Then & now: talk of the town

The lines separating serious social history from mere gossip are hard to define. Considerable overlap exists and the best social historians retain their audiences' interest in more serious underlying themes through the judicious use of digressive - yet broadly illustrative "who'd have thought it?!" - anecdotal information.

A defining feature of Hong Kong society down the decades has been its pathologically tattletale nature. Consequentially, the social history of local gossip is of interest in itself. Scandal-mongering and the underlying sociological reasons for its prevalence here were first mentioned in serious historical studies decades ago, which is curious given that this kind of fringe interest usually lurks around the cultural-studies swamp's marshier tidal edges.

Gossip in Hong Kong society, whether among Europeans, Chinese or other ethnic groups, has always been facilitated by the overarching frontier marginality of the place. Across cultural divides, societal guardrails on acceptable behaviour were - and are - removed, and susceptible individuals freewheel through other aspects of their lives as readily as they tend to do in their economic affairs. In a social circle comprised mostly of random, temporary acquaintances, there is often more latitude for behaviour that may inspire tittle-tattle than back home in Buttcrack, or wherever. Anyone witnessing the boorish conduct prevalent in some places in the city - especially, it must be said, those frequented by the more rootless variety of Caucasian resident - can see that at first hand.

While the brakes were off for most early Western residents, the same circumstances have also applied to other ethnic groups. Until the 1971 census, more Chinese living in Hong Kong claimed birth outside the city than in it. This made Hong Kong something of a "colonial" place, too, for most Chinese residents for most of its history.

Having too much time and too little to do has always played a role. From Hong Kong's earliest years, affluent women of whatever race, relieved of the burdens of child-rearing and housework, developed the morbid preoccupation with outward signs of status which denotes the "tai-tai" type. Entirely defined by who or what their husbands were or did, establishing and then maintaining social pre-eminence was vital to their sense of personal security and self-worth.

Establishing hierarchical relations or marking territory is another function of gossip-mongering; and for relative newcomers to a particular group, being able to supply some authentic scuttlebutt that other, more established, insiders lack convinces them that they are moving closer to an imagined inner circle. A heightened sense of superficial importance smugly perpetuates itself.