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Evelyn Kwok reviews a book that documents the gradual disappearance of perhaps the most iconic artefact of the Hong Kong urban landscape.

Brian Sze-hang Kwok, Fading Neon Lights: An Archive of Hong Kong’s Visual Culture (City University of Hong Kong Press, 2023), 202pp.

The culture of disappearance is a very familiar notion within and beyond academic discourse on Hong Kong. Since the publication of Ackbar Abbas’s seminal book Hong Kong: Culture and the Politics of Disappearance in 1997, which so poignantly employed disappearance in its examination of the city’s cinema, popular culture, monuments and architecture, many parts of Hong Kong’s rich cultural tapestry have continued to fade. Neon lights is just one of them.

There has been an ongoing global fetishization of neon lights. I describe it as ‘on-going’ because I am unsure when it began and when it will end. From Hollywood blockbuster films that depict futuristic cities with forests of dazzling neon, to workshops that teach participants how to make their own personalized signs, to home design stores selling small scale stand-alone neon signs as decorations, neon signs are vividly part of the interior and urban imagination. Rightfully, neon has mesmerized the public with its reverberating glow since it was invented in early 1910s by French engineer George Claude. However, is this fetishization a global obsession of a decorative fad or simply another consumption of visual pleasure? To what extent do consumers see the significance of neon lights in the establishment of an urban culture and identity that exist beyond aesthetics and has long been woven into the social, spatial and economic fabric of a city? And what are the impacts when neon lights are no longer in abundance and instead become a rare urban appearance? I dare assume the pool of people who have contemplated on these are likely narrow. This book is a cry for this pool to expand and for neon lights to be seen and understood as more than a stunning piece of decoration.

The writer takes the reader on a journey that interweaves Hong Kong’s cultural and economic history in neon light creation, craftsmanship, usage and appearance in the urban environment. This journey informs the reader  from a design perspective, with its extensive analysis of the structure, typography, color, genre of signage and an impressive photo documentation of neon signs all over Hong Kong. It also includes ethnographic segments and interviews that bring to light the collective memory of neon lights’ significance in a glorious period of Hong Kong’s social and economic history. Moreover, throughout the entire journey of the book, the readers are accompanied by the voice of the writer. It is like they are taking a walk together across the suburbs of Hong Kong. Metaphorically moving through streets and pointing out where certain signs are or used to be, their journey is intercepted by history lessons, discussions around preservation and conservation, some heated moments of negotiation with workers who are about to dismantle neon signs, and the writers’ own memories and stories of a time when neon lights abound and dazzled. Like a city tour, this journey with the reader is clearly earmarked with its purposes as outlined in its chapter titles such as: History, aesthetics and conservation (chapter 1), A closer look at Hong Kong (chapter 2), Types of neon signs in Hong Kong (chapter 4), to list a few. The book’s journey is dotted with an abundance of colorful photographic moments that may leave the reader feeling a sense of curiosity and joy, along with the bittersweetness of reflecting upon a bygone era.

This book feels thick. In the sense that it is a dense compilation of the social, spatial, cultural, visual and economic elements that this seemingly simple object has stimulated. Moreover, it is thick as it can be an emotionally heavy expedition, as reflected by some of the nostalgic sentiments expressed by the writer and the impossibility of neon lights’ present survival in this city. There is no denying that a key part of Hong Kong’s visual culture is indeed fading and that there is no clearcut solution to its preservation. Acknowledging all this, what this book may inspire, is more attention and curiosity that could lead to the germination of new ways to appreciate, value and celebrate Hong Kong’s unique and abundant visual culture.

Dr Evelyn Kwok is Research Assistant Professor at the Academy of Visual Arts at Hong Kong Baptist University. Her research interests are in urban and spatial design, ethnographic methodologies in design and socially engaged art.

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