Leung Ping-kwan Passes Away at the Age of 63
Celebrated professor, poet and author Leung Ping-kwan, also known by his pen name Ye Si, has passed away this week at the age of 63 after four years of battling lung cancer.
Raised in Hong Kong, Leung was one of the city’s best known writers. Over the years, the subjects of his work have spanned Hong Kong’s cultural heritage as well as its search for identity. He published a novel, a novella, four collections of short stories, as well as fifteen volumes of poems. More than half of his works include bilingual editions, and others were translated into various languages. His contributions to contemporary Chinese poetry and comparative literature earned him many prestigious literary awards and titles—including the Hong Kong Chinese Literature Bi-annual Prize and Artist of the Year 2011 by Hong Kong Arts Development. In addition to his writing about Hong Kong, Leung has also written extensively on the urban culture of Berlin, Tokyo and Taipei.
Leung’s death has drawn a number of tributes from the city’s leading academics and institutions, including Lingnan University, who has named Leung as one of the most important local writers of his era. Leung's friend of 40 years, fellow poet Yip Fai, is also quoted by South China Morning Post as saying that he "had great curiosity" and "didn't want to confine literature in a small world."
See HK Magazine’s First Person interview with Leung here.