Retrospective of Hong Kong literary giant Leung Ping-kwan
Leung Ping-kwan was one of Hong Kong's leading literary lights. Following his death last year, Janice Leung finds a new generation celebrating his legacy
not only a man of letters but an artist capable of eloquent expression in many different media, as a large-scale retrospective at Central Library and the Fringe Club promises to reveal. The award-winning poet, who also wrote under the pen name Yesi, succumbed to lung cancer a year ago at the age of 63. The upcoming showcase comprises literary works alongside paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs and videos.
"Leung wasn't merely a poet, he had a wide range of interests," says Oscar Ho Hing-kay, curator of the tribute exhibition, adding that the prolific poet was also a novelist, essayist, critic, teacher, scholar, photographer, filmmaker and a good friend of many in the arts community. "He was one of very few in Hong Kong's cultural circle who befriended almost everyone from all arts fields."
Charting the writer's versatility over four decades, "Leung Ping Kwan, A Retrospective" features artists from various disciplines, including visual artists Choi Yan-chi, Chow Chun-fai, Lau Guk-zik, Stanley Wong Ping-pui and Wucius Wong, photographers Lee Ka-sing, Alfred Ko Chi-keung and So Hing-keung, choreographer Mui Cheuk-yin, musician Kung Chi-shing and theatre director Tang Shu-wing.
A three-time winner of the Hong Kong Biennial Award for Chinese Literature, the celebrated writer was also a gourmet. "He had an appetite for everything, whether it was highbrow or lowbrow," says Ho. "On one hand he was a serious scholar, on the other hand he could talk about food all day!"
Leung was chair professor of comparative literature and director of the Centre for Humanities Research at Lingnan University since 1997. His poems are highly acclaimed for their artistry in revealing the hidden beauty of everyday city life.
In July 2012, Leung was named author of the year by the Hong Kong Book Fair, which also organised a retrospective of his work. "He was happy to have it," Ho says, "but at the same time it pushed him to mount his own exhibition, actively seeking artists and artworks to show".
MCCM Creations' Mary Chan Lai-shan, launching Leung's poetry collection at the fair then, thought it a waste to display such a substantial body of literary work in a five-day show. The publisher encouraged Leung to restage the exhibition for a wider audience, and helped with submitting a proposal to the government.
The plan did not get the green light, Chan says, until a week after Leung's death on January 5, 2013. The Art Promotion Office approved initial funding for the retrospective in memory of the writer who received a medal of honour from the government in 2006, and the best artist award from the Arts Development Council in 2010.
Wong says this retrospective, in which she is taking part, is a celebration different to the memorial service she organised a year ago. "That was a distressing experience," she recalls. "Now we hope to highlight the huge contribution this man has made to Hong Kong culture. It's not just about literature; it rather points to dialogues that cut across boundaries."
Wong likens her mentor to many modern Chinese intellectuals, who were not only writers but also critics, educators and translators. Leung was noticeably one of the first to translate works of the French "new novel" movement, as well as American underground and Latin American literature, in the early 1970s.
Leo Lee Ou-fan, renowned cultural critic and scholar of comparative literature, lauds Leung for his foresight in making such works available to Chinese readers. "He was ahead of me - when I started reading [Gabriel] García Márquez, that was a familiar name to him already."
Having known each other for more than 30 years, the professor calls Leung a "cosmopolitan writer", who travelled across artistic, cultural and geographical borders, yet was also "deeply rooted in Hong Kong, emotionally and creatively". He says: "Through Leung I came to know the real Hong Kong, all the old sights and sounds of the smallest streets in Sheung Wan and in some of the other areas."
What bothered Leung is shared by Ho. "We both thought Hong Kong's culture was very strong, yet it had been denied by many. It's not fair to the city." The veteran curator says Leung was committed to promoting local culture through his cross-disciplinary endeavours.
Leung's death has inspired other artists to take up his mantle in tribute. "We set out to look back at what he's done. Then we realised that many artists, friends and students had made tributes to him after his passing," Ho explains how the exhibition at Fringe Club emerged to suggest the poet's enduring legacy.
"His oeuvre will pass down the generations and inspire new dialogue," Wong adds. "It's not the end. I rather see it as a fresh beginning."
- HK Central Library, 66 Causeway Road, Causeway Bay, daily, 11am-8pm, opens Jan 9, 6pm
- HK Fringe Club, 2 Lower Albert Rd, Central, Mon-Sat, daily, noon-10pm
- Shall We Jam - Leung's poetry in song, dance & music, HK Fringe club, Jan 9, 9pm
- Multilingual Poetry Reading, HK Fringe Club, Jan 11, 8pm
- Talks, workshops, guided tours and other activities will be organised during the exhibition period.
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Ends January 28. For details visit yasi.hk
