Culture of Hong Kong

English and Chinese are the two official languages of Hong Kong.[2] During the British colonial era, English was the sole official language until 1978 but has remained a strong second language in Hong Kong. As the majority of the population in Hong Kong are descendants of migrants from China's Canton Province, the vast majority speak standard Cantonese or other Yue Chinese varieties as a first language, with smaller numbers of speakers of Hakka Language or the Teochew dialect of Southern Min. In addition, immigrants and expatriates from the West and other Asian countries have contributed much to Hong Kong's linguistic and demographic diversity.

Hong Kong Cantonese is the Cantonese language (粵) spoken in Hong Kong. Although it is not one of the Hong Kong indigenous languages,[3][4] it is the most widely spoken language in Hong Kong nowadays. The Hong Kong style of Cantonese contains many loanwords from English, and also some from Japanese, due to Japan being one of Hong Kong's biggest trade partners and the popularity of Japanese pop culture in the city in the past few decades. Nevertheless, Hong Kong Cantonese is still mutually intelligible with the Cantonese spoken by Cantonese people from mainland China or overseas Chinese of Cantonese ancestry. Cantonese is also the primary language used in Hong Kong cultural products (pop songs, movies, etc.).

One distinctive trait of Hong Kong's Cantonese is that, due to British cultural influences, Hong Kongers are noted to have a habit of sprinkling their Cantonese with English words, resulting in a new speech pattern called "Kongish".[5]

Hakka language (Jyutping: Haak³ gaa¹ waa²; Traditional Chinese: 客家話) is commonly used in many walled villages (Jyutping: Wai⁴ cyun¹; Traditional Chinese: 圍村) in New Territories and Hakka ethnic communities in Hong Kong, being one of the indigenous languages for Hong Kong indigenous peoples.[6][7] Hakka is, like Cantonese and Mandarin, a member of the Chinese language family, but has close to zero mutual intelligibility with either. Hakka people also has a distinct culture, differing from Cantonese also in terms of traditional architecture, music, cuisine, and other customs.

Waitau language (Jyutping: Wai⁴ tau⁴ waa²; Traditional Chinese: 圍頭話), another of Hong Kong's indigenous languages,[3][6] is mostly spoken by the older generation living in walled villages in New Territories. Lastly, the Tanka people (Jyutping: Daan⁶ gaa¹ jan⁴; Traditional Chinese: 蜑家人) from the fishing villages is another group of Hong Kong indigenous peoples. Their language, Tanka (Jyutping: Daan⁶ gaa¹ waa²; Traditional Chinese: 蜑家話), with their own version of Cantonese, is another form of Hong Kong indigenous languages.

Since the 1997 handover, the government has adopted the "biliterate and trilingual" (Jyutping: Loeng³ man⁴ saam¹ jyu⁵; Traditional Chinese: 兩文三語, literally "two writing systems and three languages") policy. Under this principle, "Chinese" (somewhat ambiguously) and English must both be acknowledged as official languages, with Cantonese being acknowledged as the de facto official (at least spoken) variety of Chinese in Hong Kong, while also accepting the use of Mandarin (Jyutping: Pou² tung¹ waa²; Traditional Chinese: 普通話)[8] in certain occasions.

A political advertisement written in Cantonese

In terms of writing systems, Hong Kongers write using Traditional Chinese characters, which not only employ, under varying circumstances, variant and classical characters used since imperial years, but also cover all of the words in Mandarin-based Vernacular Chinese, the language in which government documents and most works of literature are written. With the aid of Cantonese characters invented by Hong Kongers, the Cantonese language can now be written verbatim, and written Cantonese have been becoming more prevalent since the turn of the 21st century, especially in less formal spheres such as internet forums and advertisements.[9]

