conference on Popular Culture and Education. Hong Kong Institute of Education, December 2011.

Different forces of nationalism in greater China cities: Comparing the political re-presentation in history museums at Hong Kong, Macau and Taipei
Sheh Wai-tung & Law Kam-yee

Museum may help to reshape the image of the city and foster citizenship and national identity, for example National Museum of History in Taipei city has a clear social mission on national education. Colonial states used history museums to legitimize their rule by displaying their version of their subjects’ past, such political functions inherited by independent post-colonial states as they forge nation-states and national identities – What about the post-colonial cities without independence? What makes Hong Kong and Macau so interesting to be investigated and compared is that both cities were colonies of imperialism for centuries and handover to Chinese sovereignty in late 1990s under the political principle of “one-country-two systems”. While developments at the Hong Kong Museum since the handover bear witness to a crucial new role in attempts to promote a state-centered patriotism, Macau Museum displays the city as a dynamic, pluralistic meeting point of “East-meets-West”. Creating the sense of Chinese nationalism and “the end of national humiliation” over modern China mainly rely on the exhibits in Hong Kong Museum, but Macau Museum shoulders the diplomatic function of nurturing friendship with western Europe and Portuguese-language countries. In contrast, Taiwan is experiencing a different practice of the building of national identity and citizenship. “Nationalism” is an important issue for Taiwanese. They try to build up a conscious of nation-state, which is a more traditional form of nationalism. For the National Museum of History in Taipei, it works on emphasizing the role and uniqueness of Taiwan in Chinese history and culture. It claims as “an open field for interpreting the history of our nation (Taiwan).” As these museums unfold, they provide a clearer picture of the need and the opportunity to recreate and/or reinvent the past to define, celebrate, or serve the present.

Global Childhoods: Popular culture
I Fang Lee and Nicola Yelland

This project will contribute to a larger project on Global Childhoods that has a specific focus in the Asian context.  We are interested in aspects of childhood that impact on the lives of children in Asia in contemporary times.  In this project the focus is on the popular culture that engages and impacts on the lifeworlds of children in Hong Kong.  We will gather data using ethnographic techniques to explore the ways in which popular culture is appropriated and absorbed into the lives of children who are 10 and 11 years of age.  We are interested in the ways in which popular culture impacts on the lives of children and if they feel a disconnect between their lives and activities in school and in out of school contexts.  This data will connect with the larger Global Childhoods project which in the first instance is focussing on literacy in school contexts for 5, 10 and 15 year olds in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Thailand and Malaysia.  We suggest that new forms of literacy are emerging in children’s out of school lifeworlds that are not present in school contexts and that this site creates a potential source of conflict for schooling in a broad sense.

Conference presentation:

Yelland, N. (2011) Millennnial kids learning: Exploring the lives of students in and out of the classroom. Second International Conference on Popular Culture and Education. Hong Kong Institute of Education, December 2011.

Informal language learning in social media environments: a YouTube-based case study
Phil Benson

(Funded by the General Research Fund, Hong Kong)

The rapid development and globalization of online social media services since the turn of the century has opened up new opportunities for informal second and foreign language (SFL) learning. These opportunities may be especially valuable to young English language learners in Asia, where opportunities for face-face-interaction with users of English have traditionally been limited. Using a multiple case study methodology, this project aims to identify and investigate evidence for SFL learning on YouTube, currently one of the fastest growing global social media services.
The project investigates interactions surrounding language-related videos posted on YouTube by Chinese-speaking users of English. It aims to identify evidence of SFL learning and to account for its contexts, typical practices and discourse features. Using observation and interview methods derived from the emerging field of online ethnography, the project comprises ten in-depth case studies, each of which involves systematic investigation of a focal video, related video postings, and text comments made by other users. Observational data gathered from YouTube are complemented by interviews with key participants in SFL learning events.
The findings of the study are expected to provide insight into the potential of YouTube and other social media environments for informal SFL learning. They will also deepen our theoretical understanding of the nature of informal out-of-class SFL learning, in an age in which online SFL social interaction is becoming part of everyday life, and the ways in which it differs from and complements classroom learning.

Conference presentation:

Benson, P. (2011). Informal learning and the globalization of social media. Second International Conference on Popular Culture and Education. Hong Kong Institute of Education, December 2011.