It is some time since I read Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, but another author
citing the description of ‘Zaira, city of high bastions’, resonated with my
recent experiences in Hong Kong.
I could tell you how many steps make up the streets rising like stairways, and the degree of the arcades’ curves, and what kind of zinc scales cover the roofs; but I already know this would be the same as telling you nothing.
In the time it took to travel in a red Hong Kong cab,
recently described by a young visitor as cooler than New York cabs, from our
apartment block to the Prince’s Building in Central, Calvino’s description of
Zaira, unfolded in real time.
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| Taxis in front of the old Central Police Station in Central. |
An unknown neighbour approached me jovially. When I looked
perplexed, this larger than life lady told me she had been in Canada to escape
the Hong Kong heat. She flapped a handkerchief and crossly explained that her
son misled her that winter had already arrived in Hong Kong and here she was,
dripping with perspiration. The lady in black – frilly organza blouse over
snappy black trousers, patent leather pumps, Jackie O sunglasses, swirly
diamond earrings and helper in tow – upon hearing that I was learning Mandarin,
told me, in a rather off-hand manner, that she knew all the Chinese languages. These languages were acquired during the
‘terrible times’ when Japan invaded Hong Kong and they had to flee from place
to place in mainland China. She inquired equally casually on what floor I
lived. The 8 floors difference immediately established a pecking order between
us.
Streets usually serve as tracks for long-distance runners.
Architects often aspire to bring the street into the mall. Something of a
cross-over occurred when the Citibank Tower’s fire escape served as the track
for a charity fitness challenge….vertical running 55 floors above ground?
Super-fit contestants looked deathly pale when they completed the run.
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| Citibank Plaza was designed by Leo A Daly |
Marco Polo’s acknowledgement to Kublai Kahn that the
description of heights, angles and materials of Zaira amounted to telling you nothing. So what then to
make of a Hong Kong taxi driver that drew an air pistol on another cabbie that
pushed in front of his car, or why the lovely lady in black uses the height of
an apartment to establish social order, or a staircase used as a running
track? These spatial configurations, do they not tell you something about place
and space in the city? Below, behind, in front, above...to the left or right,
all determine value. But they also tell
you nothing till you know the social and material relations that govern
Hong Kong: that the income generated by land sales is government’s most
important source of income; that it is a divided place where rich and poor are
far removed; where memories of the past determine the present and future, and
every step, arcade curve and pink tile or stone are measured and recalculated
for profit, practicality and efficiency. After seven months in the city, I know
a lot more about Hong Kong, but at the same time, I often feel that I can tell you nothing….
