Still remembering, and missing, Leslie Cheung 19 years on

Fans and flowers galore outside the Mandarin Oriental Hotel

on Leslie Cheung's death anniversary pre-pandemic

 

Nineteen years ago today, Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing jumped to his death from the 24th floor of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong.  Pretty much every year since, fans of the late mega star singer-actor remember him on April 1st by doing such as playing or listening to his songs, watching movies in which he stars or going over to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and adding to the considerable amount of floral tributes to him there and/or to view and admire them.

 

I've had the good fortune of viewing a number of Leslie Cheung cinematic classics in the company of fellow fans of this Hong Kong legend on April 1st over the years here in the Big Lychee.  It's pretty much expected that at least one Leslie Cheung film will be screened at the Hong Kong International Film Festival (which usually runs from late March through early April -- though last year, it began on April 5th).  And, over the years, I've caught fest screenings of He's a Woman, She's a Man (1994), The Bride with White Hair (1993) and Rouge (1987) -- all of them great films as well as great Leslie Cheung movies.

 

With the Hong Kong International Film Festival being postponed (maybe even outright cancelled?) this year because of the fifth coronavirus wave, there was no opportunity to view a Leslie Cheung film on a big screen today.  And instead of viewing a Leslie Cheung movie on home video, I opted instead to listen to one of my Leslie Cheung CDs: specifically, that known in English as Most Beloved or plain Beloved (and whose title is 寵愛 in Chinese); which features Leslie singing hit songs from a number of his movies (including He's a Woman, She's a Man, The Bride with White Hair and also Days of Being Wild).  

 

Unlike some of his fans here in Hong Kong, I did not go over to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel today.  And in view of what's been reported on Twitter (by the likes of Bernice Chan and K Tse), it's a good thing I didn't.  This is because members of the police force that is far from Asia's finest decided that the fans and mourners who gone over to the side of the Mandarin Oriental where tributes to Leslie Cheung are laid on April 1st needed to be dispersed, and their floral tributes disposed. 

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised since the Hong Kong police have shown a marked tendency to use anti-pandemic regulations against people and a definite dislike of mourning by Hong Kongers.  Think about such as the refusal to allow Tiananmen Square Massacre commemorations to take place in Victoria Park on June 4th, 2020 and again on the same date last year as well as the small show of support for the Ukraine which took place in Central a couple of weeks ago and mourning to take place outside Prince Edward MTR station on the last day of the month.   

Rather than let the cops ruin the mood though, here's ending today's blog post by pointing out that one other way to remember Leslie Cheung that the cops have not (yet) interfered with involves social media posts.  Very touchingly, along with various fan tributes, are ones by Leslie's significant other, Daffy Tong, and erstwhile co-star (including in Happy Together) -- and friend -- Tony Leung Chiu-wai.  Seeing these, there's little dispute that Leslie Cheung continues to be fondly remembered and dearly missed.