Hong Kong supports a variety of artistic activities. The Hong Kong Arts Centre in Wanchai offers a variety of performance venues and galleries, and is supportive of other arts organisations, while Oi! arts center, located inside the historic Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, aims to promote visual arts in Hong Kong by providing a platform for art exhibitions, forums and other art-related activities. At the international level, Hong Kong hosts the leading contemporary art fair Art Basel in Asia and is a center for new media art with venues such as Microwave International New Media Arts Festival and Videotage. Even in less urban areas of the city, Hong Kongers have also built creative oases such as the Cattle Depot Artist Village and the Fo Tan artistic community. Contemporary visual artists from Hong Kong include Nadim Abbas, Amy Cheung, Choi Yan-chi, Ming Fay, Lai Cheuk Wah Sarah, Tsang Tsou Choi, Ho Sin Tung and Eric Siu.

Hong Kong has recently seen a boom in independent art groups.[23]

Hong Kong also hosts several styles of Lingnan (Cantonese) fine arts, including the Lingnan styles of painting and bonsai. For example, Yeung Sin-sum, who is venerated as "the last master of the Lingnan school of painting", is based (though not born) in Hong Kong.[24] Hong Kong also has an active club supporting Lingnan penjing (English website).

Hong Kong is also home to modern ink painting, which infuses traditional Chinese ink painting with experimental techniques and approaches.[25] Prominent artists in this field include Lui Shou-kwan, Liu Kuo-sung, and Eddy Chan.

The graffiti work of Tsang Tsou Choi, the "King of Kowloon"

Graffiti art (Jyutping: Tou⁴ aa¹; Traditional Chinese: 塗鴉) is abundant on Hong Kong streets. The Hong Kong style of graffiti art ranges from calligraphy using Chinese characters to satires against politicians. It is technically illegal in Hong Kong, but lax law enforcement results in the proliferation of graffiti art. Nowadays, graffiti art is omnipresent in the streets of Hong Kong, especially in the busier districts such as Mongkok. The work of Tsang Tsou Choi, one of the most prominent Hong Kong graffiti artists, even had his work sold for more than 50,000 Hong Kong dollars.[26]

Nowadays, many Hong Kongers have started regarding graffiti arts as a symbol of their city and host activities promoting graffiti art.[27]

Cover of Tin Ha

Hong Kong comics (Jyutping: Hoeng¹ gong² maan⁶ waa²; Traditional Chinese: 香港漫畫) are Hong Kong-based comic books that have provided an avenue of expression long before the arrival of television. While readership has fluctuated through different decades, the art form is one of the most consistent in terms of providing highly affordable entertainment. Hong Kong comics are regularly available at news stands in most street corners. Characters such as Old Master Q, Chinese hero and many others have showcased Han Chinese artwork and stories (especially Cantonese ones). Japanese manga have also been translated and fused into local comics libraries.

"Vase with floral scroll design", on show in Hong Kong Museum of Art

Hong Kongers, like their fellow Cantonese, have also dabbled in Canton porcelain. Canton porcelain (Jyutping: Gwong² coi²; Traditional Chinese: 廣彩), also called "Cantonese porcelain", is a distinct style of porcelain that originated from Canton City, the center of Lingnan culture. It primarily involves a specific set of techniques that enable Cantonese to get various colours onto white porcelain, resulting in porcelain products that are unusually bright and colourful. Hong Kongers has worked on Canton porcelain in the early 20th century and exported their products even to the Western world. Nowadays, however, as the city has shifted her focus to service and finance, it is mostly hobbyists who would spend time on this style of porcelain art.[28]

Cantonese opera is one of the major categories in Han Chinese opera, originating in southern China's Cantonese culture. Like all branches of Han Chinese opera, it is an art form involving music, singing, martial arts, acrobatics, and acting. Features particular to Cantonese opera include being sung in the Cantonese language, plus its heavy use of makeup and headdresses. Cantonese opera also uses a distinct set of musical instruments. Hong Kong also has a distinct style of Cantonese opera (Jyutping: San⁴ gung¹ hei³; Traditional Chinese: 神功戲, literally "opera using effort of gods") specifically played during Cheung Chau Bun Festival. The art form carries a national identity that goes as far back as the first wave of immigrants to arrive in the 1950s. Nowadays, Sunbeam Theatre is one of the places that hold the tradition.

