Rethinking the Cultural Relations between Hong Kong and China: An Analysis of the Chinese Reception of Stephen Chow’s Films

Abstract

This is a cultural sociological study of the mainland Chinese reception of the films of Stephen Chow, the popular Hong Kong actor and director. This study’s theoretical objective is to rethink the cultural relations between post-handover Hong Kong and China. Its empirical analysis challenges five major frameworks of studying post-handover Hong Kong culture that interpret Hong Kong–China cultural relations as hegemonic and conflictual. The study’s first substantive section establishes that the Chinese reception of Chow’s films has been very positive and well participated. The second and third sections illustrate that the Chinese scholarly reception of Chow’s films and the Chinese popular audience reception of them stress their counter-hegemonic characteristics. This study’s data include the hundreds of Chinese-language publications on Chow, online sources, and interviews with twenty-four informants.