Publications
1. Compendium of Hong Kong Literature 1919-1949
Introduction
Hong Kong literary workers had the idea of compiling a compendium of Hong Kong literature in as early as the 1980s. It was not materialized until 2009, when our Center Director Professor Leonard Chan Kwok Kou and Co-Director Dr. Chan Chi Tak brought up the idea to some local scholars. An editorial committee was formed, and the project of Compendium of Hong Kong Literature 1919-1949 was launched. The project took five years. Hong Kong’s first literary compendium, published by the Commercial Press, appeared in 2014-2016.
Each of the twelve volumes of Compendium of Hong Kong Literature 1919-1949 is edited by a local scholar who is a specialist of the area. The Compendium retrieved many early literary works, which were buried in time. There is an “Introduction” in each volume, written by the editor. This part explains the ideas and principles behind the selection process, and offers guidance to readers and valuable historical information to researchers. Following the legacy of Compendium of Modern Chinese Literature, the volumes are divided according to genre. To highlight the characteristic feature of Hong Kong literature, three volumes are dedicated to Classical-Style Literature, popular literature and children literature, respectively. The Compendium exhibits the diversity and multi-dimensionality of early Hong Kong literature. It has a meaning which is closely relevant with, but not limited to, local culture.
Compendium of Hong Kong Literature 1919-1949 Modern Poetry Editor: Chan Chi Tak
This volume collects modern poems published in Hong Kong before 1949. The works selected first appeared in 1925-1949, years covering the pre-war period, Anti-Japanese War and the beginning of the post-war era. It aims to present works of different schools and styles written in different periods. An equal emphasis is placed on artistic value and documentary significance. Some poems collected are Ou Wai-ou’s 鷗外鷗 “The Cornerstone of Peace” 和平的礎石, Li Yu-zhong’s李育中 “North Point, the City of Victoria” 維多利亞市北角, Chen Can-yun’s 陳殘雲 “Scattered Songs on the Shore” 海濱散曲, Liu Huo-zi’s 劉火子 “In the City, at Noon” 都市的午景, Yuan Shui-pai’s袁水拍 “The Ladder-shape Concrete Hill Street” 梯形的石屎山街, He Cheng-jiang’s何浧江 “Night of a City” 都市的夜, Huang Yu’s 黃雨 “The Southorn Playground at Dusk” 蕭頓球場的黃昏, Sha Ou’s 沙鷗 “The Wet Market” 菜場. The poems sketch out the long disappeared streetscape of the Hong Kong city in the 1930s and 40s. They are also historical records that convey the poets’ vision, critical ideas and imagination.
Compendium of Hong Kong Literature 1919-1949 Prose I
Editor: Fan Sin Piu
This is an anthology of prose essays written from the mid-1920s till 1941, the beginning of the Japanese occupation period. The works selected are taken mainly from literary supplements of Hong Kong newspapers and periodicals; a small number are taken from books. It includes works of writers born and raised in Hong Kong, such as Xie Chen-guang 謝晨光 and Lu-Lun 侶倫, as well as South-bound writers who came to Hong Kong for temporary residence or long-term abode, for example Mao Dun茅盾, Ye Ling-feng 葉靈鳳. While the former group of writers are inarguably “Hong Kong writers,” the latter also contributed greatly to Hong Kong’s cultural environment and literary atmosphere. Both are critical for “Hong Kong literature” and are not to be neglected. This volume offers a wide selection of aesthetic writings, short sketches, miscellaneous articles, features, newsletters etc., the topics of which cover local and foreign issues. The book aims to present the different visages of early Hong Kong prose writings. Supplemented with an introduction, it is hoped that the work will deepen readers’ understanding of the changes in the genre and the works’ production mechanism during the period.
