Abstract
Multilingualism has been a core part of Hong Kong’s culture since it was colonised by the British empire in the 1800’s, as well as being prevalent in Hong Kong’s music culture in the form of code switching since the 1950’s. English language use has been on the rise ever since Hong Kong was colonised, partly defining the Hong Kong citizens’ multiculturalism. Political music started arising after the 1989 TSI (Tienanmen Square Incident), feeding on the rising identity of Hong Kongers, and incorporating multilinguistic elements in an effort to support the pro-democratic movement, through a form of non-violent protest Hong Kongers are now famous for. I investigate what functions and impacts multilingualism has on the protest culture of contemporary music in Hong Kong, conducting a mixed method for my primary research; utilizing musical/lyrical analysis, interviews, and surveys. I find that multilingualism functions as a creative tool for artists, and to reference western concepts or ideas not found in Cantonese vernacular. It impacts the Hong Kong population by evoking a sense of globality, multiculturalism, and patriotism, providing more support for the pro-democratic movement.
Contents Page
4…………………………………………………………………………………. Introduction
4…………………………………………………………………………………. Literature Review
7…………………………………………………………………………………. Methodology
9…………………………………………………………………………………. Critical Analysis
14………………………………………………………………………………… Conclusions
15………………………………………………………………………………… Appendix
17………………………………………………………………………………… Reference List
18………………………………………………………………………………… Bibliography
Introduction
Music has been the most popular form of foreign contact with the English language since the 1960’s (Crystal, 2003). Its status as a global language was achieved by way of British imperial rule reigning from the 15th century, and maintained to this day by the USA’s position as the leading economic power of the 20th century. Hong Kong adopted English via British colonisation in the 17th Century, as a foothold into mainland China during the first opium wars. Hong Kongers are inherently multilingual because of this, still to this day being taught English alongside Cantonese in school, and so can express themselves in two very different and distinct languages. Each language has its own cultural meanings and symbolic values, and so the use of English in Hong Kong’s music deemed itself worthy of investigation. How has English use impacted Hong Kong’s music culture? What makes Hong Kong artists use English lyrics at all? Much work has been done into the multilinguistic aspects of Cantopop, so I decided to focus on Hong Kong’s political music. Hong Kongers have always expressed their political beliefs through music ever since the 1989 TSI (Tienanmen Square Incident) (Ho, 2000), and so I looked into the music that defined the recent 2019 protests against the fugitive offenders amendment bill. Little academic writing has been done on this so far – it is both a recent event in history as well as a highly niche area of research. This kind of research is important to be undertaken, as musical protest is a key part of freedom of expression in democratic society. If English has any impact on the protest culture of Hong Kong at all, it likely plays a role in their level of freedom of expression.
In this dissertation, I will be researching into the function and impact of multilingualism on the protest culture of contemporary music in Hong Kong. I will be looking at the existing literature around the topic, forming a base on which to conduct primary research and add to the arguments being made by the existing material. I utilize a mixed method approach to my primary research, incorporating musical/lyrical analysis, interviews, and surveys.
Literature Review
Although English has ‘global language’ status, this term and other synonyms of it are “particularly loaded”, says Kachru. English is only spoken as the primary language in the UK & Ireland, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Everywhere else adopted English under either second language status (Philippines, India), or under foreign language status (China, Japan). Depending on the region, this has been either a result of colonial rule in the area, or through the emergence of English as the primary language of global commerce. In Asian cultures, English typically goes through a process of ‘nativization’, wherein it doesn’t loose its intelligibility to western English speakers, but is adapted and morphed to fit itself into the culture in a way western English could not do (Kachru, 2005). This process of ‘nativization’ has formed a very distinct ‘Hong Kong English’ – a kind of English that is identified largely by its unique ‘Hong Kong English’ accent and phonology (Hung, 2000).
English language use in Hong Kong has been on the rise ever since it was colonised; the 1931 census (the earliest one to include language ability) revealed only 5.5% of residents could speak English. The 2016 language census for Hong Kong[9] showed that 51.9% of Hong Kong residents now speak some English, increasing from 41.2% in the 2006 census. The number of fluent speakers is still very low, however, and so music often incorporates code switching, which doesn’t require fluency to be used effectively or to be understood by the greater Hong Kong public.
The main way multilingualism takes it’s form in music is through the use of code switching – the idea of alternating between two or more languages in spoken and written form. Music combines many elements of written and spoken language, and so draws from both in it’s code switching practices. Early on, code switching was used in Cantonese opera for humorous effect, and to signify modernity (Chik, 2010). It transitioned, and is now often used to quote western ideas and concepts that are not found in Cantonese vernacular (Chan, 2009). Words that have no equivalent in Cantonese often tend to be academic terms, and this has lead to a perception of English facilitating an “educated” identity (Chan, 2009).
