Semiotics of disappearance: Hong Kong’s neonscapes

Abstract

Emerging in the 1920s and peaking in the 1980s, Hong Kong’s neon signs reflected the city’s unique fusion of Chinese and Western influences. Embodying the utopian ideals of East–West convergences, neon signs are multimodal texts that encapsulate Hong Kong’s urban identity and serve as valuable artifacts for understanding the city’s cultural memory and ongoing transformation. Drawing on linguistic landscaping fieldwork, this essay analyzes neon sign photos collected from 2015 to 2024 and contrasts past and present urban scenes to document the disappearance of neon signs. Using Ackbar Abbas’s concept of “culture of disappearance” and Sherry Simon’s notion of “translational cities”, it addresses visual elements and design patterns in Hong Kong’s past neonscape and the implication of its gradual disappearance. It particularly proposes a second wave of disappearance which reflects the city’s ongoing sociopolitical transformation. Three interrelated dimensions, namely bilingual discrepancies, visual complexities, and intercultural inventions, are identified to foreground Hong Kong’s space of disappearance. The essay argues that the disappearance of neon signs is a transformation that highlights the resilience and enduring cultural significance of Hong Kong as a translational city. Such disappearance does not mean these signs have simply ceased to exist; instead, they are discursively produced as signifiers of Hong Kong’s cosmopolitan legacy.