ALWAYS LIMINAL, ALWAYS IN TRANSITION Hong Kong as Staircase City

This article analyses the ‘stair culture’ of Hong Kong Island, a place that is constrained by its topography, economic, and social:historical conditions. Staircases are interwoven into an infrastructure of vertical and horizontal pathways. Instead of just being a means of access, staircases play a key role in shaping the urban island. Through a critical examination of these structures and relevant literary and filmic texts (Leung Ping-Kwan’s poems, Wong Kar-wai’s films, and Tsai Ming-liang’s Walker series [2012]), the article provides a way of understanding the extent to which the perception of Hong Kong Island is re-imagined by way of an urbanscape punctuated by staircases. Staircases have the ability to mix up people in different classes in such places as the Central to Mid-Levels area and Sai Ying Pun Centre Street. Both districts are initially connected by staircases and later escalators.