Hong Kong remembers Meng Lang, supporter of dissident Chinese poets

Co-founder of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre and campaigner for the release of jailed Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, Meng died of lung cancer this month

Evening of poetry readings and music held in memory of 57-year-old

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Meng Lang holds up an anthology of Liu Xiaobo’s poem. Photo: CNA

Published: 7:45pm, 18 Dec 2018Updated: 10:25pm, 18 Dec 2018

An evening of poetry reading and music was held in Hong Kong on Tuesday in memory of Meng Lang, the Chinese poet who co-founded Independent Chinese PEN Centre and fought tirelessly for the release of his late friend Liu Xiaobo, the jailed Nobel peace laureate.

The commemoration took place at Green Wave Art in Mong Kok.

On December 12, Meng lost a 10-month fight against lung cancer and died at the age of 57 at Sha Tin Hospital with his Taiwan-born wife, To Chia-chi, and many friends by his side.

The poet, who was born in Shanghai in 1961, became active in independent poetry movements in China in the 1980s and for decades was a keen promoter of fellow poets whose works are banned in China because of their outspokenness.

He lived in Hong Kong from 2009 until 2015 and was chief editor of independent publishing houses Morning Bell Press and Fountainhead Press. He and his wife moved to Taiwan later, but he had flown back to Hong Kong on February 14 to promote a new collection of Liu’s poems.