The 2008 Man Asian Literary Prize has recently been awarded to the Filipino writer Miguel Syjuco for his debut novel, Ilustrado. He called it 'life-changing' and the result is being discussed from Manila to London.
Closer to home, this prize is a homegrown cultural project that has evolved, in just two years, into something with international influence.
Although my background is more in mathematics, engineering and business than the arts, the past eight years or so in which I have been involved in major literary activities here have offered insights into how culture works - or can work - in Hong Kong.
These observations are not so much aesthetic as practical, and even timely, given the perceived need for Hong Kong to lift its cultural game and the major development being planned in West Kowloon.
It is easy to confuse the consumption of culture with its production. When New York, London or Paris are said to have a vibrant cultural life, the reference is usually to the theatres, concert halls and museums rather than to the source of their content.
It is, however, hard to think of a major cultural centre that is not also a major producer of culture and talent, that is, actors, musicians, authors, painters, sculptors, designers and filmmakers.
Culture, at the highest levels, is one of the most globalised activities. New York's Metropolitan Opera features singers originally from places as diverse as Italy and China, but US opera companies have also developed great American singers who now perform across the world. American actors, plays and musicals flow across the Atlantic, while British ones flow the other way. Major museums around the world are as full of American paintings as US museums are full of works by non-American artists. Cultural trade is in rough balance.
