Ged Carroll

Category: hong kong | 香港 | 홍콩 | 香港

哈囉 – here you’ll find posts related to Hong Kong. That includes the territory, the culture, business, creativity and history. I lived and travelled to Hong Kong a number of times, so sometimes the content can be quite random.

In addition, I have long loved Cantonese culture and cuisine, so these might make more appearances on this category. I am saddened by the decline in the film and music production sectors.

I tend to avoid discussing local politics, and the external influence of China’s interference in said politics beyond how it relates to business and consumer behaviour in its broadest context.

Often posts that appear in this category will appear in other categories as well. So if Apple Daily launched a new ad format that I thought was particularly notable that might appear in branding as well as Hong Kong.

If there are subjects that you think would fit with this category of the blog, feel free to let me know by leaving a comment in the ‘Get in touch’ section of this blog here.

  • Keeping it gangster with Jingjing

    Hong Kong is familiar to many westerners as a backdrop for gangster films from Enter the Dragon to Jackie Chan’s Police Story, PTU and the Infernal Affairs trilogy.

    In fact, the society is much more organised and less violent than the likes of the UK. Even the old public housing projects in Aberdeen don’t really compare to south London. However, why let the truth get in the way of a good story or movie? Which is why the Beijing Olympics mascot Jingjing made me laugh.

    Olympic mascots - check out the gangster panda with the hand-gun

    You can see Jingjing giving it the full gangster style in shooting. Also note the red face of drunken rage. And he is also an accomplished fighter and tasty with a baseball bat. This has been featured across Beijing 2008 marketing materials and souvenirs.

    JingJing1.jpg

    On a more serious note the games event pictograms are an interesting organic interpretation of what Otl Aicher did for the 1972 Munich Olympics. You can see them in this surround at the Bank of China building (click on the picture if you want to see in more detail.) They remind me of early Chinese character pictograms in terms of their feel, a kind of future primitive design aesthetic. You can see how pride and nationalism are coming through in the designs.

    Bank of China

    More China related coverage here.