Annotation

Xianggang Jingwu (‘Hong Kong Jingwu’) was an offshoot of Shanghai Jingwu, a periodical launched in 1909, according to information included in an issue published in October 1923. The Jingwu Hui (or Chin Woo Association) had branches across China, including in Wuzhou, Xiamen, Foshan and Qujiang, as well as Hong Kong, each of which published its own Jingwu periodical.

Xianggang Jingwu was published six times a year, with content focused on martial arts as much as literature and music. It ‘Martial Arts Collection’ column included a series on ‘Seamless Swordplay’ using annotated photographs to demonstrate movements. Other columns included ‘Speech’, ‘Literary Corner’, ‘Craft-learning’, Folk Songs’, ‘Sea of Story-telling’, ‘Records and Anecdotes’, ‘Features’, ‘Epilogue’ (usually comprising interpretations of palindromic poems), and ‘Scripts’. Noteworthy was its inclusion of both Cantonese and Peking lyrics and scores notated in the traditional style in its ‘Folk Songs’ column. Shanghai Jingwu also featured music from different regions.

Although Xianggang Jingwu first appeared around 1924, after the New Culture Movement, its editorial board required submissions to be written in simple classical Chinese.