Code switching has very different functions depending on the culture. The mixing of English into Korean pop music serves many functions, such as rhyming and attention getting, the expression of sexual desire, and resistance to norms and mainstream values (Chan, 2009). It is possible to express these feelings in Korean alone, but English has been used to circumvent TV censorship in the region. The two languages are associated with different symbolic values derived from the different stereotypes found in each culture, with Korean symbolising the traditional culture and moral standards, and English representing freedom of expression and critical attitudes towards mainstream beliefs (Chan, 2009). English also represents a sense of “globality” in K-pop, as using English makes the songs appealing to a much wider audience. This is not the case in other cultures, however. Japanese culture has embodied and morphed English words into its own language, changing it’s cultural functions significantly to the point it could be argued that it doesn’t even count as code switching any more (Chan, 2009).
Code switching is not the only way multilingualism takes its form in music, however. Purely using English lyrics alone still counts as a form of multilingualism in many Asian cultures, Hong Kong included. Many Asian cultures have delved in “sociolinguistic, ideological and literary reinventions” of the English language (Kachru, 2005), as a way to detach the English language from the ideals that come with it. In Hong Kong, however, the formation of Hong Kong English had to battle with a “cluster of language ideologies within a localised complaint tradition” (Bolton, 2000), and this manifested itself in Hong Kong English being generally less ‘nativized’, or less altered overall, than what has been seen in other cultures (e.g., Japan).
Both the outbreak of the Korean war and the intensification of the Cold War led to the termination of the political, economic, and cultural relationship between Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the early 1950’s. Anti communist propaganda in Hong Kong further alienated the Hong Kong Chinese from the mainland, and cultural development from henceforth was split into two streams (Ho, 2000). The “Hong Konger” identity broke out in the 1970’s as a result of this, as well as because of the “dramatic political, economic, and demographic changes that took place in the 1960’s”(Chan, 2009). Before the 1969 Hong Kong riots, Hong Kong was merely treated as a transit port by most. An influx of Chinese immigrants after the riots fostered a new generation of youth, who were born and raised in Hong Kong and treated it like their home (Chan, 2009). The consequent economic boom of the 1970’s and 1980’s provided the capital and the demand necessary for their entertainment industry to flourish. This lead to the rise of Cantopop, which became an integral part of Hong Konger’s local identity.
Popular music in the 50’s and 60’s was largely dominated by English and Mandarin, fuelling the people’s demand for music in their own dialect, Cantonese. Cantopop rose to the popular music domain in 1974 (Chan, 2009), after the singer “Sandra” sang the theme song for a Cantonese TV drama series. Cantopop’s defining factors are that it is sung in Cantonese, and utilizes western musical elements (melodies, harmonies and rhythms) and instrumentation (typically guitar, electric piano, and drums). There have been virtually no examples of exclusively monolingual popular singers in Cantopop after the 1960’s (Chik, 2010), as they all have at least some work in either Mandarin or English. The 2000’s saw a strong market comeback for Cantopop recorded in English, after a trend of having gradually declined over the years. The range of imported music also grew, facilitating Cantopop’s hybridity that it is now characterised by (Chan, 2009). This widened the tastes of Hong Kong music fans, and their music now has a wide pool of western inspired genres to choose from – unlike in mainland China.
After the cultural revolution in the PRC in 1976, most popular 20th century music in the mainland was “condemned as political or cultural counter-revolution against the central government” (Ho, 2000). Little western music was given radio air time in the mainland because of this (Hamm, 1991), and there is still heavy censorship on many forms of mass communication in mainland China to this day; like the ‘Great Firewall of China’. This was not the case in Hong Kong, however, as it was still under British colonial rule. Western popular music dominated the charts in the 50’s and 60’s, and both the broadcasting of music on TV and record prices falling in the 70’s led to a more diverse catalogue of music being available to the Hong Kong public (Chik, 2010).
Within the umbrella term of ‘political music’, we can further define two different kinds of music found in Hong Kong; nationalist music, and pro-democratic music. The Hong Kong government started to allow nationalist content in songs in the 1980’s (Ho, 2000), facilitating nationalist music. This lead to a rising identity in the people, and it marked the first time lyrics had been used to address the issue of nationalism in Hong Kong. Pro-democratic music was in a similar yet very different vein. The mass media in China still exercised censorship for pro-democratic music, but not for nationalist music (Ho, 2000). This is because pro-democratic music contained freedom, democracy, and politics as themes in their lyrics, often in opposition to the PRC. Nationalist music, on the other hand, aimed to unite both the mainland and Hong Kong, a goal shared by the PRC. Directly following the 1989 TSI, Radio air time for nationalist songs declined greatly. Despite the media censorship of political music in the mainland, Hong Kong artists still devoted their music to support the pro-democratic movement in Beijing, and Hong Kong pro-democratic music became commonplace after the TSI. Hong Kongers were widely considered apolitical, however, before the TSI. For example, ‘Ten Teenage Firefighters’ (十個救火的少年) by ‘Dat Ming Pair’, released in response to the TSI on their 1990 concept album ‘Nerves’ (神經), tells a story about everyone finding excuses not to put out the fire, symbolising the “low political participation among Hong Kong people who were less likely to risk their lives for the sake of democracy under the unstable political situation”(Ho, 2000).
