人造白夜 不懂黑的夜香港

看美國太空總署（NASA）自太空俯拍的地球夜景圖，黑暗和光亮如此涇渭分明。一些地區的夜晚漆黑一片，例如北韓、阿富汗、老撾、索馬里，一些國家的夜晚卻和白晝無異，光閃閃一大片，例如美加、歐洲的許多大城市，中國的沿海地區。

夜幕降臨，黑暗是自然，光，卻是人類與自然搏鬥的勝利品，意味著電力和技術，權力和金錢。

香港的夜晚光得令人目眩。走進商業區，LED大屏幕一面比一面巨型，肉眼已無法丈量光芒的面積，路燈都被壓得黯淡。最新一面巨型螢幕，誕生於銅鑼灣崇光百貨的外牆，長72米，寬19米，大若五個網球場，街上行人渺小如蟻，一同被無法躲避的光籠罩包圍。

每一面大屏幕都循環播放著商界大手筆投資的廣告影片和照片，商品和模特兒一起搔首弄姿。這些沉默的發光體不作任何聲響，卻又比高頻噪音更加喧鬧，透過資本和技術，悄無聲息的抓取我們的注意力。可資本總是挑剔，每一次選擇都經過縝密的計算掂量，轉身繞過光芒，這城市的黑暗之處近在咫尺，袒露著真實的貧窮和脆弱。

「要這麼光亮做什麼？太亮的話，夜晚就看不到星星了。」在黑澤明老年時執導的電影《夢》中，一個崇尚自然生活的老人對一個年輕人這麼說，年輕人不解，那老人生活的世外桃源，夜晚怎麼漆黑一片？

夜晚該是什麼模樣的？你有多久沒有逃離人為的發光體，抬頭看天上的星空？
Satellite images from NASA reveal distinct boundaries between light and dark on Earth. Places such as North Korea, Afghanistan, Laos, and Somalia come up pitch black, while metropolises in North America and Europe, and cities along the coast of China shine brightly as if it the sun never set.

Darkness dawns naturally upon man as night falls. Light becomes the trophy of man's dominance over nature, electricity and technology symbolises power and wealth.

Hong Kong's skyline at night is mesmerising. LED panels, one larger than the next, hang from buildings all around the city's commercial district. These towering screens drown out the light from withering street lamps. The newest of them hang directly over one of Hong Kong's busiest crossing at Causeway Bay. At 72 meters long, 19 meters wide--roughly the size of 5 tennis courts, those who walk below it are engulfed in a bath of pure brightness.

Looping on these screens are expensive adverts of luxury products, videos and photos of commodities and models waltzing with each other in harmony. These luminous surfaces are mute, but the disturbance they cause surpass that of their audio counterpart. Without making a single sound, these screens silently capture those worthy of its attention. But not everyone is worthy, darkness is always just around the corner, where poverty and fragility lay bare for those who pay attention.

"Why should night be as bright as day?" an old man who lived in the rural area asked a boy in Akira Kurosawa's movie "Dreams", "I wouldn’t like nights so bright, you couldn’t see the stars," the old man said. But the boy couldn’t comprehend the darkness the old man was talking about.

So, how should night be? When was the last time your surroundings were free from these towering screens? When was the last time you lifted your head and saw stars shining above you?