The Cityscapes of Taipei, Hong Kong, and Singapore during the Cold War

Abstract

This volume presents a comparative analysis of three key cities—Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taipei—during the Cold War. Strategically positioned within international trade networks, these cities also served as critical nodes for both regional conflicts and cooperation. The comparison primarily focuses on their urban landscapes, drawing on the memories embedded in their collective memoryscapes, the imagery presented in their filmscapes, and the perceptions of their inhabitants, as reflected in fiction and films that portrayed urban life and the experiences of ordinary people. The Cityscapes of Taipei, Hong Kong, and Singapore during the Cold War explores both the shared characteristics of these cities as frontiers in the bipolar global system (divided between Communism and the Free World) and their distinctive features as unique spaces shaped by their own meanings and opportunities.