Opinion / The rise and fall of Leslie Cheung – the King of Cantopop’s story will forever bookend Hong Kong’s glory days

Mar 31 , 2021

Leslie Cheung in a still from The Phantom Lover – the gay icon’s untimely death in 2003 marked the end of an era. Photo: Mandarin Films Ltd.

The star of A Better Tomorrow and Days of Being Wild rose to prominence alongside Anita Mui, Jacky Cheung and Andy Lau in the golden age of Canto-pop

His role in Farewell My Concubine changed the West’s view of Chinese-language cinema and remains one of three Hong Kong films to ever be nominated for an Oscar

Leslie Cheung was one of a kind. An award-winning actor, a chart-topping pop star and a courageous gay icon. Few individuals can claim the sort of outsize influence on a culture that Cheung can claim in Hong Kong and the wider Chinese diaspora. His untimely passing, on April 1, 2003, provoked the sort of shock and grief associated with the death of Princess Diana in 1997 – both remain cultural touchstones in different parts of the world.

Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai starred in Wong Kar-wai’s Happy Together. Photo: Block 2 Pictures and Jet Tone Contents

Cheung’s importance to the cultural memory of contemporary Hong Kong cannot be overstated. His life paralleled that of his hometown – as Cheung rose to prominence, so too did Hong Kong itself. And likewise to many his death also marked the end, or at least the beginning of the end, of the “old” Hong Kong. The year 2003 saw the city not only rocked by Sars but also mass protests against the imposition of Article 23 of the Basic Law. Events that year caused Hongkongers to lose widespread faith in the integrity of local government while the central government lost hope in the belief that the SAR would march in step with the rest of China. Disillusionment festered on both sides, eventually culminating in Hong Kong’s anti-extradition bill protests in 2019 and Beijing’s subsequent imposition of the National Security Law in 2020.

To fully understand Cheung’s importance to Hong Kong, one has to go back to the start. When he was born in 1956, Hong Kong was not the last jewel of the British Empire that it was to become. In those days, Singapore remained a British colony and it was that city of Chinese immigrants that had always been the linchpin of Britain’s empire in East Asia. The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in 1941 was a disappointment for Britain but it was the fall of Singapore months later that Winston Churchill referred to as “the worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history”.

Leslie Cheung on set with Joey Wong – the actor bought a respectability to Hong Kong films that had previously been lacking in Western eyes. Photo: Handout

Hong Kong then was of little importance. Cheung too emerged from a modest background. His father was a tailor and although Cheung Wut-hoi could boast of having made suits for the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Marlon Brando, his son’s relatively ordinary upbringing would bolster his future appeal.

Hong Kong’s colonial ties were strong in those days and, mirroring them, Cheung would be sent to study in Britain when he was 12 years old. He attended Norwich School in Norfolk, where he not only made friends, but also suffered racial discrimination. It was here he both confirmed his choice of English name, Leslie, and started amateur singing.

Leslie Cheung and Joey Wang in A Chinese Ghost Story (1987). Photo: handout

After passing the necessary exams, Cheung spent a year studying textile management at the University of Leeds before returning to a Hong Kong that was moving swiftly to a place of prominence in the world. The days of cheap “Made in Hong Kong” goods were rapidly disappearing, and a reform-minded colonial administration, keen to remedy the discontent that sparked riots in 1967, was laying the foundations for the territory’s future prosperity.

It was amid this atmosphere that Leslie Cheung and Hong Kong would make their mark. After finishing runner-up in RTV’s 1977 Asian Singing Contest, Cheung signed for Polydor Records. However, Cheung was booed offstage in his first public performance and his first three albums led to such disappointing sales that Polydor dropped him.