Source: China Real Time, WSJ (8/19/16)
Hong Kong Shocked by ‘Arrival’ of Chinese Landmark
By Laurence Witherington
The movie poster for “Arrival” showed Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl Tower standing somewhere in Central. PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
“Hong Kong is not China” is not a simple statement. It’s freighted with history, tension and uncertainty. What is certain, however, is that Shanghai’s Oriental Pearl Tower is not in Hong Kong.
Until now.
A poster for the movie “Arrival” shows an enormous alien space bean hovering over Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour. In the foreground, somewhere in the Central district, is the famous Shanghai landmark. Across the poster the question looms, “WHY ARE THEY HERE?”
For some Hong Kongers, the better question was why is IT here?
Some people in Hong Kong reacted to the poster with surprise, outrage and a torrent of abuse. Accompanying the online comments, found mostly on Facebook, was the hashtag #HongKongisnotChina.
Hundreds of comments followed the poster’s publication on the official “Arrival” Facebook page.Many posts weren’t that polite. Eventually the filmmakers’ representatives acknowledged the blockbuster error and removed it from Facebook, blaming a “3rd party.”
The gaffe was magnified in Hong Kong, where there is ongoing debate and uncertainty about the city’s future. Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997 after 155 years of colonial rule. As a Special Administrative Region of China, the city is governed under its own political system with more robust protection for freedoms including speech and assembly. This system is guaranteed until 2047 under the British-Chinese handover agreement.
Some people in Hong Kong worry that the “Basic Law” that the Chinese territory operates under has been eroded recently. These concerns flared during the Occupy Central street protests in 2014. Since then the detention in China of five Hong Kong booksellers and restrictions placed on the advocation of independence have added to the tension.
One of the movie’s taglines–“Language is the first weapon drawn in a conflict”–aptly highlights one of Hong Kongers’ great sensitivities. Cantonese is predominantly spoken in the city of seven million people. But increasingly Mandarin can be heard in the streets and in schools as more people move to the city and visit from the mainland. Another film, a 2015 hit in Hong Kong called “Ten Years,” predicts a time (ten years away) when all taxi drivers will be forced to learn Mandarin or lose their jobs.
“Arrival” is set for release in the U.S. on Nov. 11. There is not yet a Hong Kong opening date.
– Laurence Witherington