The colonial government did not start implementing a democratic political structure in Hong Kong until after the Sino-British joint declaration was signed in 1984, and no political parties emerged until 1989. Democracy was implemented to try and maintain Hong Kong’s autonomy as an economic powerhouse after the handover. Despite this, China has made many moves to try and limit the growth of democracy in Hong Kong since the handover (Carroll, 2007), and these have been focused on Hong Kong’s media, academia, civil society and politics in recent years (Hui, 2015).
Following the handover of sovereignty from Britain to the PRC in 1997, popular music in Hong Kong largely incorporated nationalist content, focused on uniting under the ‘one country, two systems’ ideal. This was music that wouldn’t be censored in the mainland, and could reach a wider audience for Hong Kong artists. In the years following the handover, it transitioned into a kind of propaganda, and no longer has much market value (Ho, 2000). Self censorship started to become commonplace in the mass media in Hong Kong. “For the sake of economic interests, self-censorship by the mass media acts as a political compromise and an expression of self-discipline in the avoidance of causing offence to the Chinese authorities”(Ho, 2000). Artists started to worry that their freedom of expression was under threat (Ho, 2000), with a pop music culture that started to “sedate[s] the exploited people with entertainment that distorts reality and ignores societal problems.”(Lockard, 1996). This lead to music being utilized as a form of protest in Hong Kong.
Music as a form of protest can be traced back as far as the lyrical poets of ancient Greece (Pedelty, 2009). It has proven to be a popular form of protest over the past 100 years, being able to effectively and peacefully create an identity around an ideal. Social movements are largely remembered by their music, and this determines it’s impact on local politics in the long run (Rühlig, 2016). Hong Kong has been famous for it’s use of non-violent protesting, and music has often played a large role in this.
The Umbrella Movement in 2014 saw performances of ‘inappropriate’ or ‘nonsensical’ songs as a form of protest. Songs such as ‘Happy Birthday’ were sung ironically in both English and Cantonese at demonstration sites[1], but quickly caught on and started being used as a political act. The somewhat nonsensical nature of this tactic soon became recontextualized from the light-hearted nature intended of the original songs into the idea of 無厘頭, mouleitau, a cultural phenomenon found in many kinds of Hong Kong media (particularly films). Mouleitau is defined in English as a kind of slapstick humour based on the paradoxical meaning of a phrase due to its improper use for the context. It arises from the complex interplay of Hong Kong’s cultural subtleties, representing a sense of localism (Lai, 2018). This tactic functioned to ‘attack’ political adversaries, making them feel stupid and non-violently defusing them.
Methodology
Although it was very informative, looking at other academic research didn’t net me any data on the function or impact on Hong Kong’s contemporary political music, and so I utilized a few different methods for some primary research. Firstly, I conducted a musical and lyrical analysis on 3 specific pieces of musical work. The music in question is from two artists; LMF, The Rokkasen, as well as, additionally, the unofficial national anthem, “Glory to Hong Kong”. I chose these for a number of reasons, namely that they all have some kind of political message to them, as well as all having English lyrics in some form (either in the form of code switching, or in an alternate version of the song). They all collectively span a wide range of musical genres as well, and are highly representative of contemporary political music in Hong Kong. I do not speak any Cantonese, however, and so I have relied on translations provided by the kind contribution from The Rokkasen in interview[4], as well as a video uploaded by HK Alleys[7], and DeepL translator[6]. Through my testing, I found DeepL translator to be the most accurate solution for machine translation, but machine translation is never 100% accurate, as it cannot fully grasp the subtleties and nuances of human speech in any language currently, disregarding many things such as context, sarcasm, ambiguity, idioms, etc. (Guerra, 2000). This is why it was only used minimally in this research, marked with a * to signify this.
I cannot be entirely sure, however, that the artists truly did intend to put the meanings that I unpick in these songs. This is why, where I could, I also utilized structured email interviews alongside this. Interviews are ideal for in depth specialist information and opinions – especially where the meaning in a song can be interpreted by the artist who created it, for example. I conducted them as structured interviews, as over email this was the most practical choice – in a setting where we can’t bounce off each other in quite the same way as a video call or in person interview. I decided to use email interviews as finding a good time to video call proved quite challenging, since the band members I wished to interview were split all across the globe in different time zones. I had specific questions I wanted to ask my interviewees as well, and didn’t want to give them too much of a chance to head off topic, where their responses could take quite a while to get sent back to me. It also makes it very easy to get written, formal consent from participants, and so ethics concerns are minimised greatly (Wilson, 2012).
