Learning about the Case of Hong Kong

Communication and cooperation between culturally diverse people and organizations are mostly described as intercultural, transnational or cross-border phenomena – a perspective that might not fit to all realities, for example, when being applied to Hong Kong.

Since 1842, Hong Kong has been a “marginal man” between the East and the West: As a window for Western economic and cultural outreach to Asia as well as a Chinese gateway to the world, the city represents a unique microcosm for cultural convergence, contagion, divergence and hybridization to name but a few of the prevalent attributions. However, what if Hong Kong were neither a case of “either – or” nor a melting pot of cultures, but an example of the emergence of something new? What are the transcultural practices, spheres and competences that allow diversity and create commonality?

This book introduces the transcultural approach and assembles the findings of a field project conducted by a group of young researchers from different cultural and disciplinary backgrounds. Being a transcultural experiment itself, the project analyzes the case of Hong Kong from the perspective of arts, geography, management, media, political science, and sociology. The result is a multi-faceted and complex picture of Hong Kong as a microcosm – of transculturality.