Leo Ou-fan Lee, the acclaimed scholar of modern Chinese literature, has decided to make Hong Kong his home after more than 40 years studying and teaching at the most prestigious US universities.
A professor of Chinese Literature at Harvard University, Lee recently completed a stint as Y.K. Pao Distinguished Visiting Professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Committed to Harvard until the end of the year, Lee, 64, will then return to settle in Hong Kong and take up a post at Chinese University.
A divorcee, Lee fell in love soon after arriving in Hong Kong in 1998. Together with his new wife, he wrote a book based on their affair, Guo Pingchang Rizi [Our Everyday Lives], which was adapted into a radio play broadcast on RTHK last year. 'When I married Esther, at the age of 60, I did not expect much: a companion, some stability, but I find a happiness I have never known,' says Lee at his flat on the HKUST campus.
Leaving Harvard will mean earning less money, but, he says, 'Hong Kong is a lovely city. One can find the extreme left and the extreme right, the architecture is western, and I can give talks in Chinese and in English. It's fate. My good friends are in Hong Kong. [Chair professor of Lingnan University] Joseph Lau, my best friend, is here. My wife, Esther, comes from Hong Kong.
'Hong Kong is in decline. That's why I want to stay. China does not need me. Taiwan does not need me. The SAR government is losing all the opportunities to make this city a great one. It is too eager to bring in culture from the mainland. Hong Kong has a rich culture, and Hong Kong people should be more aware of other cultures.'
In demand in academic circles worldwide, Lee has taught at leading universities such as Harvard, Princeton, California Los Angeles, Chicago, Indiana, Dartmouth College and three universities in Hong Kong - HKUST, Chinese University and the University of Hong Kong. In 2002, he became an Academician at the prestigious Academia Sinica institution in Taiwan and last year, gave talks at Tsinghua University in Beijing, on the topic 'Sherlock Holmes in China'.