This complements the musical and lyrical analysis well, but it is not without its drawbacks. Interviews conducted over email lack social cues, body language, and other forms of non-verbal communication (McCoyd, 2006), which overall makes the data obtained by this method less rich. As well as this, some types of people are dominant talkers, and would give much less insight if they had to type out their responses vs being able to talk about it in an interview setting (Wilson, 2012).
The final research method I utilized were surveys. I decided to use these as they are ideal for describing the characteristics and opinions of a wider population. Surveys are also anonymous by nature (especially when conducted online), and so the sensitive topic of the questions being asked is combatted quite effectively with ease of withdrawal. It also opens up participants more, allowing them to submit more candid and honest answers than they otherwise would have in, for example, an interview setting.
I decided to control the population of respondents by targeting as many Hong Kong natives and Expatriates as possible. I chose to post the survey in Facebook and Reddit groups, namely ones with Hong Kong music and news in their descriptions/titles. This was an attempt to match the survey to the people most likely to answer it, which has been shown to increase completion rates (Schleyer et al, 2000). This enabled me to get as many respondents from Hong Kong as possible, as respondents unfamiliar with Hong Kong and its culture (or by the definition used in this research; haven’t lived there before) aren’t representative of the populous this dissertation is looking into. This does, however, introduce a self-selection bias – a bias that occurs because people who volunteer to complete it, and therefore have an interest in the subject, make up most if not all of the respondents (Eysenbach, 2005). For the qualitative research in this study, however, representative samples are not entirely necessary, as “in qualitative research we are not interested in an average view of a patient population, but want to gain an in-depth understanding of the experience of particular individuals or groups; we should therefore deliberately seek out individuals or groups who fit the bill” (Eysenbach, 2005)
Some questions have less respondents than others, as I added some questions after the first participant responded, who was used to test out the survey.
Ethical considerations were important to this research, as it asks questions around a sensitive topic to many potential participants. I therefore made it as easy as possible for participants to withdraw, should they wish to, at any point during both the survey and interviews. As well as this, I made sure to ask for consent to use the first names of the band members of The Rokkasen, and they didn’t mind, as this is public knowledge anyway.
Critical Analysis
I will firstly look at a recent song from Hong Kong hip-hop group LMF (Lazy Mutha Fuka), with their track 二零一九, ‘2019’[7]. The name of the track is an obvious reference to the 2019 protests, and the instrumentation used is relatively minimal, yet chooses a wide palate of strings, synthesisers, drums, and electric guitar on top of the rapping vocals.
The lyrics in this song, obviously enough, talk about the injustice of the 2019 protests against the fugitive offenders amendment bill. There is one notable instance of cross-lingual word play to be heard, with a Cantonese phrase sounding like an English one. This example is found at 0:32 in appendix [7], where what’s written is:
用血肉之軀對抗照fuck the po po
jung6 hyut3 juk6 zi1 keoi1 deoi3 kong3 zui3 fuck the po po
With only flesh and blood to resist the police
The freedom of expression utilized here is not limited to just English, the Cantonese lyrics have just as much power to them as the English ones – contrary to what has been seen in the example of K-pop. This is the only line of English in the song as well, and this shows that LMF don’t have to use English lyrics, but they choose to as a creative tool. This line still has a few connotations worth noting, however. Firstly the cross lingual wordplay here is found at the end of the line:
抗照fuck the po po
Kong3 zui3 fuck the po po
kʌm tu fʌk ðə poʊ poʊ
Come to fuck the po po (or, interpreted, “We’ve come to fuck the po po”)
Here you see the English spelling of the Cantonese lyrics, followed by a phonetic spelling in the international phonetic alphabet, followed by an interpreted English reading. This Cantonese phrase sounds remarkably similar to the interpreted English phrase, to the ears of a fluent English speaker. This kind of cross lingual wordplay shows true intent with their lyrics, emphasising the use of code switching that follows it. Cross lingual wordplay is often seen in conversation in the form of bilingual puns, especially between English and German/French (Knospe, 2015). Examples of this to be found in popular music, however, are few and far between. Much of the worlds music today is sung in English, for the English market, and so doesn’t get much of a chance to explore this kind of multi linguistic avenue in mass consumed music. LMF utilize their cross-cultural and cross-lingual knowledge here to implement a double meaning into a phrase that would otherwise only have one, giving the phrase a ‘double whammy’ effect on the listener. This technique effectively combines two different lines of lyrics into one, with one as an acknowledgement of the citizens struggle during the protests, and the other with a violent undertone as seen in much of southern hip-hop and rap, as a reference to this style.
