Hong Kong was once a neon-lit city, but as the relevant laws were implemented, one neon sign after another was dismantled. Last night (August 18th), two iconic neon signs of Yau Ma Tei's long-established Chinese skirt "Crown South China" were also officially turned off, and many members of the public came to take photos with the neon signs to record their last figures.
Kwok Si Heng, Assistant Professor, Director of the Department of Communication Design and Director of the Information Design Research Office at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, issued a "Neon Sign Disappears, What Do You And I Have to Do with You and Me" after the "Mak Man Kee Noodles" signboard was demolished in 2018?" "What we lose is not a single sign or childhood memories, but the local meaning behind the sign, that is, the identity, sense of belonging and security generated by the emotional attachment of a group of old neighbors or people living in the district to the place or community for many years."
Guannanhua employees take photos to commemorate the | Photo: Orange News
The neon sign is gone, what do you and I have to do?
Wen \ Guo Siheng
At the beginning of 2018, the news came from all the media that the "Mak Man Kee Noodle House" was going to tear down the neon sign that had stood for many years, and after learning about this, my heart was as hot as an ant beating in the hot nest, because it was not simply my childhood memories, but also the landmark of this district. In the past, every time I passed by here for lunch, I would deliberately walk to see it, just like visiting an old friend who had been familiar for a long time, and I was at ease when I saw it.
Although neon signs have been removed in the past, such as "Chicken Sparrow Fun" in Kwun Tong, "Shin Hing Restaurant" in Sham Shui Po, "Lo Phu Kee Porridge Noodle Expert" in Central and "Sammy Restaurant" in West Wan, the emotional connection is not as profound as this time. Later, it was learned from the media that the M+ Museum did not intend to keep the neon sign of "McWin Kee Noodles", but this sign was very valuable, and the signature font and design were also very rare, and should be retained as much as possible. At that time, only two weeks before the dead line of the demolition order, I contacted the contact person of the noodle family and tried to persuade the noodle family to donate the sign to the design school for collection and research purposes; At the same time, I also contacted the relevant departments and colleagues of the School of Design to study whether there was room for this huge signboard.
Later, the college replied: Technically and spatially, it is possible to make a short-term exhibition, but due to the limited space of the college, it is impossible to make a long-term collection. As for the noodles, the contact person also replied that the intention to donate the signboard to the design school was positive, but the college was required to bear all the dismantling, transportation, related insurance costs, and the need to contact the police to arrange road closure. After many contacts and discussions, under the condition of limited resources, I finally had to give up keeping this signboard.
McVin noodles | Figure: Network
I still remember that day I still did not give up lobbying with the workers who dismantled the signboard, even if it was a small piece of demolition, I was willing to take it in, but the worker said to me impatiently: "I dismantled this signboard and sent it to the landfill, what do you have to do?" I understand that it is their responsibility for the workers to send the dismantled signboard to the landfill, but isn't it a pity that the signboard is sent to landfill? Wouldn't it be a better option to keep it for future education or preservation of Hong Kong culture? But the workers eventually demolished the sign and drove away.
A few days later, the workers' words " Signs are demolished , what do you have to do with them ?" It's been haunting my mind, making me think again and again about what I'm doing for. Why are you so nervous to keep a signboard? Why document and study signboards? Is it just to simply be content to reminisce about my childhood memories? Or is it for a deeper meaning? Some people lament that the rapid pace of urban development is unkind, killing the living space of small shops, cutting off the life vein between people, and demolishing the traditional visual culture; But is it also said that cities are not to make continuous progress? What's so bad about the old not going to the new and not coming, improving your life? Wouldn't it be better for cities and streets to be clean and tidy?
In fact, tearing down a few signboards will not affect our lives. So why are neon signs worth preserving? To respond to the above questions, or to return to the basics, that is, what effect can neon signs have on the community? What value does it have to ourselves and to those who live in the district? For me, it helps people to feel a sense of belonging and security about the place, because it is part of our growth, the emotional attachment and memory accumulation that we have generated over time in this familiar place. So why is the signage so important to the memory and emotional attachment of the place?
Hong Kong Street View | Figure: Network
First, we need to know what the place is like. A place is a specific field, which can be an entire city or a small place in a city, such as a mall, a residence, a park, or a street. Man constructs places, which in turn construct people's lives, cultures, identities, and histories. These unique and rich fields are our emotional attachment and part of our lives (Chen, Orum and Paulsen, 2013). Places not only change with social processes, but they also meet a range of social needs, especially cultural identity, a sense of belonging to the community, and a guarantee of well-being, because through our daily participation, construction, and giving of local meaning, the convenience of the place can convey a sense of its own.
According to Chen, Orum and Paulsen (2013), the primary role that the function, use and presence of place provides is to enable people to give meaning to places. This meaning includes the memory of places, whether from first experiences, or from folk tales told from neighbors, or from historical records in books. Local significance can also be based on personal feelings and experiences, such as the old neighbors have often eaten in a restaurant in the district for many years, and the neon sign of the restaurant is lit every dusk, and they will go to the illuminated neon sign and meet at the restaurant. Their daily lives are intertwined with the restaurant and the neon signs on the street. Now the restaurant is a local venue, with related things such as the restaurant signboard, providing different meanings and memories to the old neighborhood. Through years of personal affection, the participation and attachment of the place to things makes the meaning of the place more important and strengthened.
Citizens take photos to commemorate the | Photo: China News Network
People often have an emotional attachment to places and things, that is, people will have an emotional connection to a specific place or thing. This emotional attachment is a long and repetitive positive interaction with places and things, that is, when we live for ourselves, the place becomes our life log and important place. Jane Jacobs (1961) argues that local dependency is an "A Sense of Proprietorship" towards neighbors, which can strengthen and encourage behavior and activities among citizens in the name of neighbors, consolidate the cultural identity of the community, and protect citizens and property.
In the study of local dependence, scholars Marc Fried (2000) and Alice Mah (2006) found that poor or working-class citizens have a particularly deep emotional attachment to the place, because poor small citizens have very limited resources, so they must rely on neighbors to help each other. Mutual help is also often described as "dependence", that is, the mutual dependence between people and the attachment to the place, thus creating a sense of belonging to the place where they live. In a sense, a sense of belonging to place is a deeper psychological and emotional bond.
When urban development is to remove some old areas and redevelop, even many old shops and signs will be demolished, just as the area around Kwun Tong Yu Min Fang has been re-planned, and people's close relationship with the local meaning, attachment, memory and neighborhood is then cut, torn and broken. Strong urban development dismantles the network, and eventually the old neighborhood loses its emotional attachments to the community and social networks. When the news came from the media that the neon sign of "McWin Kee Noodles" was to be removed, what we lost was not a single sign or childhood memories, but the local meaning behind the sign, that is, the identity, sense of belonging and security generated by the emotional attachment of a group of old neighbors or people living in the district to the place or community accumulated over the years.
Guan Nanhua | Picture "Neon Shades: A Record of Hong Kong's Street Visual Culture"
This article is excerpted from Neon Pale: A Record of The Visual Culture of Hong Kong's Streets, with paragraphs adjusted.
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