On a grey Tuesday, fans and friends of late singer-actor Leslie Cheung packed the Hong Kong Funeral Home at North Point and the streets outside to bid him a final farewell.
On a grey Tuesday, fans and friends of late singer-actor Leslie Cheung
packed the Hong Kong Funeral Home at North Point and the streets outside
to bid him a final farewell.
A who's who of Hongkong entertainment showed up for the last rites, including Lin Ching-hsia, Sammo Hung and Aaron Kwok. Lydia Sum whom Cheung thanked in his suicide and his first love, Teresa Mo, also attended. Cheung's boy friend Daffy Tong, singer Jacky Cheung, former agent Willie Chan, former actor Alan Tang, songwriter James Wong were five of the eight pall-bearers.
At about noon, the celebrities filed out of the mourning hall and boarded waiting buses bound for the crematorium. A grieving Anita Mui was so unsteady on her feet she had to be helped out and on to a bus.
At about 12.30pm, a van covered with white blossoms and carrying Cheung's coffin sped past his fans, some of whom had stood on the streets overnight. That was the last they saw of him.
The day before, his fans, friends and family had mourned for him at his wake as rain poured. From as early as 7 am, 10,000 fans - waering masks, bearing flowers and wielding umbrellas - queued to enter the mourning hall and pay their last respects. So many turned up that Cheung's family extended opening hours to the public - originally from 6pm to 8pm by two more hours. Stars present included Chow Yun Fat, former actress Cherie Chung, singers Kenny Bee, Alan Tam, retired singer Vivian Chow, girl group Twins, band Beyond, and actresses Chan Po Chu and Nancy Sit.
Inside the hall, Cheung's snap from his film, He's A Woman, She's A
Man rested against one wall. Tong's floral wreath to him came with
two paper ribbons which cited Tang poet Bai Juyi's two most-loved lines:
"Eternity ends. This love continues, never dying."