Night And Fog: Case Review: Tin Shui Wong

Tin Shui Wai has been developed by the Hong Kong government as one of the satellite towns since the 1990s. In order to accommodate the booming population, the Housing Department decided to construct 7000 public rental housing units additionally in the original layout plan of Tin Shui Wai after the Hong Kong Reunification. In a few years, the new town has been densely populated. However, due to the acute shortage of public facilities and the remote geographic location, Tin Shui Wai seems to be isolated as a border town. In addition, with plenty of family dispute, suicide and tragedy happened in the town, it is glamorized by the mass media as a city of sadness. Despite the fact that the government has low awareness of the issue of domestic violence,
The film is based on the murder and suicide case involving a mainland immigrant wife, a Hong Kong husband and their two daughters. This is a typical family formed by Hong Kong residents and mainland spouse, in which the young wife Wong Hiu-Ling from Sichuan married to an old and unemployed husband Lee Sum, living on CSSA in a public housing estate. Sum stays at home taking care his daughters while Ling works as a waitress in a restaurant in order to support the family living. However, Sum is not happy with that and forces her to quit the job. Due to the disparity of age, Sum always doubts about the faithfulness of his wife and thus Ling severely suffers from mental abuse. Sum has occasionally turned Ling and the two daughters out of the door. She finds the district councilor for help and thus they flee Sum for safety into a refuge center. However, because of Ling’s inability to live in Hong Kong and take care of two daughters independently, Ling goes back home. At that night, Sum jumps on Ling again and cut her leg with a knife. She is sent to the hospital and then go to the shelter but she is worried about the safety of her daughters and therefore, she does meet with Sum once more so as to settle their affairs. Unfortunately, the end of this family is a tragedy that raises the awareness of Hong Kong people concerning the
The gender role of masculinity and femininity and cultural ideal of the family such as family integrity flowing through the mainstream culture hinder the awareness of domestic violence. For example, before the last time Ling goes back home, she calls the police and asks for them to be with her concerning safety. However, the police view the Ling’s case as a domestic dispute instead of domestic violence and tell that she should “minimize the major problems and turn the minor problems into nothing”. On the other hand, social workers think that there is usually a conflict between husband and wife and lovers’ quarrels are soon mended. The neglect of the seriousness of domestic violence from different institutions makes a significant contribution to the Ling’s prolonged experience of being abused by Sum and the finally the family