What China's Talking About Today: Anniversary of a Gay ...

... remembers Leslie Cheung, an actor and the founding father of Cantopop. ... One of the founding fathers of the Cantopop -- Cantonese pop ... Skiptocontent Signin MyAccount Subscribe QuickLinks DearTherapist CrosswordPuzzle ManageSubscription Popular Latest Sections Politics Ideas Photo Science Culture Podcasts Health Education Planet Technology Family Projects AmericaInPerson Global Events Books Fiction Newsletter TheAtlanticCrossword PlayCrossword ThePrintEdition LatestIssue PastIssues GiveaGift SearchTheAtlantic QuickLinks DearTherapist CrosswordPuzzle ManageSubscription Popular Latest SignIn MyAccount Subscribe LinkCopied ChinaremembersLeslieCheung,anactorandthefoundingfatherofCantopop.FlowersandphotographsleftoutsidetheMandarinOrientalHotelinHongKongReutersOneofthefoundingfathersoftheCantopop--Cantonesepopmusic--LeslieCheung Kwok-wing,leaptfromthe24thfloorofHongKong'sMandarinOrientalHotel,this weekin2003.Cheungwas46. Nineyearslater,micro-bloggersonSinaWeiboare commemoratingthedeathofthegayicon,whoserolesinfilmslikeWongKar-wai's 1997blockbusterHappyTogetherhelped advanceadialogueonhomosexualityinChinesesociety.DiscussionofCheung'sdeathspannedawhopping5.5million commentsinlittleoveraday.Inapollaskingmicro-bloggerstochoosetheirfavoriteof Cheung'smovies,31percentofroughly20,500voterschoseFarewellMyConcubine(1993).Thefilm,directedbyauteurChenKaige,illustrates theeffectsofChineserevolutionaryhistoryonatraditionalopera troupe.CheungportraysChengDieyi,anoperasingerwhointerpretsthefemalelead inChineseoperasandfallsinlovewithhisheterosexualleadingman.Tormentedbytheturbulenceof20thcenturyChinese historyandhisunrequitedlove,ChengDieyicommitssuicidewhileperformingthepartofaconcubine,whokillsherselfbeforeHansoldiersenterterritorybelongingtotheking,herlover.Thesceneisespeciallychilling,givenCheung'sreal-lifesuicide--whichisofficially attributedtodepressionandwidelyrumoredtohaveresultedfromproblemswithhisrelationship.ManyWeibocommenterswroteofCheung'sroleinchangingChineseperceptionsofhomosexuality."ItwasLeslieCheungwhohelpedchangemyimpressionofgay people,"wroteuserSmokerlou.HomosexualitywasremovedfromtheChineseHealthMinistry's listofmentaldiseasesin2001.UserVickybaby1summedupthesentimentsofmostother comments,saying,"MissmyolderbrotherCheung,onthis9thanniversary [ofhisdeath]." Wewanttohearwhatyouthinkaboutthisarticle.Submitalettertotheeditororwritetoletters@theatlantic.com. MassoudHayounisadigital-newsproducerforAlJazeeraAmerica. Connect Twitter