REPORTERS ALWAYS have to make sacrifices. I gave up my beautiful hair for a $36 haircut to do a story on one of Hong Kong's oldest barbers; I braced myself for allergies and flea bites when I ventured into a house with 90 feline lodgers to profile a cat collector. And my drink was spiked with party drugs when I went to a Shenzhen disco to investigate drug abuse. But this time it was different - my innocence could be up for grabs. I had been asked to meet a professor with sex on his mind.
Julian Lee is the writer of five erotic novels, 30 erotic newspaper columns and the sexually explicit Chinese movie, The Accident. He adores sex symbol Madonna and Annabel Chong, who had sex with more than 200 men in one day for a movie. Assistant professor of School of Creative Media, City University, Lee says he does not write about love or sex, but one-night stands. And now he is teaching others to do it in his Creative Workshop on Erotic Writing. Conducted in Cantonese, the course is part of Le French May Film Festival and this year's theme is 'body and desire'.
Initially I am rather taken with the idea of writing about love and romance and becoming famous. But then I become nervous. What sort of research would be involved?
Day one
I dress to protect myself from any sexual advances: a turtleneck top to hide my breasts and trousers to cover my snow-white legs. I am 10 minutes late. Unfortunately, the professor is late too and is in the same lift as me. Dressed in a striped blue shirt and brown shoes, Lee pushes a TV set into the lift. A narrow moustache, circular-framed glasses and a side-parting, he looks like an old friend of mine, a love cheat. I avoid eye contact and make my way to a seat.
Believed to be the first of its kind in Hong Kong, the workshop at the Hong Kong Arts Centre is popular, with more than 30 participants. Others have had to be turned away.
Students of the workshop are from all walks of life: fashion and graphic designers, students, clerks, a Web site editor and an assistant curator. Most are unmarried. Some are scriptwriters who want tips on how to write pornographic films. Others are just curious.