• 10 years ago
• Posted in:Uncategorized
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• Author: ninaxu

In 2012, the provincial government of Guangdong enacted the Guangdong National Language Regulations, which forced broadcast and print media and state institutions to communicate solely in Mandarin. In 2014, increased centralization of power by the People’s Republic of China in Hong Kong and subsequent anxieties over the loss of Cantonese culture sparked mass civil disobedience movements. Located in Vancouver’s Chinatown, Centre A’s newest exhibition, 越界/粵界 (transgression/cantosphere), is a radical attempt to bring local politics into transnational conversations on the erasure of the Cantosphere.

Creators Hong Kong Exile (Milton Lim, Remy Siu, and Natalie Tin Yin Gan), Zoe Lam, and Howie Tsui set the stage with a found art piece facing the entrance to the show. A green sign proclaims “HISTORIC CHINATOWN” in blocky letters, onto which is projected 越界 (transgression). The first character fizzes out, replaced by 粵; transgression becomes its homophone Cantosphere. The ominous juxtaposition of transgression and Cantosphere suggests that the ways in which power controls urban spaces and populations – represented here by official signage – leads to the relegation of Cantonese to the fringes, transgressing normativity. The emphasis on Chinatown’s signage of the historic – as if Chinatown is historical, a cultural artifact relegated to the past without a lively, thriving population – is interceded upon; the piece rejects assertions made in Julia Kwan’s documentary on Chinatown, Everything Will Be, refuting “Condo King” Bob Rennie’s belief that “the Chinatown that your parents remember is gone forever” (Everything).

Enter the unlit second space of the exhibition and one is confronted with two distinct linguistic spheres. The first linguistic sphere, printed on the wall in unpunctuated and unspaced English, is pulled from the Chinatown “Economic Revitalization Strategy” plan, demanding Chinatown “greetcustomerswithfriendlyandwelcomingattitudes” and “modernizeandbroadenitsproductofferings”. The second linguistic sphere, projected onto the wall, is a “pun generator” in traditional Chinese characters, which scrambles Cantonese proverbs to the sound of mahjong tiles as homophones replace stock phrases (translations of the puns are offered at the entrance). Tyler Russell, Centre A’s curator, notes that English speakers frequently miss the pun generator, while Cantonese speakers pass over the English-language piece, creating a fascinating engagement with language and its ability to construct an insider/outsider status. Without exceptional fluency in Cantonese, one would not understand the playful complexities of the puns; without equal fluency in English, it would be almost impossible to distinguish the English words, made less accessible due to their ungrammatical nature. As an English speaker, I am forcefully reminded of the inaccessibility of public policy and decision-making to the primarily Canto-speaking residents of Chinatown; public discussions on what to do with the “problem” of Chinatown – its disrepair, shuttering businesses, and supposedly plummeting cultural value – are frequently conducted solely in English, making it impossible for many actually living and working in the space to participate in said discussions. When translators are provided, said provision is frequently reluctant, further ostracizing those who don’t fit into the revitalization plans for Chinatown.

The exhibition is not all fatalistic, however: the final set of puns in the pun generator shift “The hope is in the people” through a series of phrases that rest, finally, on “The hope is in the questions that people ask”. In questioning current perceptions of Cantonese, 越界/粵界 makes its case for the continued value of the Cantonese language and culture both locally and internationally.

Works Cited:

Everything Will Be. Dir. Julia Kwan. National Film Board of Canada, 2014. Film.