Hong Kong Coliseum also is a Cantopop concert venue

Cantopop (Jyutping: Jyut⁶ jyu⁵ lau⁴ hang⁴ kuk¹; Traditional Chinese: 粵語流行曲), also called HK-pop, has dominated and become synonymous with local music culture since its birth in Hong Kong, though the gradual fall of Cantopop in the mid-1990s had given rise to other forms of pop culture, mainly Japanese, Korean, and western music. Still, Cantopop enjoys considerable popularity in Cantonese communities across the world. Nowadays, the global influence of Mandarin has slightly influenced the style. Mandopop from Taiwan is gaining ground. Most artists are essentially multilingual, singing in both Cantonese and Mandarin. Hong Kong English pop, Japanese, Korean, and western music are also popular among Hong Kongers.

Western classical music is also widely appreciated by many Hong Kong people. Many schools provide free musical instrument lessons to their students.  There are also quite a number of professional, amateur and student orchestras performing regularly. The best known orchestra is the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra [29] . The Orchestra was originally called the Sino-British Orchestra, it was renamed the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 1957 and became a professional orchestra in 1974.  The Orchestra is currently under the direction of Music Director Jaap van Zweden. It won the Gramophone Orchestra of the Year Award 2019. [30]

Another well known orchestra is Hong Kong Sinfonietta (Chinese: 香港小交響樂團).[31] Established in 1990, one of its main focuses of HK Sinfonietta is to promote classical music to the general public. In 2002, the conductor and music director Wing-sie Yip (葉詠詩) [32] joined the orchestra as the first woman conductor in Hong Kong. She has broadened the base of classical music lovers in the city.

An amateur orchestra organised by the Hong Kong Medical Association, also called the Hong Kong Doctors Orchestra is an orchestra formed in 1989 by a group of doctors who loved classical music. This orchestra has performed in many charity events every year. Its aim is to care for patients and the society not just by medicines but also by beautiful music![33]

For Hong Kong youths who are interested in becoming professional musicians, they can attend the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts where they can obtain a master's degree, bachelor honours degree in Music majoring in a musical instrument. There are also part-time courses offered by the Academy accredited by the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications.[34] Many graduates have become professional players and music teachers.

Hong Kong theatres include:

• Aurora Theatre Hong Kong
• Hong Kong Cultural Centre
• Ko Shan Theatre
• Lyric Theatre
• Star Hall
• Tea House Theatre
• The Hub
• Xiqu Centre, West Kowloon
• Yau Ma Tei Theatre

The Hong Kong cinema (Jyutping: Gong² caan² pin³; Cantonese: 港產片) industry has been one of the most successful worldwide, especially during the second half of the 20th century. Having received international recognition for directors such as Wong Kar-wai, it has remained a moderate level of prominence despite a severe slump starting in the mid-1990s. Martial artists and film stars such as Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee are known globally, especially in Chinese settlements overseas, historically most of whom have been of Cantonese ancestry and enjoy Cantonese-language entertainment. Many other Hong Kongers actors have transitioned over to Hollywood, including Chow Yun-fat and John Woo.

The cinema of Hong Kong is noted for its brands of martial arts movies and comedy. The latter is said to have its own style of humour, which has been termed "Hong Kong humour" (Jyutping: Gong² sik¹ jau¹ mak⁶; Traditional Chinese: 港式幽默) - alluding to British humour.[35] It is said to be characterised by black comedy and, more distinctively, Mo lei tau, and may have been influenced by British humour.

