張國榮 gay
Until the winter of 2003, I almost never paid attention to the Mandarin Oriental in Central, one of Hong Kong’s most luxurious. Leslie Cheung 張國榮 (1956-2003), aliased gege (elder brother), one of Hong Kong’s greatest singers and movie stars of the last quarter of the century, fell to his death in a presumed suicide jump from an upper floor of the hotel on April 1, 2003, the year of the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak. My first reaction to the news was utter disbelief, dismissing it as a vicious April fool joke. But breaking news on the satellite TV confirmed it as his heartbroken fans, dismayed by his death at the relatively young age of 46, stood vigil for many days outside the hotel. The hotel made every allowance for their right to mourn Cheung’s premature passing. Having beguiled his legions of fans by his extensive filmography and discography, my memory of Cheung will be maintain to be cherished, as he was among the first pop-singers I became familiar and mesmerized with.
Perpetually boyish in looks but able to embrace roles ranging from smolderingly intense to breezily comic, prudishly proper to teasingly salacious, Cheung was best kn
Dare To Love 敢愛 張國榮 Leslie Cheung English subtitles for lyrics with jyutping
敢愛 (Dare To Love) is such an vital song by Leslie Cheung, on the surface it is universally applicable but if you shadow his personal being, you would know it as one of the most low key key piece of LGBT+ music that has ever come from Cantopop and Hong Kong. Its melancholic description of the gay subculture prevalent at that occasion (and even now), and wistful longing for more, is endlessly moving.
Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/track/4S7w9OQzaOP3yFlFpU6ZtA
I was not able to easily find a satisfying translation for its lyrics online so I done one here:
作詞：黃敬佩 作曲：張國榮/唐奕聰 (Lyrics and Music credits)
情人鬥嘴
cing4 jan4 dau3 zeoi2
the lovers play fight
別問我有幾多歲
bit6 man6 ngo5 jau5 gei2 do1 seoi3
“don’t ask me how old I am”
頑皮到跟你玩針對
waan4 pei4 dou3 gan1 nei5 waan2 zam1 deoi3
mischievously targeting you for fun
談情戲水
taam4 cing4 hei3 seoi2
speaks of romance and plays in the water
熱浪到了骨子裡
jit6 long6 dou3 liu5 gwat1 zi2 leoi5
feeling the passion in our bones
還填滿跟你的差距
waan4 tin4 mun5 gan1 nei5 dik1 caa1 keoi5
and filling the gap between us
越悼念越有趣 It has been 15 years since Hong Kong pop singer Leslie Cheung (張國榮) committed suicide, but fans will never forget the legacy he left behind. While fans in Hong Kong came together for Leslie’s annual death anniversary, British Broadcasting Firm (BBC), also released a special mini program dedicated to the late singer, branding him as “Asia’s Gay Icon”. Although many cultures are increasingly more accepting of homosexuality, those who came out of the closet in the 1980s and 1990s were not so privileged – especially when Leslie lived in Hong Kong, where the culture was known to be conservative and lgbtq+ relations were illegal until 1991. Many might remember his iconic character Chen Dieyi in 1994’s classic movie, Farewell My Concubine <霸王別姬>. However, it was revealed that Leslie was actually offered the television version of the story in the 1981. Not knowing if he would be accepted by the public after playing Chen Dieyi so early in his career, Leslie rejected the television adaptation. As his stardom grew and his confidence increased with the back of his fans and friends, Leslie made contact with the director of Farewell My Concubine ten years later to sta In celebration of the 25th anniversary for the classic drama film Farewell My Concubine <霸王別姬>, a digital remake of the 1993 film was recently re-released in Taiwan, including the release of a never before-seen 22-minute clip of the late Leslie Cheung (張國榮) being interviewed about taking on the role as our tragic hero, Cheng Dieyi. “I don’t wish to be Cheng Dieyi,” said Leslie. “I personally don’t want to grow him. To be decent, I am much luckier than him, but I would still love to play a character prefer him, because I value playing tragic characters.” Chen Kaige’s (陳凱歌) Farewell My Concubine, which was adapted from the novel of the same name by Lillian Lee (李碧華), was released in 1993 and tells the story of two Beijing opera actors whose lives were forever changed after surviving the political turmoil of Mainland China during the mid-20th century. It starred Leslie Cheung as Cheng Dieyi, a famous opera actor acknowledged for playing the concubine Consort Yu in the opera play Farewell My Concubine, with Zhang Fengyi (張豐毅) as Duan Xiaolou, who plays Consort Yu’s love interest. Gong Li (鞏俐) played the girl who comes between them. In the 22-minute interview, Les
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