ABSTRACT
This chapter continues the discussion of the triangulated relationship of a real particular city, the city-state of Hong Kong, the formation of its film industry, and its imaginary construction by its cinema. Hong Kong cinema is the third largest film producer in the world and frequently outsells Hollywood. Its immense cultural output shows the traces of its unique history in an explicit dialogue with its colonial heritage, its Chinese roots, and its transnational context. Hong Kong culture is
shaped by British colonialism, the legacy of China, the simultaneous intentional articulation of separation from China by a diasporic community and, finally, the transnational education, orientation, and business connection of the post-Second World War generation. Hence Hong Kong’s film culture is discussed here in relation to mainland China, the region, and transnational global culture. An active, contemporary exchange with Hollywood of actors, directors, martial arts coaches, and choreographers, and the cult circulation among African-Americans and AsianAmericans especially in the 1970s, have characterized the reception of Hong Kong action cinema in the USA.
