Chinese novelist Jin Yucheng on his Hong Kong art show, and not drawing for Wong Kar-wai
- His novel inspired Blossoms Shanghai, but when Wong Kar-wai asked for character sketches for TV series he demurred
Shanghainese writer Jin Yucheng is best known for his novel Blossoms, especially following its recent adaptation by Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai for the television series Blossoms Shanghai, starring Hu Ge.
But the writer, whose vivid descriptions of the city of his birth helped win him the Lu Xun Literature Prize presented by the China Writers Association, is also a master at portraying China through art.
The 71-year-old was recently in Hong Kong for the opening of his first solo exhibition in the city.
“Blossoms”, at Tai Kwun’s Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery, features 41 works produced by Jin over the past decade. As the name of the exhibition suggests, his art can be seen as an extension of the world he created with words.
Jin tells the Post he started drawing while working in a factory at the age of 12. His interest in the medium persisted into adulthood when he helped illustrate articles in the Shanghai Literature magazine, where he was executive editor for three decades.
