7 - Saved by Betrayal? Ang Lee’s Translations of “Chinese” Family Ideology

Summary

I think the American president, not only in the nation, but worldwide, is the ultimate father figure. So when he fails, it's like robbing people of their innocence. There's a great sense of loss of trust, of faith. The Chinese see that a bit differently, though – we lost our innocence 3000 years ago.

Ang Lee, 1997

I think translation is defined by its difference from the original, straining at identity. The management of this difference as identity is the varied politics of the situation of translation.

Gayatri Spivak, 2001

Born on the First of July

On 1 July 1997, a hot and rainy Tuesday, Hong Kong, which had been under British colonial rule for 150 years, was, in the dominant discourse at least, returned to Chinese rule. Born on the First of July was the title given to a compilation CD produced and released precisely on 1 July 1997 by a Taiwanese record company “What's Music”. The Taiwanese, Hong Kong and mainland Chinese bands featured on the CD were invariably part of the semi-underground, alternative music scenes of the respective places.

Quite apart from offering alternative constructions, the contributions on the CD not only incorporated the hand-over into the dominant narrative of a family reunion, the reunification of the Chinese family, but also injected this family with a strong sense of patriotism. The hand-over to China was celebrated as a happy family event, rather than a complex shift in power (by some referred to as a re-colonization of Hong Kong). The CD BORN ON THE FIRST OF JULY underlines the power of a political identity that thrives on the notion of the Chinese family. Among the CD's fourteen songs, only one voice raises critical questions about the familial return of Hong Kong to its motherland. In the song, “Beyond that day”, by Beijing rock star Cui Jian, the singer-cum-songwriter asks his mother (that is: the mainland authorities):

Do you really understand the sister I have never met,

or do you really understand me?

If we all of a sudden fall in love with one another,

what are you going to do?