Cantonese culture is important for the identity of Hong Kong people

        Hong Kong always seems to be in to and fro motion culturally between alien nationalism and the local. Hong Kong adopted strategies and found out ways to step in to the future world. There are several contradictions present in the history of Hong Kong but it has a unique environment now and it grew culturally. The Hong Kong welcomes everything; new, old, orthodox, unorthodox, foreign, local and the difference then acts as catalyst to come out with unique cultural mix. Hong Kong has played very important role in this complex world of internationalization and transnational culture which could not have been resisted. In the world of entertainment, the local industry transformed into something huge when Chow Yan Fat, Ronny Yu, John Woo and Jackie Chan stepped into the business and stepped into Hollywood as well. (Chan (2013))

        Being so open to change cultural diversion the cultural identity of Hong Kong is affirm and strong. It is known to be the region of world where culture of East and West blends. This culture mix is due to Chinese ancestors and roots and it has culture of west which is brought in the era of British colony.

        Feng shui concepts are taken seriously as they are business breakers and Ba gua mirrors are still considered for use as they help get away from bad spirits, the building do not have a floor with a number 4 in it as it is similar with word die in Cantonese. Hong Kong is the midpoint of Cantopop music which has blended effect of Chinese and Western music. The government of Hong Kong supports the art and cultural activities. Cantonese Opera is the major of Opera evolved from southern Chinese’s Cantonese culture.

History on Cantonese culture of Hong Kong

    History of Cantopop consists of three main stages. First stage is the era of cultural acceptance i.e. 1960-70; second stage is the 1980 which is known to be start of a Golden age and 1990s which was the time of four Heavenly Kings Alan Tam, Priscilla Chan, Samuel Hui and Leslie Chang. In the first stage the Cantonese culture was lesser known and traditionally opt to Opera. Cheng Kuan Min, Tam Ping-man and Tang Kee-chan are among first few artists who took initial steps in acknowledgement of Cantonese records. The term Cantorock was coined by Hans Ebert in 1974. Later a beat of similarity was notice in between American-British rock and Cantonese music therefore the tern Cantopop was coined in 1978.

        The next stage is known to be the Golden era of Cantopop as the traditional music touched the height of fame and success in this era, the music was made part of TV shows and movies and it got famous and earned success worldwide. A Chinese singer got famous by singing Cantopop song. As the genre got famous in China and boundaries nearby the entrepreneurs of Hong Kong got a chance to expand its cultural values. Third stage is the era of 1990s which was the time of four Heavenly Kings i.e. Alan Tam, Priscilla Chan, Samuel Hui and Leslie Chang. The music industry soared to height of fame. There are several benefits of canto slangs in Cantopop because the lyrics based music helps to revive the cultural and revival. Yibin BBQ is one of the examples. The pitch of Cantonese songs is very sensitive the hybridization of Cantonese music with western was a difficult task because western music has 12 different tones but the contributions of big names made a great difference. (Chronicle.com 2018)

        Cantopop is a very important part of the cultural history and identity of Hong Kong. Samuel Hui began to sing pop songs in Cantonese, and in this fraction of time people were stuck with English music, he introduced the Cantopop and made it famous and recognizable. His Cantopop song stirred the effect of fresh air in the music industry. There were several music lovers in Hong Kong whose first language was Cantonese; they were touched by his music. At that time this coincided with the prosperity of economy and brought a happy change in goodness of Hong Kong and its economy. The public demand for music and entertainment increased.

        The Cantonese produced several hit songs, TVs and movies. The songs were featured in several shows and movies and caused wave of popularity. The Cantonese role played very important role in rise of music and shows in 80’s. After the Tiananmen Square Incident in 1898 the youth of Hong Kong was inspired. A movement on 4^th June was launched in which everyone sung popular Cantonese songs and wore similar black T-shirts. Catchy Cantonese songs were sung and people who were killed in massacre were remembered.

        History is the part of the real world it does not differ from the present world; we learn from history we acknowledge the value of it. Cantopop has evolved over time, with the changing society and growing world focus on Cantopop is changing too. Now Cantopop does not possess power to bring people together as it did in its Golden era. Many of recognized stars have changed their area of focus and now no such big contributions are made to it so it is losing its essence. The country is in the past nothing unite the economy as the songs from the past do. Famous Cantonese songs such as Vast skies and Boundless Oceans were released in 1993 and still possess the power to bring together the public in a protest, united as one.  (Scmp.com 2018)

Nowadays the Cantonese culture of Hong Kong

        The people say there is decadence of Cantopop because it is tucked between spectrum of rise and fall. The Cantopop was appreciated and listened in 1980-90 but now that time has gone. In past decades the Cantopop stars were able to sale great pile of music albums in Hong Kong but now there is barely any album to be able to sell more than 10,000 copies. There are several reasons behind it. People do not watch music shows on television and that results in less income of the music makers which makes them unable of producing Cantopop music and resulting in it decadence over time. Cantopop is something more than genre for pop songs.

        Cantopop music is still used in TV and movies; it is irreplaceable over there and is considered as main medium for the promotion of Cantonese culture. Cantonese have earned unique dialect and it is widely spoken amongst Chinese communities and the reason behind is the fame and success of Cantopop in the past. The language has been widely spoken in Chinese communities and has greater fall in influencing the cultural values. The Cantonese culture is declining as it should be remembered that Cantonese have provided sense of identity and values to several residents of Hong Kong. (Fell 2014)

        In modern days less people prefer to listen to cultural Cantopop music and prefer other music forms or international music over their own. One of the reasons behind it is the lack of creation, creativity and productivity in the area. Cantopop is known as HK pop in modern days. In music of modern word the Cantopop reign is considered short.

        People now seem nostalgic rather than being appreciating towards new Cantonese songs because in past the songs have had deep impact on people and awaken sense of unity and togetherness in hard times. It gave an overview of group participation and gave an insight of identity. The songs brought up the emotions and memory of past and make them feel nostalgic. The effective use of the music removed the era of discrimination and differences. Several people listen to Cantopop music and modern Cantopop is common amongst Cantonese population. But the value of past music is still there because there is difference between new and old Cantopop music. (Liu 2014)

References of on Cantonese culture of Hong Kong

Chan, Ricardo K. S. Mak & Catherine S. (2013). "Icons, Culture and Collective Identity of Postwar Hong Kong." 1-16.

Chronicle.com. 2018. Hong Kong is frequently described as a place where "East meets West". https://www.chronicle.com/academicDestinationArticle/Where-East-meets-West/1/.

Fell, Michael. 2014. "Lyrics-based Analysis and Classification of Music." 23-64.

Liu, Juliana. 2014. How Tiananmen inspires Hong Kong youth. June 5. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-27692234.

Scmp.com. 2018. The rise and fall of Canto-pop and, with it, Hong Kong’s cultural identity. January 5. https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2126956/rise-and-fall-canto-pop-and-it-hong-kongs-cultural-identity.