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City Beat | How 2 hit songs, old and new, reflect mainland Chinese sentiment as Beijing shapes Hong Kong and Taiwan policy
- Communique at end of Chinese Communist Party’s sixth plenum touched on city and self-ruled island for the first time, putting both under spotlight
- New tune on visiting Taiwan in 2035 has spokesperson for Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office singing praises
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“1997, please come soon, then I can go to Hong Kong …” the old song goes, and who would have thought back then that these lyrics could still mean so much so many years later.
When 23-year-old Ai Jing, a mainland Chinese folk and pop singer, released My 1997 in the early 1990s, it became an immediate national hit as the stage was being set for Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese rule.
While Ai claimed it was only a love song about a mainland girl longing to see her Hong Kong boyfriend, many interpreted the political implications as well.
“Let me go to the flowery world [Hong Kong]. What is Yaohan like? Let me stand at the Hong Kong Coliseum, let me see a midnight movie with him …”
Twenty-five years later, there are no more Yaohan Japanese chain department stores here and the city now has grander stadiums than the one in Hung Hom, to list a few changes.
Tammy Tam is the South China Morning Post's Editor-in-Chief and is responsible for the overall editorial direction, strategic development and leading the Post's newsroom operations for both its print and digital platforms. Tammy is the Chairperson of the Hong Kong News Executives' Association, and Vice-Chairwoman of the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong. She was a board member of the Media Communications Training Board, the Hong Kong Vocational Training Council, which is dedicated to training talents in the media industry, from 2017 to 2023. Prior to joining the Post, Tammy spent 20 years in the television industry in leadership roles managing editorial teams and bureaus and corporate development strategies.
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