The phrase ‘Fuck the po po’ has some connotations itself, having roots in American hip-hop and rap cultures. It is a phrase that has often been used in opposition to over-policing in the USA, and highlights the poor relationship between the police and, in particular, minority communities (Tyler, 2011). This very much translates over to the issues in Hong Kong this song talks about, and symbolises the severity of riot police during protests, referencing this over-policing found in western cultures.
Next I will look into work from “The Rokkasen”, a hardcore punk band who mix political messages with traditional Chinese poetry. Currently the band has only released one EP, and the political message is clear to see even from the titles of the songs.
賞花杏仁露, “Step Back to the Almond Blossom” is an exercise in Cantonese wordplay. This line sounds like the phrase “Step back to the pedestrian walk” in Cantonese, as explained by The Rokkasen’s vocalist in interview[4]. This is a clear reference to police intervention in protests. A snippet of this phrase being repeated by police at a protest site is included in the song to try and make this wordplay clear to Cantonese speakers. When interviewed, the vocalist of The Rokkasen said that “You can hear it in every live stream: riot police asking reporters to step back but all you hear is ‘step back to the almond blossom’”[4]. With the lyrics that follow this wordplay; 賞花 賞花 賞花 杏仁露!, ‘Appreciate the flowers, appreciate the flowers, appreciate the almond dew!*’, this song peacefully resists against the riot police by purposefully misinterpreting their orders. This draws parallels to what was seen with singing happy birthday to hecklers during the umbrella movement, and tries to make this play on words catch on in the vernacular of protest culture as another protest strategy, and promoting a similar sense of localism.
*Translation provided by DeepL[6].
The use of English seen in this EP doesn’t utilize code switching much, Instead opting to largely stick to one language for each song. Musically almost every track on the EP is very short, between 40 seconds and 1:30 long, which is typical in the genre of hardcore punk this EP falls into. What’s interesting to note here is the contrast between the use of Cantonese vs English found in these songs.
The example of 好撚危險, ‘Very Danger’, lasts for 26 seconds, and the track starts with an audio clip of police asking pedestrians to head back to the sidewalk in broken English[2]. This is then followed by a short thrash section repeating these words as lyrics:
Very danger
Very danger
Speak English please!
This song is meant to echo the previous track, “Step Back to the Almond Blossom”, as mentioned in interview[4], and does so by utilizing a different kind of language for a similar effect. These artists can speak fluent English, and so the use of Hong Kong English here is purely as a creative tool. It mimics the original clip it is based on, acting as a taunt of the message found there, aiming to make fun of it. English isn’t needed here when talking among Cantonese speakers, and this is symbolic of English’s use as a global language, even where it functions as a second language. It is also proof of how embedded Hong Kong English is in the cultural landscape – to the point where it is used instead of the native language in certain situations, for the sake of inclusivity to all.
The example of 干杯, ‘Enjoy a cup of wine’, uses repeating lines, and the lyrics without these repeated lines are:
Enjoy a cup of wine
While you alive
We don’t care
If you famous
You will not survive
We don’t care
If you famous
We will fucking die
Enjoy a cup of wine
死黑警唔讀書 (The dirty cops don’t read*)
*Translation provided by DeepL[6].
This song paints a caricature of an upper elite in Hong Kong’s society, with the lower class warning them of what’s to come if the pro-democratic movement fails. The last line here is of particular interest, as the lyrics dramatically shift in tone with this as the final line. The lyrics in English seem to have more of a focus towards the people of Hong Kong, while the final line is a blatant remark against the riot police, those who are portrayed here as the enemies to this movement. This shows a shift in the way English is used vs Cantonese in this track, but its function could be interpreted in two different ways. Firstly, Using English here could be done as a message in a bottle, documenting the hard times Hong Kongers are going through and spreading this to as many people as possible. The Cantonese here would therefore appear to function as a message to Hong Kongers, and the English as a message to the world. It could also, however, be an elaboration on the kind of character portrayed in this song, suggesting this is the character’s opinion. The use of Cantonese here therefore shifts it’s function to be the protagonists voice, while the English phrases are those of the general public. This kind of assigning roles to a language in a song to tell a story is another creative tool artists can employ with their music, playing on the idea that languages represent different symbolic values.
The final part of my musical and lyrical analysis will be looking at the unofficial national anthem, “Glory to Hong Kong”. National anthems have been a major way citizens express their patriotism towards their home country for many centuries, and they provide “perhaps the strongest, clearest statement of national identity.”(Cerulo, 1993)
The fact that it has been named as Hong Kong’s unofficial national anthem, therefore, speaks volumes in and of itself, as national anthems have strong associations with nationalism (Cerulo, 1993). The official national anthem, however, does not promote any sense of nationalism for supporters of the pro-democratic movement.
