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Retrospective of Hong Kong literary giant Leung Ping-kwan

Leung Ping-kwan was one of Hong Kong's leading literary lights. Following his death last year, Janice Leung finds a new generation celebrating his legacy

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Leung Ping-kwan.

not only a man of letters but an artist capable of eloquent expression in many different media, as a large-scale retrospective at Central Library and the Fringe Club promises to reveal. The award-winning poet, who also wrote under the pen name Yesi, succumbed to lung cancer a year ago at the age of 63. The upcoming showcase comprises literary works alongside paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs and videos.

"Leung wasn't merely a poet, he had a wide range of interests," says Oscar Ho Hing-kay, curator of the tribute exhibition, adding that the prolific poet was also a novelist, essayist, critic, teacher, scholar, photographer, filmmaker and a good friend of many in the arts community. "He was one of very few in Hong Kong's cultural circle who befriended almost everyone from all arts fields."

Charting the writer's versatility over four decades, "Leung Ping Kwan, A Retrospective" features artists from various disciplines, including visual artists Choi Yan-chi, Chow Chun-fai, Lau Guk-zik, Stanley Wong Ping-pui and Wucius Wong, photographers Lee Ka-sing, Alfred Ko Chi-keung and So Hing-keung, choreographer Mui Cheuk-yin, musician Kung Chi-shing and theatre director Tang Shu-wing.

Lee Ka-sing made this print for Leung's Travelling with a Bitter Melon.
Lee Ka-sing made this print for Leung's Travelling with a Bitter Melon.
Ho, a good friend of Leung's since the 1990s, when they were founding members of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, reveals that Leung himself initiated the retrospective after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2009. The two subsequently developed plans for the exhibition over a series of dinners.

A three-time winner of the Hong Kong Biennial Award for Chinese Literature, the celebrated writer was also a gourmet. "He had an appetite for everything, whether it was highbrow or lowbrow," says Ho. "On one hand he was a serious scholar, on the other hand he could talk about food all day!"

Leung was chair professor of comparative literature and director of the Centre for Humanities Research at Lingnan University since 1997. His poems are highly acclaimed for their artistry in revealing the hidden beauty of everyday city life.

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