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Kylie Knott

Inspiration for Thai-Chinese author Pim Wangtechawat’s debut novel came from a source close to her heart. Her father.
“My dad Sukit was born in Thailand, but was sent to Hong Kong to study when he was about seven and returned there in his twenties,” says Pim, via video call from her home in Bangkok.
She loved hearing stories of his school days in Hong Kong, but it was the tales of his time in Kowloon Walled City, the enclave known as the City of Darkness because of its reputation as a hub for drugs, gambling and brothels, that grabbed her attention.
“He worked alongside Jackie Pullinger in the Walled City,” she says, referring to the British teacher-turned-missionary who has been helping Hongkongers kick their addictions through prayer since 1966. Pullinger set up youth clubs in the Walled City, and in 1997, founded the St Stephen’s charity.

“My dad helped addicts get off drugs and would sit with them while they were detoxing … he still has friends who are former addicts,” says Pim of her father, who today is a pastor and founder of the New Dawn Vineyard, a church in the heart of Klong Toey, site of Bangkok’s biggest slum.
Pim’s 2023 novel The Moon Represents My Heart – the name is taken from a 1977 hit song by the late Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng – tells the story of the Wangs, a British-Chinese family with the secret ability to travel through time.

After the parents vanish, their son and daughter search for them across time, while coming of age.
“It’s less sci-fi and more magic realism,” she says, adding that the character of Joshua, the father in the book – he grew up in the Walled City – is loosely based on her father.
“Partly setting the book in Hong Kong made sense, as it combined my dad’s experiences there. Setting some of it in Britain was my experience,” says Pim, who holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from King’s College London and a master’s in creative writing from Edinburgh Napier University.

“I spent a lot of time in London and I’m a huge fan of Liverpool,” she says, stretching out the soccer club’s distinctive red jersey she is wearing for the interview.
It’s that sort of down-to-earth attitude that has helped her get noticed in Thailand, where she is a rising star in literary circles.
Netflix is on track to turn The Moon Represents My Heart into a series, with Hollywood star Gemma Chan of Crazy Rich Asians fame on board as producer – “and maybe even the role of the mum Lily – it depends on scheduling”, says Pim.
Pim, 32, has been dealing with a lot of “pinch myself” moments since learning of Chan’s interest in her book. Sceptics of the power of manifestation might want to take a leaf out of hers.
“I had Gemma in mind to play the role of Lily and then she reached out … it blew my mind.”

The book probably resonated with Chan because of her own experience being raised in a British-Chinese family, Pim believes.
“Chan’s dad was a sailor from Hong Kong and there’s a bit in the book where it touches on the history of Chinese sailors who fought in the Second World War in Britain and how, after the war ended, they were deported back to China,” says Pim.
“So I think the family dynamics really resonated with Gemma.”












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A post shared by Pim Wangtechawat พิม (@pim.wangtechawat)



Budding writers in Hong Kong keen to learn more about Pim’s journey are in luck. The author is in the city to take part in talks and workshops hosted by the Hong Kong International Literary Festival (HKILF) from July 21-23.
Pim, whose mother is from a “big old Thai family” and whose dad is Chinese but born in Bangkok, says her love affair with writing started at a young age. She admits to being a pop-culture sponge.
“I also believe that what helped me in terms of expanding my walls and helping me better understand people was my childhood, because I grew up exposed to so many different types of people,” says Pim, who has written for the Mekong Review and Nikkei Asian Review.

Pim’s advice for budding writers is not to overthink things.
“The most important thing is to get the story out because, as writers, we’re overthinkers by nature.”
For details about Pim’s HKILF talks, visit the Eventbrite website


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Books and literature

Thai writer on her debut novel inspired by dad’s work in Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City

Thai-Chinese author Pim Wangtechawat used her father’s experiences working in Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City as inspiration for her debut novel about a time-travelling British-Chinese family. The author is visiting Hong Kong for lectures and workshops. Photo: amara pr



Jackie Pullinger (left), who helped heroin addicts and other down-and-out youngsters in Kowloon Walled City, with Ah Bui (centre), a former drug addict, and a friend in the Walled City in 1982. Photo: SCMP

Thai-Chinese author Pim Wangtechawat aged four. “My mum is from a big old Thai family and my dad is Chinese.” Photo: Pim Wangtechawat

A page from the family photo album of Thai-Chinese author Pim Wangtechawat, with photos including her with her father, who she says has been a huge inspiration. Photo: Pim Wangtechawat