Compendium of Hong Kong Literature 1919-1949 Prose II
Editor: Ngai Ling Tun
This is a collection of prose essays published in Hong Kong newspapers and personal anthologies from 1942 to 1949, years of Japanese Occupation and the Post-war period. Covering works of both local and South-bound writers, the essays collected are of a diversity of types, such as argumentative, narrative, reminiscent (of people), lyrical, expository (of feelings), descriptive (things and scenery). By reading this book, readers can understand more about early local prose and the literary ecology of local newspapers and magazines in the 1940s. They can go on to contemplate the unique historical situation of Hong Kong as a cultural center situated away from the mainland at that time.
Compendium of Hong Kong Literature 1919-1949 Classical-Style Literature Editor: Ching Chung Shan
Compendium of Hong Kong Literature 1919-1949 Popular Literature Editor: Wong Chung Ming
Popular literature has long been regarded as marginal literature. This book aims to correct this view by carefully selecting outstanding popular works published in a wide time span from late-Qing to 1949. A variety of novels are chosen, including romance, martial, detective, tiankong xiaoshuo (radio stories) etc. Modern adaptations of old literary sketches, Yue ou (粵謳 Cantonese love songs), long zhou (龍舟 dragon boat songs), ban ben (班本 lyrics of Cantonese opera songs) and other works are also collected. The pieces collected are written in a range of writing styles, for example wen yan (文言 classical literary), bai hua (白話 colloquial), Cantonese, san ji di (三及第 a mix of classical, colloquial and Cantonese). The works are arranged in chronological order, with an aim of facilitating understanding of the relationship between inheritance and changes in the development of our local popular literature over time. Aside from its artistic value, the collection is also a rich source of information for sociology, folklore studies, economics, linguistics, literary reception theory and other areas. With a unique content, this book exhibits the special qualities of writings of Hong Kong writers in different periods.
Compendium of Hong Kong Literature 1919-1949 Children Literature Editor: Fok Yuk Ying
Editorial Committee of Compendium of Hong Kong Literature 1919-1949
Editor-in-Chief: Leonard Chan Kwok Kou
Vice Editor-in Chief: Chan Chi Tak
Members: Chan Chi Tak, Leonard Chan Kwok Kou, Fan Sin Piu, Huang zi-ping, Ngai Ling Tun, Wong Chung Ming (in alphabetical order)
Editors
1 Modern Poetry
Chan Chi Tak
(Associate Professor, Department of Literary and Cultural Studies, the Education University of Hong Kong)
2 Prose I
Fan Sin Piu
(Associate Professor, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, the Chinese University of Hong Kong)
3 Prose II
Ngai Ling Tun
(Associate Professor, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, the Chinese University of Hong Kong)
4 Fiction I
Tse Hiu Hung
(Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Creative Writing, Hong Kong Baptist University)
5 Fiction II
Wong Nim Yan
(Associate Professor, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, the Chinese University of Hong Kong)
6 Drama
Lo Wai Luk
(Associate Professor, Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University)
7 Literary Criticism I
Leonard Chan Kwok Kou
(Chair Professor, Faculty of Humanities, the Education University of Hong Kong)
8 Literary Criticism II
Lin Manshu
(Chief Editor, Wenxue Pinglun [Literary Criticism])
9 Classical-Style Literature
Ching Chung Shan
(Senior Lecturer, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, the Chinese University of Hong Kong)
10 Popular Literature
Wong Chung Ming
(Associate Professor, Journalism and Communication Department, Hong Kong Shue Yan University)
11 Children Literature
Fok Yuk Ying
(Associate Professor, the Education University of Hong Kong)
12 Reference Materials
Chan Chi Tak
(Associate Professor, Department of Literary and Cultural Studies, the Education University of Hong Kong)
13 A Collection of Introductory Essays
Chan Kwok Kou, Chan Chi Tak et al.
Advisors
Chen Ping-yuan, Huang zi-ping, Li Ou-fan, David Wang Der-wei, Xu zi-dong (in alphabetical order)
2. Hong Kong: Urban Imagination and Cultural Memory
Co-edited by RCCLLC, HKIEd and the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2010