Dung
Kai-cheung has written an amazing exploration of maps, their meaning, and
how maps impact perception in his book Atlas: The Archaeology of an
Imaginary City, in which he examines the history (and future) of the
mythical city of Victoria, which bears a strong resemblance to his native
Hong Kong, but without the need to be confined by the actual history of
the location.
Although
fictional, and at times it is difficult to tell where the reality ends and
the fiction begins, Atlas is not
a novel, at least not in a traditional sense.
It is, perhaps, most akin to Milorad Pavic’s Dictionary
of the Khazars in that each chapter can be read on its own without
reference to the others, each chapter providing a different look at
Victoria/Hong Kong’s history, culture, and layout.
The presentation allows the reader to bring their own understanding
of Chinese history and geography to the book and see it through a
fun-house mirror, enjoying Dung’s descriptions as alternative
interpretations and off-the-wall stories.
While
Dung includes several stories about how places came to be named, which may
or may not be true, but some of which, like the story of Tung Choi Street
and Sai Yeong Choi Street, certainly should be, one of the key points of
the book is more than just the relating of stories. In the final
chapter of the book, Symbols, he expands his discussion to look at how
maps influence the way people perceive the world. Whether
questioning the nordocentric orientation of most maps or discussing maps
that indicate imbalance of trade, the mere existence of the map indicates
For
a book which discusses how maps are used, and which is based entirely on
the concept of capturing and representing locations, the one thing that is
missing from Atlas: The Archaeology of an Imaginary City is the
inclusion of any sort of map. Aside from two maps, one of which
shows the general landscape of the Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon
Peninsula, the other showing a few blocks of Dung's Victoria, with Chinese
lettering, the book is devoid of the maps the author is constantly
referring to. While not a fatal oversight, it might be nice to see a
deluxe edition of the book issued at some point with several of the
described maps recreated.
Obliquely,
Dung questions the accuracy of any historical (or cartographical)
undertaking. His descriptions
of Victoria/Hong Kong are not always consistent.
By presenting the history of the city from the viewpoints of a
latter day archaeologist (reminiscent of the narrator of David
Macauley’s Motel of the Mysteries),
he creates not an unreliable narrator, but a misinformed narrator. The
narrator’s potential mistakes are not meant to mislead, but rather to
introduce the debate on the accuracy of historical representation, as well
as cartography, which is linked when the narrator is primarily using maps
to reconstruct the city’s history.
The
reliance on maps also serves as a reminder that Victoria/Hong Kong is a
living, vibrant city. People
often think of cities as reasonably stagnant, with a building occasionally
being replaced or a road being straightened, but Dung’s exploration of
Victoria/Hong Kong shows not only the initial growth of the city, but also
the evolution of the city, in both structure and society as it moves from
its initial founding through its Colonial period until it finally becomes
a part, however tenuous, of the greater China.
Atlas:
The Archaeology of an Imaginary City won’t be a book that
everyone will find interesting, or even readable.
Its lack of characters and plot will dissuade some readers and
other readers may not find the exploration of the role of maps, history,
and geography appealing, but for those readers who are interested in the
crossroads of those topics and who are willing to give the atypical
structure of the book a chance, Atlas provides an excellent look at a Hong Kong that
never quite was.