The Chinese national anthem, which is still Hong Kong’s official national anthem, is “March of the Volunteers”. With lyrics such as “Millions with but one heart braving the enemy’s fire, march on!”, and “With our flesh and blood, let us build our new Great Wall!”, this anthem has a clear message of conquest and communism at its heart. It serves to ‘rally the troops’, and get the people to relate with the government’s goals by evoking their sense of nationalism. The pro-democratic movement is in disagreement with the mainland government, however and so Glory to Hong Kong has a much different message. With lyrics such as “In wrath, doubts dispelled we make our stand”, and “For Hong Kong, may freedom reign!”, this is the antithesis of March of the Volunteers in many ways. It heralds a message of Hong Kongers standing up for their beliefs, and a fight for democracy.
Glory to Hong Kong has been sung all across the city in support of the pro-democratic movement since its release on online forums. It was originally written by an anonymous composer, and has inspirations drawn from military marches of western countries. The bridge describes the darkness of the current political situation, with lyrics such as “Though deep is the dread that lies ahead” and “Let blood rage afield! Our voice grows evermore”. The end of the song is the most powerful part, using a triplet rhythm and lyrics that look forward to the future to signify this; “May people reign, proud and free, now and evermore” and “Glory be to thee Hong Kong”.
The fact that the official national anthem was deemed unfit by so many Hong Kongers that a replacement was needed reinforces the idea that supporters of the pro-democratic movement want to become completely and entirely separate from mainland China in every way they can. The fact that this song has a Cantonese and an English version speaks volumes in and of itself as well. It suggests that the anthem is meant to convey its message to those outside of Hong Kong as much as it is within Hong Kong, accepting their multicultural heritage.
Next I will look at the results of the survey I conducted. I asked a total of 12 questions, of which 2 were optional. Please see appendix [0] for the fully graphed out table of results gained during the survey. Almost everyone who took the survey was a fan of music, with 80% of all participants listening to music at least once a day, and everyone listening at least once a week. This is important to note, as non-fans of music would have an irrelevant opinion for the specific research I am conducting. This question, therefore, was designed to filter out anyone who wasn’t a part of the music culture of Hong Kong.
The first theme worth looking at here is from Q7, of which the overall responses can be seen below:
^Where 1 is equal to ‘Strongly Agree’, 3 is equal to “Neither Agree nor Disagree” and 5 is equal to ‘Strongly Disagree’^
Most respondents, 66.6%, agreed with this statement (answered 1 or 2). What’s interesting to note here, however, is that of everyone who said they thought music has been an important part of the protests (or answered 1 or 2 to Q6), 100% thought that using more than one language in a protest song helps to convey its message more effectively. This was regardless of whether they spoke Cantonese or not, and whether they were native or expatriates. Of everyone who thought music has not been an important part of the protests (or answered 3 – 5) only 29% thought that using more than one language in a protest song helps to convey its message more effectively.
This data shows that multilingualism serves the music and fans of it within the protest culture of Hong Kong. Outside of the protest culture, people seem to have mixed opinions, but it largely receives a negative response, and this shows that multilingualism in protest music functions to support the pro-democratic movement. This data also shows that knowing both Cantonese and English is not necessary for the enjoyment of multilingualism in Hong Kong’s political music, and knowing just English is enough. Furthermore, this data shows that multilingualism in Hong Kong’s political music has a genuine appeal, both inside and outside of Hong Kong, which is achieved through the fact it is multilingual. Anyone who has an interest in Hong Kong’s political climate can join the fight, and international support is very important for the pro-democratic movement – the people understand this too, shown with this answer to Q9[5]. It also shows Hong Kong citizens have largely accepted English as a part of their cultural identity, and this appears to be as Hong Kong English. Western English still has many westernised values associated with it by the people of Hong Kong – as seen in one answer provided in Q12[8].
In Q9 I asked what the participants felt when they heard English lyrics used in protest music (if anything). Some general themes arose from these answers, such as a sense of globality and inclusiveness, as well as patriotism and feeling a deeper connection with the pro-democratic movement. This shows that English is largely associated with the global status it has as a language, similar to how it functions in Korean pop music.
O verall, the majority of respondents said that they would like to hear more English used in Hong Kong’s protest music, as seen with the results to Q10 seen below;
The majority wanted to see more English use, but the highly split response overall signifies that English’s use in political music still divides opinions among Hong Kong’s public generally. Of everyone who answered positively to Q6, 63% wanted to hear more English used in Hong Kong’s protest music. This shows a trend that people in the protest culture of Hong Kong would like to see more English used, further reinforcing English’s role of aiding the pro-democratic movement.