Locally produced television dramas by the free-to-air networks of TVB and ATV have been fairly popular during 1970s to mid 2000. They have contributed to a unique cultural identity among the Hong Kongers and served as a cultural resource for the Cantonese community worldwide. Many of the well known dramas were exported to South East Asian countries, the US, Canada and the UK in the form of tapes, then VCD/CDs. Hong Kong was the powerhouse for producing a large number of soap opera TV series in Cantonese dialect. However, the gradual demise of ATV and eventually, TVB, because of worsening quality of TV shows and dramas resulted in greater preference for those produced in China and other Asian nations, namely South Korean, Japanese, and Taiwanese TV shows, which now dominate the latest TV trends in Hong Kong.

A statue of McDull, a Hong Kongers cartoon character; He is now known throughout East Asia.

While Hong Kong has had an endless supply from Japanese anime and US Disney animations, China has been trying hard to revitalise the industry. Hong Kong has made contributions in recent years with productions like A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation and DragonBlade. Most notably, companies like Imagi Animation Studios located directly in the territory are now pushing 3D-CG animations into the market.

McDull is arguably the most prominent among Hong Kongers animations.

Except for the above, Hong Kong also has available different kinds of performing arts, including drama, dance, and theater. Hong Kong is home to the first full-time comedy club in Asia, The TakeOut Comedy Club Hong Kong.[36] There are also many government-supported theater companies. More recently, in 2014, Hong Kong had had its first outdoor Shakespeare festival, Shakespeare in the Port performed at Cyberport.[37]

The following performing artist groups originated from and based in Hong Kong have seen modest success even beyond Asia:

• Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, who play Chinese music
• Hong Kong Ballet
• Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra
• Hong Kong Sinfonietta

Newsstand at Star Ferry Pier

Magazine and newspaper publishers distribute and print in numerous languages, most notably Vernacular Chinese and English. The printed media, especially tabloids but also broadsheet newspapers, lean heavily on sensationalism and celebrity gossips. While the practice is criticised, it continues to sell papers. The media is relatively free from government interference compared to that of mainland China, and newspapers are often politicised; some have even shown skepticism toward the Chinese government in Beijing.[38]

In the early 2000s, Hong Kong had two main broadcast television stations, TVB and ATV. The latter was closed in 2016 after a long series of financial issues, and the refusal of the government to renew its broadcasting license. The former, launched in 1967, was the territory's first free-to-air commercial station, and is currently the predominant TV station in the city and can also been seen in the neighbouring Gwongdung province and Macau (via cable). Paid cable and satellite television have also been widespread. Hong Kong's soap dramas, comedy series, and a variety of shows have reached mass audiences throughout the world of Chinese languages, primarily Cantonese communities. Many international and pan-Asian broadcasters are also based in Hong Kong, including News Corporation's STAR TV.

Hong Kong literature is the literature produced in Hong Kong. It started in the early 20th century, where successive waves of migrants from mainland China (mostly of Cantonese ancestry) moved to the British-controlled city in their attempts to escape from the then war-torn China. At first, the educated among these migrants felt much resentment for having to stay in Hong Kong, a "land of Southern Barbarians". Many of their works revolved around expressing such sentiments. Starting from the 1960s, however, Hong Kong developed in such a high pace that writers started writing about Hong Kong herself, with topics ranging from local current events and cultures. Nowadays, Hong Kong literature has been fully developed, with numerous prolific writers producing works such as proses and novels. Hong Kong literature is characterised by its heavy use of daily life scenarios - meaning that romance, humour, and satires are popular genres, although Hong Kong has also produced several prominent wuxia (Jyutping: Mou⁵ haap⁶; Traditional Chinese: 武俠) and science fiction writers. Prominent writers of Hong Kong literature include:

Amy Cheung, a writer of romance and proses; Notable works include "Women on the Breadfruit Tree" and "For Love or Money".

Chip Tsao, known for writing proses and articles that discuss cultures (especially Western ones).

Jin Yong, a renowned wuxia writer; Several of his novels have been made into movies and animations.

Ni Kuang, a science fiction writer; He also has had several of his novels made into movies.

