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Kit Fan, Diamond Hill, Diamond Books, 2021. 352 pgs.

Kit Fan’s Diamond Hill, published in May 2021, centres on Hong Kong’s Diamond Hill squatter settlement, one of the last in the city, and a nunnery, which is probably modelled on Chi Lin Nunnery. The time is 1987, before the Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989 and the 1997 Hong Kong handover. The book explores topics such as sovereignty, abandonment, and identity crisis through the portrayal of the main characters, all of whom had an undesired past they have to make peace with.

Taking place when squatter settlements in Hong Kong were on the brink of disappearing, Diamond Hill highlights three of their most important characteristics: the unsanitariness, the scourge of drug dealing, and the lack of protection from natural disasters for the inhabitants. Fan also draws attention to the vibrant changes the city was going through in the mid- to late 20th century, as Buddha, the narrator of Diamond Hill, remarks, “It was two years since I had set foot in Hong Kong, and it already looked a different beast.” (11) After the 1967 riots, when working-class resentment was harnessed by mainland-linked leftists, the British colonial government realised that laws to improve the conditions of the working class were needed to maintain stability in society. Once numerous labour laws were enforced, coupled with the gradual economic prosperity of Hong Kong, leftist sentiments were diluted.

Diamond Hill explores the topic of identity conflict and gives a good idea about public sentiment towards British colonial rule and the People Republic of China (PRC) government, which are described respectively as “one regime we are used to loathing” and “another one we are loath to get used to” (86). Graffiti seen in Diamond Hill are filled with insults alluding to identity, including terms such as “英國奴隸 (British slaves), 共產雞 (Communist whores), 香港馬伕 (Hong Kong pimps)” (241). With the improvement of the material lot of the working class, by the 1980s, nationalistic sentiment had been largely diluted. Therefore, at the centre of such identity conflict was not a matter of patriotism or loyalty for either the UK or China, but rather a judgement on the prospects and peace each government could provide. In Fan’s novel, while the cause for a divided opinion about identity is not mentioned, the conflict in the public sphere is deftly portrayed.

Fan’s depiction of cultural identity—and the shallowness of it—is worth mentioning. Two of the characters, Audrey Hepburn (someone who looks “like a faded film actor who had settled on being an extra”) and the teenage Boss, are shown to be obsessed with British culture but this obsession is superficial. Boss’s British classics are in fact book props, and she does not seem to actually like reading English literature, while Audrey Hepburn’s affectation for a foreign cultural identity is limited to her luxury brand items. Both fail to cultivate any actual knowledge of the culture they are keen to associate themselves with, a culture that is never theirs.

Fan’s novel does not seem to provide its characters with a choice in establishing an identity which is based solely on Hong Kong and can stand on its own. But perhaps Fan has provided an answer to how to choose one’s identity through the portrayal of Quartz, Boss and Audrey Hepburn’s relationship. It is implied in the novel that Quartz is very likely to be Boss’s biological mother. When this information is revealed to Boss, Boss reacts with indifference and she says that while Audrey Hepburn has her flaws, she will be the only person whom she identifies as her mother. Fan may be suggesting that identity is not bound by blood, but by the way we are influenced and raised. However, Fan ultimately portrays the decision about identity decision to be between two mothers, a biological one and an adoptive one, possibly alluding to mainland China and British colonial rule, without a third option. Therefore, to this reader anyway, the novel in the end still negates the discussion of what truly and solely is Hong Kong.

One interesting aspect of Diamond Hill is its inclusion of profanity, which adds a nice touch to the story and also adheres to Fan’s assertion that Hong Kong remains ever-changing. Profanity in the novel has an air of the 1980s taste about it, and some terms are rarely ever used nowadays. For example, one particular swear word which has left an impression is an insult intended for women by alluding to their extensive sexual activity, which is the term “鬆皮雞”. The term can be literally translated to “a chicken with loose skin”, with “chicken” as local slang for a prostitute, and the translation Fan provided was “open-thighed whore”. Nowadays, rarely anyone, even in their late thirties, in Hong Kong would use this term. As equivalent of this term in this age though, would be “個西闊過西隧” (one’s vagina is broader than West Harbour Crossing). While the profanity is indeed vulgar, and Fan has taken it upon himself to include as much of the much vulgar as possible, it is argued that when local readers are served with 1980s slang and profanities, they are made aware of the change in local culture. Also, undoubtedly, it is an interesting way to show foreign readers a side of local culture.

Diamond Hill is a novel which takes on a mythical and magical tone in its description of Hong Kong. It reveals to readers some insights of Hong Kong history and might serve as a nice introduction to Hong Kong of old.

How to cite: Chui, Lynn Yin Lam. “Kit Fan’s Diamond Hill: A Revelation of 1980s Hong Kong.” Cha: An Asian Literary Journal, 30 Jan. 2024, chajournal.blog/2024/01/30/diamond-hill.

Lynn Yin Lam Chui is currently an MA student of English Studies at the University of Hong Kong, focusing on cross-cultural literary studies. She is interested in Asian literature such as texts by Viet Thanh Nguyen and David Henry Hwang.

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