Shared experiences in Asia through art, film and music

Their first performance in Taiwan was revealing: some concertgoers could understand what the band members said even before their words were translated from Japanese into Mandarin Chinese.

While most of the concertgoers were likely Taiwanese, fans from Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand also made their presence known – suggesting that if Arashi goes around Asia, Asia is willing to go to Arashi.

This concert is one of many examples of how Northeast and Southeast Asia have developed shared, border-transcending cultural moments shaped by their historical contexts, argues Prof C.J. Wee Wan-ling from NTU’s School of Humanities in his new book.

Titled A Regional Contemporary: Art Exhibitions, Popular Culture, Asia, the book’s five chapters trace the surge in cultural expression – through art, film and pop culture, such as art exhibitions, Hong Kong films, Japanese pop (J-pop) and Korean pop (K-pop) – across many Asian societies from 1979 to 2008.

This cultural flourishing was enabled in part by rising affluence and urbanisation, as well as a growing confidence among Asians to create and value their own cultural and creative works without always needing Western validation.

These developments allowed Asians to have a shared connection in the present despite differences and tensions between their societies. The shared lived experiences, however, are not uniform, and continue to evolve.

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