Irony

Irony is a collection of essays and reviews by veteran Hong Kong cultural critic Lam Pui-lee (Lin Peili), published in mainland China by China Renmin University Press in 2011. It runs about 125,000 Chinese characters and gathers more than eighty pieces, plus a foreword by Lüqiu Luwei titled "A Contrarian." The title comes from the English word irony: it is both the author's habitual mode of speech—barbed, indirect, saying the opposite of what is meant—and his way of observing Hong Kong and society: not taking popular sayings as common sense, but taking them apart to expose their contradictions and self-defeating logic. The book is divided into five parts. Part One, "Hong Kong as a Specimen," reads Hong Kong as a text: universities and liberal education, the book fair, English and Cantonese, urban space and shopping malls, class and poverty, the high-speed rail controversy, colonial experience, and identity all come under his scalpel. Part Two, "Who Really Understands," reviews cultural figures such as Eileen Chang, Lung Ying-tai, Han Han, Yu Qiuyu, and Pai Hsien-yung, asking how idols and authorities are manufactured. Part Three, "Amusing Ourselves to Death," discusses Facebook, WikiLeaks, television, the media's packaging and hype of celebrities, and media ethics. Part Four, "Another Kind of Visual Narrative," focuses on Ang Lee, Cape No. 7, the authorial successes and failures of mainland and Hong Kong cinema, and the identity crisis of Hong Kong film. Part Five, "Where We Are," brings the questions back to daily life: the power of words, the right to speak, cultural export, and the boundaries of speech. The author offers no comforting conclusions but tries to answer one question: in a modern society full of exploitation, manipulation, and self-hypnosis, how can an individual live more lucidly and more freely? The pieces are short, tightly argued, and well evidenced—an entry point for understanding Hong Kong culture and its media ecology, and a sample for practicing critical reading.