Out of everyone who who had a preference at all (discounting those who didn’t have a preference either way), 86% said they preferred the Cantonese version of Glory to Hong Kong. The total figure is shown below;
From their responses to why they thought this (asked in the open ended optional question following this), it appears to be a manifestation of Hong Kong citizens’ sense of localism. Reasons such as “It’s the original version” and “It’s the one in our native language”, show that western English, the kind of English it has been translated to, still isn’t considered an integral part of the local culture, even after being colonised for over 100 years by the British empire. Cantonese and Hong Kong English are still the only language that can adequately express the local culture of Hong Kong, as western English is seen more as a way to tap into the global culture – as seen with answers to Q8[0].
Conclusions
Multilingualism serves many purposes in Hong Kong’s contemporary protest music. It functions as a creative tool for Hong Kong artists to use as they wish, in ways such as code switching, cross lingual wordplay, role assigning, and to reference western ideas and concepts. It also spreads its message to cultures outside of Hong Kong, functioning to serve the pro-democratic movement by garnering more international support. We see instances of both code switching and exclusive Hong Kong English used in the music that produce various impacts on the listener; promoting a sense of globality, inclusivity, multiculturalism, patriotism, and localism, and these are all traits that serve the pro-democratic movement in Hong Kong.
My findings were somewhat limited in some ways, however. The results I obtained from my survey were not numerous enough to be completely representative of the whole population of Hong Kong, and so research should be done on a larger scale to make these results more generalisable. As well as this, multiple methods of distributing the surveys should be attempted to combat the selection bias due to internet demography found in my research. This was impossible to combat due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, but it impacted the quality of my research never the less. As well as this, my research was highly biased towards people who can speak English, as I cannot speak Cantonese myself, and so further efforts should be undertaken from a Cantonese speaker’s perspective.
Appendix
[0] Table of results and graphs of this data gained from the Survey I conducted. Follow the Google Drive link here:
[1] Video showcasing supporters of the pro-democracy movement singing Happy Birthday to a heckler; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPMkqSzqyIw
[2] Video showcasing police escorting pedestrians back to the sidewalk – the original source for the beginning of the track “Very Danger” by The Rokkasen; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l27NW0pSZFA
[3] 29th September 2019, an Open Letter from the team behind “Glory to Hong Kong”. Source from the description of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXZNOecZreY:
We are a group of Hong Kongers, who also happen to be the team behind the “Glory to Hong Kong” anthem that sprung up recently in the wider Hong Kong political movement.
Those who followed the news will not be strangers to the enduring spirit of perseverance displayed in the last 3 months. Those more observant may have even noticed this for the last 5 years, when Hong Kongers strived ceaselessly for the human rights and dignity that they so well deserve by virtue of both international treaties and natural law.
We know that this struggle will be a long one. Those who are reading this letter without fear of arrest or retribution can do so precisely because your ancestors fought for the same things we are fighting for now. Blood has been spilt, sacrifices made, and now with the fruit of past labours, you are living in a free and democratic country. For this, we Hong Kongers know we are not alone in our fight. What is happening now is no anomaly in history. The road we are taking is a well-trodden one.
A single person may not change much, And a single Hong Kong may indeed be but a tiny speck on the globe, But every single one of you who make the decision to stand with Hong Kong Is another indispensable person that fights in this struggle, This struggle for freedom, this struggle for democracy.
And for this, we Hong Kongers extend our thanks. For you are fighting not only by us, You are fighting for freedom, you are fighting for democracy.
Dgx Studio
[4] Transcribed Email interview with The Rokkasen, conducted on 24th June 2020:
What are your goals as musicians and for your music?
Arthur: When we started Rokkasen, Bob’s previous Hardcore Punk band The Squawk had just stopped playing together. All three of us have our roots in Hardcore, Punk Rock and Metal and I feel Owen (drums) and I contribute the kind of music we’ve always wanted to hear Bob’s voice on. Lyrically, the plan was to draw inspiration from philosophy and classical Chinese poetry and less from politics. Of course we ended up in one of the most politically volatile periods of our lifetime and the city’s history, which was something we couldn’t ignore despite our initial ideas.
In our previous email thread you mentioned that you haven’t played live for a number of reasons. Could you elaborate on this? What kind of reasons have you decided not to/not been able to play live with this material?
Arthur: It didn’t really have anything to do with the material or subject matter of the songs. In fact these are the kinds of songs which we feel should be played live and which should have the chance to possibly inspire or enlighten audiences. Unfortunately, aside from a number of live events having been cancelled, Owen also lives in South Korea. We don’t know when we’ll all be in the same place together again. While we’d like to play our music live at some point, we want it to be special when it finally happens, so we’d rather not have anyone filling in for people who can’t be there at our first show.
