The Other City / My City: Hong Kong and Shanghai in the Essays of Yesi and Anyi Wang

Title

The Other City / My City: Hong Kong and Shanghai in the Essays of Yesi and Anyi Wang

Author

Chiang-Hsin Li

Page

265-296

DOI

10.6163/TJEAS.202512_22(2).0007

Abstract

By the late 20th century, Leo Oufan Lee’s “dual cities” perspective had inspired reflections on the cultural and historical parallels and contrasts between Shanghai and Hong Kong. As two cities located on the periphery of China’s cultural map, outside the central plains’ cultural core, Shanghai and Hong Kong share a complex and nuanced connection.Yesi and Anyi Wang, two prominent writers representing Hong Kong and Shanghai respectively, explored these connections through their essays. By writing about the other city (Shanghai for Yesi and Hong Kong for Anyi Wang) while reflecting on their own, they recorded the cultural exchanges and transformations between the two places, often in the form of travel narratives. The period from the 1980s to 2000 marked a time of dramatic change for both cities, and their works reveal the inner thoughts of the residents and the reconstruction of identities during these historical shifts.This paper examines how Yesi and Anyi Wang, through their writings, observed the distances between “the other city” and “their own city”, as well as the intricate relationships between the two. In their reflections and imaginings, do they depict an ideal utopia? These writings express the inner struggles and profound cultural implications embedded in their dual-city narratives.

Keyword

Yesi, Anyi Wang, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Two Cities

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