Kin Tak Raymond Tsang

Visiting and Temporary Appointments

• Adjunct Professor, Columbia University, 2022-2023

Summary Statement of Research Interests

Dr. Tsang’s research interests encompass a wide array of topics such as martial arts films, Third Cinema, and activism. His first book project, titled The ‘law’ outside the Law: The Political History of Hong Kong Martial Arts Cinema, 1949 to 1976, delves into the intricate relationship between colonial realities, Cold War influences, and the development of martial arts cinema. This project challenges conventional approaches to martial arts cinema, emphasizing how these films shaped a national consciousness significantly influenced by colonialism and the Cold War. Dr. Tsang’s work uniquely interrogates the genre, revealing its intimate ties to localized Cold War geopolitics, in response to the cultural strategy of containment. This project extends its scope beyond the confines of a film genre history, delving into overlooked historical subjects such as film censorship, martial arts clubs, secret societies, and transnational distribution networks in Southeast Asia. By providing a geopolitical lens through which to examine martial arts film production, consumption, and trans-local circulation, Dr. Tsang’s project offers a new understanding of the genre and its intricate connection to colonialism and the Cold War.

In addition to this book project, Dr. Tsang has an active research agenda and a prolific publication record. His works encompass a chapter in the academic anthology Hong Kong Horror Cinema, exploring how Cantonese horror films of the 1950s were used by progressive directors to combat superstition, gender and class inequalities. In 2023, Dr. Tsang published a special issue of the Journal of Chinese Cinemas focusing on Hong Kong’s left-wing films and artists from 1950 to 1979, aiming to promote the progressive legacies and future potentials of Hong Kong cinema.

Dr. Tsang’s research interest extends beyond individual genres and regions, focusing on expanding the concept of Third Cinema. This concept, which was used in the 1960s and 1970s to describe militant cinemas in Asia, Africa, and Latin America as alternatives to Hollywood and European cinemas will be explored in this research. It will investigate the distribution, translation, and circulation of progressive filmmakers, ideas, and practices across three distinct “worlds,” rather than only within the Third World. For example, the connections between Hong Kong and Cuba, facilitated through materials such as literary books and Chairman Mao posters, as well as the relationships between China and Malaysia through Hong Kong progressive films and literature, serve as pivotal networks in uniting overseas Chinese communities across different “worlds”. Dr. Tsang’s future research aims to illuminate the diverse progressive cultures in the “worlds” and how they formed an alternative globalization through progressive literature, films, opera, and other cultural translations.

• (Fall 2023) EASC 150. East Asian Societies, TTh, 02:00pm – 03:20pm, THH201