Re-encountering spaces, unfolding stories: Community efforts to stay grounded while making sense of the hyper-capitalistic Hong Kong
Institutional Affiliation
University of Maryland, College Park
Start Date
January 2026
End Date
January 2026
Proposal Type
Presentation
Proposal Format
On-campus
Proposal Description
The typical discourses around social movements in Hong Kong since the city’s retrocession from London to Beijing in 1997 emphasize people’s distrust of the Hong Kong and Chinese central governments, the fight for democracy, and the staggering socio-economic disparity as the dominant reasons for the protests and violence. However, through critical analyses, we learned that the obsession with capitalism and efficiency, and the state-capital alliance inherited from the colonial era have led to an absence of decolonization and a clear sense of identity — the root causes of Hong Kong’s unsustainability. Social movements are in fact public outcries for alternative ways of living to the current hyper-capitalistic arrangement where people’s everyday lives are determined by the handful billionaires in the city.
This proposed paper consists of three sections. The first section provides the context of Hong Kong’s unsustainability by critically re-articulating the history and narrative of Hong Kong’s development, an alternative to the commonly-known colonial, British framing.
The second section describes an organic emergence of community-based initiatives that utilizes local tours and oral history projects to invite Hong Kong residents (as familiar strangers) and tourists to re-discover and re-engage with local histories, stories, and cultures of different neighborhoods, a lot of them are at risk of being demolished for redevelopment but are homes to socio-economically marginalized communities, sunset industries, and gurus of cultural heritages. Three case studies will be highlighted to showcase different financial models and practices
The last section discusses the opportunities and challenges for each model. This paper presents an interesting case of seeing local community-based tourism as an opportunity for one to take the time to focus on their relationship with themselves, their communities, and the environment; reflect on their social identity; and reconcile with different lived experiences — a powerful act to counter the de facto capitalism and efficiency doctrine and a way to enhance social cohesion and inclusion, and nurture peace and community sustainable development at the time of rampant politicization and radicalization.
Re-encountering spaces, unfolding stories: Community efforts to stay grounded while making sense of the hyper-capitalistic Hong Kong
The typical discourses around social movements in Hong Kong since the city’s retrocession from London to Beijing in 1997 emphasize people’s distrust of the Hong Kong and Chinese central governments, the fight for democracy, and the staggering socio-economic disparity as the dominant reasons for the protests and violence. However, through critical analyses, we learned that the obsession with capitalism and efficiency, and the state-capital alliance inherited from the colonial era have led to an absence of decolonization and a clear sense of identity — the root causes of Hong Kong’s unsustainability. Social movements are in fact public outcries for alternative ways of living to the current hyper-capitalistic arrangement where people’s everyday lives are determined by the handful billionaires in the city.
This proposed paper consists of three sections. The first section provides the context of Hong Kong’s unsustainability by critically re-articulating the history and narrative of Hong Kong’s development, an alternative to the commonly-known colonial, British framing.
The second section describes an organic emergence of community-based initiatives that utilizes local tours and oral history projects to invite Hong Kong residents (as familiar strangers) and tourists to re-discover and re-engage with local histories, stories, and cultures of different neighborhoods, a lot of them are at risk of being demolished for redevelopment but are homes to socio-economically marginalized communities, sunset industries, and gurus of cultural heritages. Three case studies will be highlighted to showcase different financial models and practices
The last section discusses the opportunities and challenges for each model. This paper presents an interesting case of seeing local community-based tourism as an opportunity for one to take the time to focus on their relationship with themselves, their communities, and the environment; reflect on their social identity; and reconcile with different lived experiences — a powerful act to counter the de facto capitalism and efficiency doctrine and a way to enhance social cohesion and inclusion, and nurture peace and community sustainable development at the time of rampant politicization and radicalization.