Followers of late Canto-pop icon Leslie Cheung, one of many first singers to come back out as homosexual in Hong Kong, flocked to town this week to commemorate their idol’s loss of life 20 years in the past — revisiting his legacy of pioneering work made throughout a socially conservative time.

Cheung, who was 46 when he died, was a celebrity recognized for his singing, dancing and appearing through the heyday of Hong Kong’s leisure business within the Eighties and ’90s. His supporters, who span throughout Asia, fondly remembered his norm-breaking works and known as him “forward of time.”

The twentieth anniversary of Cheung’s loss of life was Saturday and drew crowds of each native followers and supporters from mainland China to go to exhibitions about him in Hong Kong. Even the federal government included concert events and movie screenings about him within the metropolis’s first popular culture competition, which is slated to formally kick off in three weeks.

The native reminiscences of Cheung show the late movie star stays a preferred icon throughout generations of Hong Kongers and displays the will for reviving town’s cultural affect, stated Anthony Fung, professor of the varsity of journalism and communication on the Chinese language College of Hong Kong.

“After so a few years, we hardly discover any new icons, new superstars who may attain that degree of significance,” he stated.

Cheung, who was affectionately often known as Gor Gor — “massive brother” in Cantonese — produced many hits that even non-Cantonese talking music lovers in different elements of Asia may sing alongside to. These embrace “Monica,” “Sleepless Nights Stressed Coronary heart” and “Chase.” He additionally starred in traditional movies together with John Woo’s “A Higher Tomorrow,” Wong Kar-wai’s “Completely satisfied Collectively,” Stanley Kwan’s “Rouge” and Chen Kaige’s “Farewell My Concubine.”

However behind all of his success, Cheung suffered from despair. He jumped to his loss of life from the Mandarin Oriental Resort in central Hong Kong on April 1 in 2003, sending shockwaves throughout town. His loss of life got here as his hometown was battling the SARS epidemic, which finally killed tons of and crippled the native financial system.

Hong Kong fan Connie Leung, a retiree now in her 60s, recalled her disbelief when she first heard concerning the information of his loss of life from a former colleague. “I stated ‘don’t make such a joke on April Fools’ Day’,” she stated.

She stated Cheung’s songs by no means turned outdated and his vogue tastes, together with his iconic lengthy hair, have been trendy — even by at the moment’s requirements.

Chris Choi, Cheung’s live performance choreographer within the 2000s, stated the late celebrity broke via many gender boundaries by introducing “unisex” concepts, a few of which have been dangerous on the time. Amongst his stage costumes in these years, for instance, have been seashell culottes and pink excessive heels.

“It instructed individuals artwork has no boundaries,” he stated.

Cheung additionally broke via town’s cultural establishment by boldly revealing his homosexual relationship in a conservative native society at the moment— a choice that would have ruined his profession however has earned him lots of respect from the homosexual group, Fung stated. The breakthrough was concerning the plurality of tradition that he celebrated, he stated.

“He truly crossed via the boundary, make a noise and affect on the tradition of Hong Kong,” Fung stated.

Cheung’s work not solely impressed older generations of followers but additionally those that have been simply toddlers when he died.

College pupil Justin Jiang stated he was solely 3 years outdated when Cheung died, however he later turned a fan in highschool after studying extra about Cheung’s character and charisma from his legacy of works. This week, the 22-year-old, who lives in neighboring Guangzhou, visited Hong Kong with a good friend to pay tribute to his idol.

He praised Cheung’s boldness in expressing his views and breaking via a society strongly influenced by gender stereotypes years in the past.

“Gor Gor could be very brave and that is value studying for us,” he stated.