Museumising Bruce Lee in a Hong Kong public museum: (De)political imagination and the culture of disappearance

Scholars have recognised the significance of museums for establishing and maintaining national legitimacy and shaping identity. Following the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People’s Republic of China in 1997, tensions emerged between Chinese national identity and local Hong Kong identity. Drawing inspiration from studies of the role of museums in nation-building, research on Hong Kong museums, and Ackbar Abbas’ notion of cultures of disappearance, we conducted a comparative analysis of two Bruce Lee exhibitions at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, the first of which was held between 2013 and 2020 and the second of which opened in November 2021. A comparison of these exhibitions demonstrates their distinct approaches to appropriating Lee’s legacy by drawing attention to changes in the associated narratives that reflect changes in the cultural and political climate. While both exhibitions engaged with the concept of disappearance, the earlier one did so by adhering to the conventional ‘East-meets-West’ framework, resulting in the effacement of Hong Kong culture. In contrast, the deployment of techniques of disappearance in the later exhibition challenged viewers’ perception of reality, prompting contemplation of the self and identity by embracing strategies of disappearance while resisting a culture of disappearance. However, this came at the cost of downplaying Lee’s significance as a symbol of resistance.