Hong Kong Blog Day 4

Somehow, you know a Triad member when you see one 

Met with AnD’s own Danny and Jason Chau for lunch in Causeway Bay at a little restaurant that is a vintage recreation of a typical Hong Kong restaurant of the 1950s.  I had an absolutely lovely time talking with Danny and Jason.

After a light meal, we walked in Victoria Park, enjoying the glorious day with abundant sunshine, cool temps and low humidity.  We even fit in a bit of shopping for a Cantonese/English dictionary.  Odd, but it seems easier to find Cantonese/English and English/Cantonese dictionaries in the US than in Hong Kong!  I have seen what I want on Amazon.com and even in the local university bookstore.  I must purchase them before too much longer.  Once this sort of thing goes out of print, used copies are astronomically expensive.  I didn’t buy a copy of a Cantonese slang dictionary published by the University of Hawaii Press two years ago when I saw one in a bookstore in St. Louis.  In the past year, it has gone out of print and the original $50 book now sells for over $250, if you can find it, on line.  There seems to be no plans to reprint it, even though it sold out in only a few years, which is unheard of for an academic press book.

All too soon, it was time for me to leave for Tsuen Wan, way up in the New Territories at the end of the red line, to meet some of my Leslie friends to attend an opening of an exhibition memorializing Leslie Cheung’s live stage performances at Citywalk 2.

I was surprised to see what a major event this opening was.  There was a professional MC, special celebrity guests, a bevy of dancers recreating some of Leslie’s dance performances, a TV personality who sang one of Leslie’s songs (and very well, I might add).  There was a trivia contest (at least that is what is sounded like, my Cantonese wasn’t up to the task) with prizes for the winner and even an appeal for the Children’s Cancer fund by Karen Mok’s mother.

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K71nOp-JqX8

I met Franny from Red Mission Japan and her daughter, and several Red Mission Hong Kong people and my friend Tracy again, who had so kindly met me my first night in Hong Kong.  The press was there and a video was even produced that appeared on the Internet.  A friend of mine from the US emailed me the next day to say she had “seen the back of my head” in the video.   There was also a picture that appeared in one of the print media where you can see me in profile in the audience. 

The exhibition was packed with Leslie fans and curious onlookers who were just in the mall shopping at the time.  The highlight was probably the room where they were showing live concert footage of Leslie.  It soon became like a mini-karaoke night, with fans singing along to the songs and expressing their feelings for their beloved Gor-Gor.

After a few hours at the exhibition, a group of us traveled back to Mongkok to the Sino Centre for a little bit of fan shopping.  

Sino Centre is a rabbit warren of little hole-in-the wall stalls with various types of fan memorabilia.  There were photographs, collectable recordings, key chains, pillow covers, articulated mobiles, etc..  The personal items were emblazoned with pictures of Leslie, among many other popular stars.  The photographs are especially popular with fans close to the 4-01 commemoration and were sadly picked over.  I picked up a few other items and was content.  I’m not a big collector of fan memorabilia.  For me, the best way to remember Leslie is through his performances.  I have all but two of his movies on DVD and all but one of his CDs.  Then there are the innumerable performances on YouTube and various compilation collections that have been put out in recent years.  Of course, even with dozens of music videos and videos of live television performances, I am still coming across ones that are new to me.  I wonder if any other star in the history of modern entertainment had so many television appearances or was photographed so many times?  I have seen literally hundreds of videos of Leslie performing, and just today I ran across a performance in Japan that I had never seen before!  Also, just when you think you have seen every photograph of Leslie, new fan photographs appear on fan websites or fan profiles on Facebook, or a photographer will release unpublished photographs,.  Just this month, Kevin Orpin, the photographer for Stark Impressions, released unpublished photographs taken of Leslie that didn’t make it into that book.  They are every bit as wonderful as the photographs that were published in Stark Impressions, and one hopes that someday before too much longer either a new, expanded edition of Stark Impressions will be published or a new book of these unpublished photos will appear.  Stark Impressions has been out of print for two decades now, and many post-2003 fans, like myself, would love the have the opportunity to add a copy of it to our collection of Leslie fan memorabilia. 

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCJS0M1XCsU

After the Sino Centre, we all went out to dinner at a restaurant in Mongkok.  By this time, it was almost 10:30 pm and the streets of Mongkok were jam packed, something that I later discovered was the norm for this part of town at this time, any night of the week.  The food was good, and varied including roast duck. 

I looked around the restaurant and felt like I was watching a Hong Kong gangster picture.  There were several tables in the restaurant populated by men who looked like the spitting image of some of the “uncles” in those films.  I had also noticed quite a few young punks on the streets and pimps on their headsets setting up customers for their “girls” as we had been walking the streets of Mongkok that night.  Back home people asked me how I recognized the Triads—all I could say is that they looked like the Triads in the Hong Kong movies I had seen.  They definitely have a “look” about them, as do their women that I encountered that night in the Ladies’ Room of the restaurant.  Hong Kong women generally don’t wear make-up and flashy clothes, but some of these babes were dressed to impress (and I don’t mean prostitute gear) and were wearing obvious make-up.  In Spain, the Gypsies generally are the most flamboyant dressers, in the US, it is the ghetto dwelling African-Americans and in Hong Kong, apparently it is the Triads and their significant others who carry the torch of exuberant and flashy personal attire and grooming.  It took me back to the early 70s when I went to school with a whole raft of young “bros” from the hood, back in the days when White boys weren’t wearing 4 inch platform shoes, a long duster jacket, a ruffle front shirt, a ‘fro out to here and a hat with a long feather in it (think Jimmie Hendrix).  Interesting that the socially marginal group in each of these cultures advertises its presence through its visual presentation.

I finally made it back to my hotel around 1:30 am, crawled into bed and slept like a baby.  These long days were going to be the norm on this visit, I found out very quickly.  But I was so energized by everyone I was meeting and everything I was seeing, that I barely felt the fatigue past that first cup of milk tea each morning.