How do you use English in your lyrics that otherwise stick to Cantonese? What effect do you want to put into your music by using both languages instead of just sticking to one?
Arthur: As a bandmate, I admire the way Bob’s lyricism. There’s nuances which are unique to English and to Cantonese which he utilises masterfully. There is also a specific kind of humour captured that comes from what gets lost in translation between the two languages, resulting in new phrases with a whole new meaning.
How do you interpret the meaning of your lyrics? What do they mean to you, the creators of them? Particularly the lines in English, e.g., “Very Danger”, and “Speak English Please!” from “好撚危險 Very Danger”
Bob: The sound clip is came from this youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l27NW0pSZFA
This short grindcore song is the best way to echo “step back to the almond blossom” (return to the pedestrian walk)
Since I can’t understand the Cantonese lyrics and don’t like to trust Google translate if I don’t need to, could you give me a rough translation of the track “望月有感 Nostalgic Thoughts on a Moonlit Night”, including the chanting at the end? No need to translate the whole album for me, just the one track would be great.
Bob: I will explain “Step back to the almond blossom”. Step Back to the Almond Blossom is an exercise in Cantonese wordplay. Step back to the almond blossom sounds like ‘step back to pedestrian walk’ in cantonese especially when cops covers with mask and try to ask citizen to step back. “You can hear it in every live stream: riot police asking reporters to step back but all you hear is ‘step back to the almond blossom’.”
Has your freedom to write, record and play this music been limited in any ways? E.g., government censorship? If so, what have you been able to do to combat this, if anything?
Arthur. We’ll find out. I’m sure the recent introduction of recent legislation means some promoters are even less likely to book a band like us for shows. We put out a video for one of our songs last year which got far more engagement than we had anticipated. Whether that was a one-off and we can remain too under the radar to be of any real concern the next time we put something out remains to be seen.
What advantages do you have over artists signed to major labels when it comes to making political music in Hong Kong? Would this kind of band ever get signed to a major label in Hong Kong?
Arthur: We’re not young people when it comes to musicians at any level. We’ve each had long histories here and elsewhere in the world of being in bands, putting out records and being involved in all sorts of creative projects of all sizes, but starting at a grassroots level. It’s not uncommon in Hong Kong, where the administration has never been particularly supportive of the arts in general. At times there’s been acrimony towards the administration for how impossible it’s been to legally operate a live music space and the bureaucracy that ensures no one will need to do any real work to change this. Because of this, DIY has really been at the core of anything getting done. Musicians know how to make their own records, release their own music, book their own shows, make their own tours happen etc. They know how to be self-sufficient, manage expectations, how much work is involved and how to manage all aspects of long, fulfilling lives of creativity without ever even being the least bit interested in what it would be like to have the support of the corporate machinery usually reserved for an industry of Popular music which exists in an entirely different world.
What’s next for the band, if anything?
Arthur: Hopefully more music if we can all get together. The songs on our EP were written in one afternoon and recorded in one half-day session. We know how to work fast, but I think being able to take another stab at making music together will result in better work. And we will play live. It will be excellent. The vinyl version of our ep was just released through China Carnage Crucifixion Productions in Beijing. Somehow copies made their way to Hong Kong and they’re pretty much all gone.
What kind of future do you see for Hong Kong’s political music in general?
Arthur: In Hong Kong, regardless of your political views, age, race or status the protests over the past year and the decisions made by the local administration and the central government have affected you in some way. Any honest songwriter who writes from their experiences will be writing about this on some level for a long time, whether they consider themselves a “political songwriter” or not. Whether or not something will stop some of these songs being heard, that’s just a question of accessibility. Any art that’s made in this time is written at a time of political turmoil which has shaped everyone’s personal experience in a very real way.
[5] One of the participants responses to Q9 (see appendix [0] for the full results table):
“international support is very important to our cause”
[6] DeepL translator, available at;
[7] HK Alley’s video showcasing their translation of ‘2019’ by LMF. Available at;
[8] An answer of particular interest that was provided in Q12 of my survey:
“It’s more specific and real to the majority of Hong Kong people. Most HK people speak English fluently but to speak English in HK still carries weight of privilege in my opinion (and in the world too). I believe the protest is for everyone – it’s a fight for fundamental basic human rights and freedoms but I believe all these policies are going to affect local people the most, especially those that are less financially privileged. Those people are not people that have passports to go elsewhere. Cantonese is at the heart of Hong Kong culture. If anything, Cantonese English is a specific kind of English that should really be championed. It’s really embedded in our humor as a society.”
[9] Hong Kong 2016 Language By Census, available at: https://www.bycensus2016.gov.hk/en/Snapshot-08.html
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