Postcoloniality Beyond China-Centrism: South-South Transnationalism and Queer Sinophone Localism in Hong Kong Cinema Available to Purchase

This chapter explores Hong Kong cinema as a rich site for queer Sinophone theory, positioning Hong Kong as a geographic locale through the visual mapping of global intimacies and connections. It expands on Shu-mei Shih’s insight into the Sinophone as a nonrelational approach toward Chineseness. Queerness in Hong Kong cinema points to modes of disorientation and transnational mobility that deviate from the geopolitics of British colonial legacy and China-centrism. The chapter examines queer nonrelationality to Chineseness in two of independent filmmaker Scud’s films, Permanent Residence (2009) and Amphetamine (2010), which link Hong Kong with Guangzhou, China; Thailand; and the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and map queer desire across Australia and Hong Kong. The chapter also examines Sinophone local and regional lesbian cinematic aesthetics in Butterfly (2004), directed by Yan Yan Mak. Queer Sinophone theory thus foregrounds Hong Kong cinematic transnationalism across worldly geographies and local intimacies.