Neon signs and the red-light district of Hong Kong: from the 1960s to the present

Neon signs have been a defining feature of Hong Kong’s urban and visual culture for decades. In Wan Chai’s red-light district, they were particularly dense and diverse. This study, drawing on online archives, field observations, and the theoretical framework of the translational city, divides the district’s evolution into three phases: American dominance in the 1960s – 1970s, characterized by Western fantasies of the Orient in this diasporic space; a China-West balance from the 1980s to the early 2000s, embodying a cosmopolitan atmosphere and a fully realized ‘third space’; and a shift toward a China-centred global city since the 2010s, marked by homogenized modernity. The neonscape functions as a barometer of sociocultural and geopolitical change, offering insights into the red-light district’s transformations and Hong Kong’s broader historical trajectory. This study demonstrates how translation, as a metaphor, elucidates the flexible interplay of cultural elements in multicultural urban spaces shaped by global and local stimuli.