Walking Tours

25/26 Academic Year

Walking Towards Tangential Intimacies: A Textual Practice in Hong Kong

When we are walking, it isn’t so much that we are drawing nearer, more that the things out there become more and more insistent in our body. The landscape is a set of tastes, colors, scents which the body absorbs.

- Frédéric Gros, A Philosophy of Walking

Discover Hong Kong through a new lens with Walking Towards Tangential Intimacies: A Textual Practice in Hong Kong, a series of immersive walking seminars led by urban literary scholar Dr. Ian Fong. These innovative walking tours invite participants to experience the city as a living text, blending literary and cultural theory with the vibrant realities of Hong Kong’s streets, architecture, and everyday life.

Features & Design of the Tours:

Each tour is conceived as a “walking seminar,” transforming Hong Kong’s diverse districts into open-air classrooms. Participants engage with a curated selection of poetry, prose, film, photography, painting, architecture, and cityscape, using these cultural texts to interpret and “read” the city itself. The seminars are designed to foster a dynamic interplay between theory and lived experience, inspired by thinkers like Walter Benjamin and Frédéric Gros. Rather than simply applying theory to the city, these walks encourage participants to feel the tangential intimacies between text and place—where walking becomes reading, and reading becomes a form of urban wandering.

Routes & Locations (Tentative):

The series covers a wide array of Hong Kong’s most evocative neighborhoods and themes:

• Central: Trace the evolution of iconic landmarks, from the former Central Government Offices to the Tamar Complex, exploring how history and architecture shape urban identity.
• Tsim Sha Tsui: Experience the city’s neon-lit nights and cinematic landscapes, delving into the spectacle of Hong Kong versus its everyday realities.
• HKU & Architecture: Examine the contradictions and complexities of Hong Kong’s built environment, from Brutalist structures to Instagram-worthy facades.
• Tsuen Wan: Navigate the city’s elevated footbridges, considering the significance of walkability and urban connectivity.
• Shek Kip Mei: Discover the poetics of the everyday, reflecting on how art and chance shape our experience of public space.
• San Po Kong, Happy Valley, Mong Kok, Wan Chai, Tsing Yi: Upcoming walks will explore industrial, residential, and cultural districts, as well as themes of popular culture, youth, and the anthropology of walkability and livability.

Each walk is anchored by a thoughtfully chosen meeting point and accompanied by readings and references that deepen the journey, making every seminar a richly layered encounter with Hong Kong’s cultural and urban fabric.

Step out of the classroom and into the city! Join Walking Towards Tangential Intimacies and let Hong Kong’s streets, stories, and theories come alive under your feet.

Application Link: TBA

Quota: 30 MALCS students per tour

Duration: approximately 2.5 hours per tour and post-tour discussion

Fees: Applicants are required to submit a deposit of HKD 500 to reserve their place; deposits will be refunded upon satisfactory attendance.

*More details will be provided in August 2025.