Hong Kong Cantopop

Cantopop, the most representative genre of Hong Kong popular music, is a major part of the popular cultural phenomenon of Hong Kong. Once the leading pop genre of Chinese popular music across the world, Cantopop has a history that needs to be written, which is especially important for the present and the future of Hong Kong, a city whose citizens have been witnessing the decline of not only its popular cultures but also core values. Toward this end this book aims to contribute the first full-length study of Hong Kong Cantopop in English. First, the book offers a critical account of the development of Hong Kong Cantopop in a readable style. Second, it is useful for refreshing English-speaking readers’ understanding of Cantopop and its cultural and social significance. Third, it provides insight into the issue of local culture widely discussed in the relevant debates in the field of cultural studies. This book shows how the rise of Cantopop is related to an upsurge of Hong Kong culture in general, and how its decline since the 1990s is connected to changes in the music industry as well as geopolitical landscape. As such, this book is not only a concise history of Cantopop but also of Hong Kong culture.