Jason Wordie

Then & Now | Watershed Hong Kong – ‘living memorial’ meets cosplay

Commemorating past conflicts may be sacred territory for many but in cosplay-loving Hong Kong it is just fun and games for some

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Watershed Hong Kong members in the uniforms of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, in Tsim Sha Tsui, in December. Picture: Jonathan Wong

Jason Wordie

Published: 6:32am, 3 Feb 2017Updated: 6:32am, 3 Feb 2017

Around the time of the latest December 1941 wartime anniversaries, a troop of amateur military history enthusiasts known as Watershed Hong Kong suddenly appeared in town. Clad in summer uniforms similar to those worn by the pre-war Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps, the unit formed up in ranks in public places, barked orders at each other, sat about in photogenic, battle-weary attitudes, and then – as unexpectedly as they had appeared – dematerialised, like wandering ghosts from a past era, back whence they came.

Watch: the living monuments commemorating 75 years since the Battle of Hong Kong

Unsurprisingly, this picturesque group attracted significant media attention, both for themselves and the local historical events they sought to commemorate. While the overall public response was positive – if somewhat quizzical – at least one Chinese Communist mouthpiece roundly attacked specific members, and their alleged broader agendas, as yet another subversive variant of the Hong Kong independence movement. This, too, was unsurprising.

A victory parade in Central, Hong Kong, in October 1945, two months after the Japanese surrender, marking the end of the Pacific war. Picture: AFP

Groups such as Watershed Hong Kong have sprung up in recent years as local identity issues have become ever more politicised and subject to external scrutiny and challenge. Selective utilisation of past events, people and circumstances to explain or justify a present-day perspective is hardly unprecedented, in Hong Kong or anywhere else. This “living memorialisation” of a time, just over 75 years ago, when groups of ordinary people valiantly (and ultimately, unsuccessfully) defended their home territory from hostile outsiders against overwhelming odds offers a powerful (if profoundly flawed) contemporary resonance to many observers.

A member of Watershed Hong Kong plays bagpipes outside Ocean Terminal, in Tsim Sha Tsui, on December 11, 2016. Picture: Jonathan Wong

Inspiration for Hong Kong’s “living memorial” exercise came from overseas; last year, to commemorate the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, silent volunteers suddenly appeared in first-world-war battledress all over Britain. The idea was to represent the spirits of those who lost their lives in that devastating conflict, and thus form a living memorial to the fallen. The concept attracted widespread interest and significant pre-publicity; consequently, the general public knew what they were expected to be contemplating on seeing these uniformed figures.