My primary area of research is Hong Kong cinema, literature and culture. With my comparative literature, cultural studies and sinological training from Hong Kong and Europe, I am keen on developing interdisciplinary approaches to textual and visual narratives, popular culture, creative industries, and identity studies. In one of my latest projects, I explore film, television and sport spectatorships in post-handover Hong Kong, in order to understand how creative expression and audience activities affect cultural (industry) practices, the construction of identity and the relationship between content producers, distributors, and spectators, and vice versa.

Hong Kong literature, cinema and culture; Asian screen cultures; Media narratives; Creative industry and spectatorship; Identity and cultural flows; Critical theory; Postcolonialism; Thing theory

Peer-Reviewed Monograph:

Wu, Helena. 2020. The Hangover after the Handover: Places, Things and Cultural Icons in Hong Kong. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/books/id/53152/

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles (Selected):

Wu, Helena. 2020. “Sports as a Lens: The Contours of Local and National Belonging in Post-handover Hong Kong.” Global Media and China 5.2: 138-153. https://doi.org/10.1177/2059436420918361

Wu, Helena. 2020. “Imagining the Future in Post-millennial Hong Kong Cinema: Visualizing the Local, the National and the Global in Cultural Imaginaries.” Journal of Chinese Cinemas 14.1: 32-49. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508061.2020.1733211

Wu, Helena. 2018. “The Travelling of Ten Years: Imagined Spectatorships and Readerships of Hong Kong’s Local.” Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies 20.8: 1121-1136. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2018.1460220

Wu, Helena. 2012 “A Journey Across Rivers and Lakes: A Look at the Un/translatable Jianghu in Chinese Culture and Literature.” 452°F: Journal of Theory of Literature and Comparative Literature No. 7: 58-71. http://www.452f.com/pdf/numero07/07_452f-mono-helena-yuen-wai-orgnl.pdf

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters:

Wu, Helena. 2019. “Zai ben tu di” [Local]. Hong Kong Keywords. Edited by Yiu-wai Chu. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 185-196.

Wu, Helena. 2018. “Transposing Jianghu in Chinese Martial Arts Cinema from the 20th Century to the 21st Century.” Chinese Martial Arts and Media Culture: Global Perspectives. Edited by Tim Trausch. London: Rowman & Littlefield, 21-50.