The first of April originally is meant to be funny for everyone. But for a special reason, Hong Kong people can hardly find it pleasing. It is all because of our Leslie Cheung, who chose to end his transient but spectacular life on the same day, 10 years ago.
Being the greatest star in Hong Kong, he is forever missed by the fans. He deserves it totally. For these few weeks he has been in every corner. His posters, his songs and his movies have once again infiltrated everywhere now, just like the 80's and 90's. Once again, we know that the difference between the truly great artist and the care-frees today.
No wonder one of my friend exclaimed her loss, saying she should have been born 10 or 20 years earlier to know Leslie better. Yes. in that case, she would possibly have known Danny Chan, Anita Mui, Wong Ka-kui better as well.
Instead of making the same sigh (which I used to do) as my young friend did, I imagine. I imagine that Leslie was born 20 years later, which would be 20 Sep 1976. By now he would have been at the age of 37, which is supposed to be his second prime, being the main actor for the movies like The Ashes of Time, Days of Being Wild.
In this age of time, he will face a much smaller resistance from the media about his sexual orientation. He was perhaps one of the first well-known artist who declared his choice openly (as well as being most severely attacked by the mass media). Now in Hong Kong, we are more open to gay men and lesbians. It was a completely different story 20 years ago, when we teased the gays and tried to avoid making contact with them, without understanding what they think. It was previously thought as a disease, but now most will know that it is just the difference of choice.
The game has been remade. People can come out and declare their choices with pride. People demand for the rights to love (which is intuitively right) and have marriages with their partners. Consensus although may not be arrived at this moment, we all feel that our community is at least coming close to the target, when the resistance is soften, and the conflicts are getting solved. 20 years ago, one without powerful imagination could not predict this would ever happen.
At least, should Leslie be with us now, it is foreseeable that he will become a happier man with his lover. He might not be the greatest star we have seen in the posters or the movies. He does not care, even if he is no longer an artist. He would rather become what he wants to be: Leslie Cheung.
P.S. Though according to the principle of parallel universe, there should not be interference between the spaces, and as a result, I am not quite sure in the absence of Leslie, our society would be as open to homosexuality as now. But one thing that is certain, our world has become more open to it in general. Let's hope Leslie is smiling for this very change from the above.
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