Gemma Chan at the premiere of the film Monster at the 76th Cannes film festival. Photo: Joel C Ryan/ Invision/AP

Pim Wangtechawat holding a copy of her debut novel The Moon Represents My Heart. Photo: AFP

Kowloon Walled City brought back to life on Instagram using AI, in artworks that move beyond its lawless reputation

Breathing Space, one of a series of AI-generated images by Hong Kong artist Bianca Tse based on Kowloon Walled City, was inspired by photographs by Greg Girard of the former enclave in urban Hong Kong. Photo: AI-generated image/Bianca Tse

Children play on a rooftop in Kowloon Walled City. Photo: Greg Girard

Rooftop Children is based on a historical photograph of a low-flying plane above Kowloon City and Greg Girard’s photographs of children playing on the rooftop of the Walled City. Photo: AI-generated image/Bianca Tse

Dentist City is an AI-generated image inspired by Joe Cognigni’s photograph Teeth for Sale, which was taken in Kowloon Walled City. Photo: AI-generated image/Bianca Tse

Artist Bianca Tse (centre) as a child in the temporary housing area in Fanling where she lived with her family. Photo: Bianca Tse

Bianca Tse Wai-shan at Kowloon Walled City Park on the site of the old Kowloon Walled City. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

 A client receives a perm from a hairdresser in Kowloon Walled City. Photo: Greg Girard

Hair Perming is inspired by Greg Girard’s photos of a barber shop that once existed in Kowloon Walled City. Photo: AI-generated image/Bianca Tse

With Imaginary Friends is an AI-generated image inspired by Tse’s childhood memory of waiting for her mother at a wet market. Photo: AI-generated image/Bianca Tse

An Untaken Photo is based on a description given by Greg Girard of a photo he wished he had taken in the Walled City. This is an AI-generated image combined with historical photos of a stewardess’ uniform. Photo: Greg Girard/AI-generated composite/Bianca Tse

Concrete Organism. Tse describes Kowloon Walled City as “an urban symphony, where structures evolve like living organisms, where every brick tells a story”. Photo: AI-generated image/Bianca Tse

Home Memories is an AI-generated image inspired by the demolition of Kowloon Walled City. Photo: AI-generated image/Bianca Tse

Overpopulation is an AI-generated image inspired by the Walled City’s dense population. Photo: AI-generated image/Bianca Tse

Growing up next to prostitutes and drug addicts in Hong Kong’s Walled City, recruitment pioneer Louisa Wong on a life fuelled by hard work and curiosity

Louisa Wong, 65, recently published her memoir “Women Who Chase Butterflies”, a candid account of a life fuelled by passion and curiosity that charts her journey to becoming a leader in China’s recruitment industry. Photo: Dickson Lee

Wong with a copy of her memoir. Photo: Dickson Lee

Kowloon’s Walled City pictured in 1987. Photo: SCMP

Wong (left) aged 4 in 1961, with her youngest brother, aged 2. Photo: Louisa Wong

Wong (front, second left) aged 5 with her family in 1962. Photo: Louisa Wong

Wong in 1980 at Harvard Business School. She was the youngest graduate in her class. Photo: Louisa Wong

Wong at home in Hong Kong with her dogs. Photo: Louisa Wong

Wong visits Indonesia’s Komodo island in 2023. Photo: Louisa Wong

Wong’s wide-ranging travels include Antarctica in 2016 and 2018. Photo: Louisa Wong

How disease disrupted Hong Kong’s uncertain start as a British colony – author on new book

Detail from a lithograph published in 1848 showing what became known as Flagstaff House (right) in Admiralty and Murray House (lower left). Photo: CUHK Press

Christopher Cowell, author of Form Follows Fever, describes himself as “an architect and accidental academic”. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Detail from a lithograph by B. Clayton, titled View of Victoria Town – Island of Hong Kong, published in London to illustrate a history of China and India in 1846. Photo: CUHK Press

The cover of Cowell’s book. 

An anonymous engraving, titled Interior of a Mat Shed in Hong-Kong, that was published in the Illustrated London News on August 15, 1857. Photo: CUHK Press

Lifestyle

Arts & Culture

Culture

Books

Pim Wangtechawat’s magic-realist novel is partly inspired by her father’s work in Kowloon Walled City. Gemma Chan may adapt it for Netflix


Ahead of giving lectures and workshops in Hong Kong, Pim Wangtechawat talks about mining her father’s experiences in Hong Kong for her magic-realist novel about a time-travelling British-Chinese family.
