June 30, 1997 (a.k.a celebrate what?)
Yau Ching / 1997 / 8min / Cantonese / Chinese Subtitles
Invited to screen at Donnell Media Center Auditorium, New York Public Library, among others
A music video shot entirely in public spaces during the handover evening in Hong Kong. Writes Yau Ching: “June 30, 1997. Hong Kong. Tourists flocked to expensive gourmet parties with a harbor view, or got drunk on the streets, embracing British or Communist flags. All media coverage described how happy the local Hong Kong people were about being taken over the next day. I was invited to a gathering at Hong Kong Arts Centre to watch television and the fireworks together. It turned out to be a gathering of local artists singing sad songs and telling angry stories, against a room decorated in words of bright red: ‘Reunification in 1997: I am very happy.’ Later I went to the Central part of town to find thousands of people rallying in Victoria Square. At midnight they released multi-color balloons, tied a huge yellow ribbon around the Legislative Council, where the directly elected Democratic Legislators were being kicked out, as of July 1. The action was illegal in the new Hong Kong law. The police blocked the area around the Council soon afterwards, calling it ‘private property.’ The rally continued as a marching group carried the yellow ribbon up to the Office of the newly Beijing-appointed Chief Executive.”
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