Parochial Apolitical Formulation: Hong Kong Internetization and the Sexualizing Cyberspace of the Storytelling Channels of the Golden Forum and the LIHKG Forum

Hong Kong Internetization, free from the mission of unifying public consciousness within a politically acceptable standard and towards a socialist goal, is creating locality in virtual public space, where instantaneous gratification usually overwhelms archaeological access to profound historicity. This locality is independent of the political and high-cultural locality in the real public space that suits (post)colonial interpretation. The Storytelling Channels of the Golden Forum and the LIHKG Forum prominently comply with neither mainland Chinese progressive authoritarianism nor local political agendas, but personal desires and affection instead. The anonymous writing and reading of the Forum stories, as potential outcomes of daily stress in the knowledge-based society, offer a controllable, superficial, and sensual escape into a vulgar, vernacular, but consensual textual world. Although most of the Forum stories are highly formulaic, and erotic in an androcentric and heterosexual way, some can show authorial reflection on diverse political issues, such as transgender ambivalence.