Monday, October 23, 2017

Shanghai Diary: Stupid Game

I have a very stupid game I play. Channel 22 on my cable -- not sure of the name -- plays a lot of anime, soap operas, "Sing China" (which is the China equivalent of "The Voice"), and another game show which is the China equivalent "America's Got Talent". But, best of all, they play a lot of Hong Kong movies from the '80s and '90s. Occasionally, I'll recognize these movies immediately but, more often, I'll sit and watch and try to figure out what movie it is. I'll look for familiar faces and then start to put together a cast list. Eventually I'll cross-reference the actors and actresses in IMDb until I come up with a title. Tonight's movie is Dances with Dragon.

I was talking to my co-worker, Emily, today about how I perceive -- or had perceived - mainland China and Hong Kong and that most of my impressions came from movies. I was hard pressed to name too many mainland films except for a couple by Ang Lee and Zhang Yimou and those were historical epics. But, HK films helped me learn a bit about Chinese culture, even if mainland culture and HK culture aren't always (often?) similar.

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