Lingnan literature was traditionally written in classical Chinese, rather than the peoples' spoken languages. Despite the attempt to create vernacular forms of writing in the late 19th century, the Greater China region still tend to use Vernacular Chinese, a writing system based on Mandarin, not Cantonese (i.e., the peoples' language in the Lingnan region), in writing. Hong Kong is no exception. The vast majority of works of Hong Kong literature were composed in Vernacular Chinese. However, starting from the 21st century, Hong Kong, as a cultural center in the region, has developed a complete writing system for Cantonese.[39] Some writers in the city now advocate composing literature in written Cantonese.[9]

• 
  Za leung is often eaten in Cantonese breakfast.
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  BBQ pork is a common dish in Cantonese cuisine.
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  Tong sui is popular among Hong Kongers as well.
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  Mooncakes found in Hong Kong are mostly Cantonese-style, though Hong Kongers also have local inventions such as snow skin mooncake.
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  A cup of Hong Kong-style milk tea
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  Canto-Western cuisine is common in Hong Kong. It has both "Western" and Chinese (mainly Cantonese) influences.
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  A bowl of poon choi
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  Imitation shark fin soup is a popular street snack invented in Hong Kong. It looks like shark fin soup but doesn't use actual shark fins. The soup is either made with synthetic shark fins, cellophane noodles, konjac gel, or other alternatives.

The art of "asking the dead" (Jyutping: Man⁶ mai⁵; Traditional Chinese: 問米) has long been a tradition in Hong Kong. It is often common for living people to want to ask dead people about their lives in the underworld. In these rituals, people bring paper-made garments, paper-made money, and paper-made food to burn them, traditionally believing that this could pass the objects to dead people and give the latter a more comfortable afterlife.[51]

This tradition originated from the Warring States Period in China, at about 476 BCE. This is a common ancient practice in certain parts of Southern China and Hong Kong. However, the number of shops supporting this has been on the decline as people increasingly view this as superstition nowadays.

Westernised stores such as U2 are numerous.

Hong Kong, nicknamed "shopping paradise", is well known for its shopping district with multiple department stores. Many imported goods transported to Hong Kong have lower tax duties than the international standard, making most items affordable for the general public.[52]

Hong Kong is identified by its materialistic culture and high levels of consumerism. Shops from the lowest end to the most upscale pack the streets in close proximity. Some popular shopping destinations include Mongkok, Tsim Sha Tsui, and Causeway Bay.

Mahjong table setup

Gambling is popular in Cantonese culture and Hong Kong is no different. Movies such as the 1980s God of Gamblers have given a rather glamorous image to gambling in Hong Kong. However, gambling is legal only at three established and licensed institutions approved and supervised by the government of Hong Kong: horse racing (in Happy Valley and Sha Tin), the Mark Six lottery, and recently, football (soccer) betting.

Games such as mahjong and many types of card games can be played for pleasure or with money at stake, with many mahjong parlours available. However, mahjong parlours are slowly diminishing as licences are no longer obtainable and, as a result, many old mahjong parlours have been forced to close.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club[53] provides the only legal avenue for horse racing and gambling to locals, mostly middle-aged males. The club was established in 1844 by the British colonial government, with the first racecourse being built in Happy Valley. The club closed for a few years during World War II due to the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong. In 1975, lottery Mark Six was introduced. And in 2002, the Club offered wagerings for football world championship games including the English FA Premier League and the World Cup.

• Hong Kong orchid
• Lion Rock

• Lion Rock Spirit (aka "Hong Kong's core values"; 香港核心價值)
• Walled villages of Hong Kong
• Cantonese wedding
• Cantonese pre-wedding customs
• Villain hitting
• Bone collecting
• Hong Kong Kids phenomenon
• Ngai jong
• Pawnbrokers in Hong Kong

• Hong Kong cultural policy
• Leisure and Cultural Services Department
• Museums in Hong Kong

• Cantonese culture
• British culture
• Chinese culture:
  • Chinese mythology
  • Mahjong culture