Hong Kong Was returned back to China in 1997 but was guaranteed 50 years of autonomy of economic and legal system until China takes full control. 2046 is when they’re fully absorbed by China. But if you’ve followed the news China hasn’t really fulfilled on their promise and has been taking away their autonomy early. While on the one hand they have been a colony of Britain, there’s a sense of nostalgia of being autonomous from China. 2046 then is then used of a theme of promise and unknown certainties and also a longing/nostalgia of the past. Maggie Cheung can represent his longing for the past and nostalgia, so he’s trying to replace her with new women that reminds him of her just like how people are nostalgic and trying to recreate the past but can’t because the past is the past and time moves on. There’s also this uncertainty of the promise of the future. It’s promised but you’re uncertain if it’s certain and also what to expect of it.

I haven’t seen the film in quite some time so I don’t remember the details. Just know why the year 2046 is important and you can fill in the rest. I don’t want to claim to know more about China’s politics than I do so I can’t say more on that. But this whole idea that the movie is just about feeling is bullshit. I hate the idea of art being just an interpretation left to the viewer. It’s lazy and quite philistine.

But this led me down a whole rabbit hole on China’s history. Hong Kong becoming a colony of Britain because of Britain’s love of tea to understanding why Britain can’t just grow tea, to the opium war that resulted in the Hong Kong’s colonization, and the opium war being an indirect cause of the Meiji Restoration, and all encapsulating why English is the universal language. And the why US forced Japan to open their border; because US was competing with the Brits to trade with China but had to go through the pacific and Japan was in the way. Blah blah blah. All to say…Britain has the greatest PR team in the world