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“We speak Cantonese every day in Hong Kong, how much do we really know about this common language?
Statistics have shown that many languages and dialects in the world are in danger of disappearing. Will Cantonese be on the list?
Host Yeung Chun-yin (Uncle Salt) from Corrupt The Youth together with designer Vanissa Law and Professor Stephen Chu will discuss Cantonese word patterns, pronunciations and combinations; the role of Cantonese songs in cultural transmission, as well as how we can all protect and conserve the Cantonese language.
YEUNG Chun-yin, nicknamed ‘Uncle Salt’ in Cantonese, graduated from Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Hong Kong and Department of Philosophy, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; and further studied a PhD Programme in Humboldt University of Berlin and King’s College London. In 2016, Uncle Salt and his comrades established ‘Corrupt the Youth’ and hosted a series of TV talk show ‘Philosophy Night’ on RTHK31, which aim to introduce philosophy to the general public. He is now teaching philosophy and critical thinking courses in various tertiary institutions in Hong Kong.
Vanissa Law is a composer who is passionate about interdisciplinary art practices with a wide repertoire of artistic output from traditional acoustic compositions to multimedia theatre collaborations.
Classically trained in her early years, Law focused on electroacoustic music composition whilst studying for her Master’s degree at Ball State University in the US. Her doctoral research was on the use of gestures in electroacoustic music, where she translated everyday gestures into sounds and images in her work. A recipient of the 2014 Fulbright Research Scholar Award, her research culminated in the Soft Instruments Project to help people with developmental disabilities make music more safely.
Natively from Hong Kong, Law has lectured on music technology, interdisciplinary design and music composition. She is currently a Visiting Scholar at Queen’s University Belfast working on a sound art performance project funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Stephen Yiu-Wai CHU is Professor and Director of Hong Kong Studies Programme, The University of Hong Kong, and Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Humanities.
Before joining The University of Hong Kong in 2013, he had taught at the Department of Chinese and Humanities Programme of Hong Kong Baptist University for more than 20 years. He was also the founding Head of the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing of Hong Kong Baptist University. His research focuses on postcolonialism, globalization and Hong Kong culture. He has published more than 30 books and 50 academic essays, which can be found in journals including, among others, Tamkang Review, Tsing-hua Journal of Chinese Studies, Social and Legal Studies, International Journal of the Sociology of Law, Social Analysis: The International Journal of Cultural and Social Practice, boundary 2, Visual Anthropology, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Popular Music, International Journal of Cultural Studies, Journal of Chinese Cinemas, Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies and Global Media and China. He is also the chief editor of the “Hong Kong Studies: Humanities Perspectives, Global Dialogues” series published by Brill, and two Chinese-language book series on Hong Kong – “Cultural Hong Kong” and “Hong Kong Popular Lyricists” – published by Chung Hwa Book Company. In recognition of his contribution to the promotion of Hong Kong culture and Cantopop, the South China Morning Post presented him the Spirit of Hong Kong Award (Culture) in 2019.