Hong Kong cultural icons will continue to inspire future generations
- As Hong Kong mourns storyteller Ni Kuang and filmmaker Alex Law, it can take comfort from knowing their much-loved legacies will live on
The death of two Hong Kong cultural icons, who fired the imagination and touched the hearts of many the world over, would appear to spell the end of an era. Ni Kuang, 87, wrote hundreds of popular books and screenplays about science fiction and martial arts.
Alex Law Kai-yui, 69, a leading figure in the local film industry, won numerous awards for portraying the highs and lows and hopes of everyday life.
Their passing is a great loss, but their much-loved legacies also serve as an inspiration and reminder of what can be achieved with creativity, flair and determination.
Hong Kong’s international reputation is as a business and finance centre. But Ni, Law and their peers in the arts have long shown the city is multifaceted, being also a place of originality, imagination and innovation.
Chinese are only too aware of that, the works of local authors, filmmakers and artists for decades bringing entertainment, joy and nostalgia to locals and the people of China, Asia and beyond.
From epic dramas and memorable characters to kung fu action blockbusters, a reputation has been gained that exceeds our borders.
Ni typified the spirit; there were no boundaries in his books and scripts, where imagination soared to parallel universes and other worlds. He had science as his guide, chemistry and physics and geology being a foundation to envisage black holes and clones and much else.
His most popular and enduring character, Wisely, was all-knowing, always able to escape from danger and a master of kung fu.
Simple writing garnered him a wide following among all ages and there was international recognition in the early 1970s with two of his screenplays for films starring Bruce Lee, The Big Boss and Fist of Fury.
Law was more down to earth with his creativity, which centred on feelings, resilience and romance. Personal experience was the basis for his best-known films, Echoes of the Rainbow and An Autumn’s Tale.
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The former, which won a Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, recalled the tough times of ordinary Hongkongers in the 1960s. The latter drew on his life as a student in New York the following decade, recounting through the eyes of a young Hong Kong woman the challenges of being overseas for the first time.
These are familiar stories for many and the snapshots of a particular part of life touched hearts.
Great storytellers are driven by philosophies of life. In one book, Ni spoke of humanity as being like ants, wanting to explore, but always falling back to the same path. In Echoes of the Rainbow, one of Law’s characters remarks that time is the greatest thief, observing that at the end of life, nothing can be held on to.
Such is the case for the two legends of local culture, but through their vast legacies, generations to come will be entertained and inspired.
