One may roughly offer the following analysis. Hong Kong is a small city with a dense population. The city is tight and compact and so are its lifestyle, psychology, and sense of destiny. The cinema has all along been a medium for mass entertainment and has not been greatly affected by competition from the TV and video industries. This has allowed the Hong Kong film industry to preserve advantageous conditions for competitive preeminence in the East Asian and Southeast Asian markets.
Filmmakers are free to express themselves and to compete with each other.
In the '80s, the censorship authority has gone even further to relax restrictions against politics and sex. Although there is still censorship, Hong Kong has the most relaxed and liberal attitudes in the whole of Asia. The Hong Kong cinema is a double-headed dragon. It possesses both Chinese and international qualities and aspires to be both East and West. This is its attraction.