Author: Tze-ki Hon
Source: The Cityscapes of Taipei, Hong Kong, and Singapore during the Cold War
Abstract
Abstract: In this essay, I examine the history of Cold War Hong Kong through the lens of Kai Tak Airport. In Hong Kong, the Cold War started with the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, and the bipolar confrontation ended in 1979 when the PRC embraced a market economy and vigorously developed trade and commerce in areas surrounding Hong Kong. To elucidate the complexity of this short Cold War in Hong Kong, I will examine three images of Kai Tak Airport: its runway of the 1950s, its terminal of the 1960s, and its jumbo jet culture of the 1970s. My premise is that the airport is not merely a major public work of a modern metropolis. It is also a pillar of aeromobility that connects a city to the global flow of goods and visitors. This aeromobility gained a concrete geopolitical meaning during the 1960s and 1970s when the Western bloc—particularly Western European countries and the United States—were woven together culturally and economically through a jet air aesthetic driven by advanced aviation technology, global travel, modernist architectural style, mass media, and consumerism.