Hong Kong’s Desert Culture: Anita Mui as a Cultural Entrepreneur

Michael Ka-chi Cheuk
The Open University of Hong Kong

Hong Kong was historically regarded as a “cultural desert,” a derogative notion which implied that the arts could not survive in this highly commercialised city. Both academics and the public are quick to conclude that the narrative of Hong Kong as a “cultural desert” is a shameful cliché. However, to adopt a moralistic reaction towards the “cultural desert” discourse risks perpetuating the same hierarchical sentiment which cultural critics have long sought to transcend. An examination of Hong Kong culture requires more deconstruction than destruction of the notion of the “cultural desert.” In this paper, I argue that a key feature of Hong Kong popular culture is its blurriness in the distinction between arts and commerce. As a case study, I reappraise Anita Mui as a “cultural entrepreneur,” or an artist who generates value by doing new or different things in the Hong Kong popular cultural industries. By revealing how the entrepreneurial side of Anita Mui (eg risk-taking and provocation in branding) breeds the cultural values of Anita Mui (eg “Anita the Chameleon”), I further argue that cultural figures like Anita Mui manage to exploit the blurriness of arts and commerce, thereby cultivating Hong Kong’s popular culture as a “desert culture.”

About me!

Michael Ka-chi Cheuk

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Michael Ka-chi Cheuk is Lecturer in English and Comparative Literature at The Open University of Hong Kong. He recently completed a PhD on Gao Xingjian’s pre-Nobel plays and censorship at SOAS University of London. He is now leading a Hong Kong Research Grant Council-funded project on Gao Xingjian's post-Nobel works and transmediality. Michael also teaches and writes about popular culture (especially Chinese-language hip hop).

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