Hong Kong remembers Leslie Cheung, the pure artist who struggled to be himself
Fans and friends of late pop idol Leslie Cheung keep his memory alive a decade after his death
Those who worked closely with Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing remembered the pop idol, as the 10th anniversary of his death approaches, as a daring artist who struggled in a city that did not always embrace his values.
What might he have thought of the memorial plaza in Kowloon's Olympian City mall yesterday, which marked the anniversary with a "Leslie Cheung tram" and Cheung as a dancing 3-D hologram?
"He didn't want the glitzy image," said Alan Chan Yau-kin, a friend who designed many of Cheung's record covers.
"He requested photo shoots with no make-up or special wardrobe, to go back to the basics. He was really a pure artist and wanted privacy even though he knew what he needed to do in public to succeed. It was hard on him. When we talked, his hands would shake."
Cheung had a pained attitude towards his hometown, telling Time magazine two years before he committed suicide on April 1, 2003: "The place is so extravagant, vulgar, expensive. I may be too soft for Hong Kong. I don't always count myself as one of them."