Author ｜
Hok-yin Chan
Abstract ｜
Memory is fluid and selective. In this essay, I examine the complex process by which the memory of May Fourth was absorbed, appropriated, and reconstituted in local discourses. Even though the historical events were the same, the local remembrances of May Fourth varied from place to place because of local needs. A case in point is the May Fourth memory in Hong Kong. Over the last hundred years, the May Fourth—meaning both the political protest in 1919 and the cultural renaissance from 1917 to 1927—had been remembered in different ways depending on who was remembering, what was remembered, and how the memory was presented. In comparing these different remembrances of May Fourth, I highlight the complexity in Hong Kong society. As different groups of the educated elite relocated to Hong Kong from mainland China, they evoked different images of May Fourth to define their roles in their adopted city. Some saw themselves as migrants in transit; some as protectors of the Chinese culture when iconoclasm took root in mainland; some as advocates of democratization and confrontational politics similar to the protesters in 1919. Whatever roles they might assume, they remembered the May Fourth to express their visions of China, their identities in local community, and above all, their goals in life.
keywords ｜
national May Fourth, local May Fourth, Hong Kong, timespace difference, localization