Tsang Cho Choi August 2010

         Hong Kong is a city with no original high culture. 100 years ago, Hong Kong was described as a place of deep water and barren rock. After the Second World War, refugees flew from China to Hong Kong. It was transformed from a fishing village into a light industrial city in the 60s and 70s, then into a tourism and trading centre in the 80s and finally into a world financial and logistics hub nowadays. Art and culture have never been a vital part of our historical transformation and all changes were related to money; more money and greater adjustments for a more comfortable material life. Culture, if any, of Hong Kong has been related chiefly to the habits, styles, wisdom and pursuits of the daily living rather than the eternal soul of the several million population and the majority of them were grassroots. Food and entertainment such as film and TV were the typically such popular cultural dimensions. Yet, when people in the past woke up, worked, ate, slept and travelled, they failed to be aware of the treasures buried in the streets: lamp posts, footbridges, flyovers, public walls, slopes, toilets, bus stops and even rubbish bins. The treasures were the calligraphy graffiti painted by a man who limped in limbo and was accused of being insane. The calligraphic characters of his graffiti looked standardized and patterned: childish, innocent, slightly awkward, irregular-sized and funny, To the contrary, the contents of his graffiti were all essays of this man who proclaimed to the outside cold and disrespectful world about his kingdom: the kingdom of Tsang Cho Choi (曾灶財) who crowned himself as " King of Kowloon" (九龍皇帝). He wrote about his personal history, royal family, territorial jurisdictions of his country, fierce battles, governing missions and ultimately his personal determination to re-gain the control of his kingdom i.e. Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories.

          It was said that in the 60s, when the city size of Hong Kong was small, Tsang's graffiti was found almost in all districts: The Central, Wanchai, Tsim Sha Tsui, Mongkok, Kwon Tong and everywhere. People reported that Tsang was a diligent painter. He woke up early in the morning, eaten or starved, to launch his lonely daily journey of expressing himself with his Chinese feather pen and tin of black paint by drawing in the streets. People even saw him painting deep deep at night. In those days when pajama was accepted as a casual fashion, Tsang wore his round-neck white shirt and rubber-waist-banded kung fu pants gallivanting proudly and dignifiedly on the roads as if he were the King of Kowloon. For some, it was the stupid and sad behaviour of an insane chap. For some, it was a source of amusement. When entertainment was unaffordable in those years, reading what Tsang wrote about himself and kingdom could be a daily street joy. All people in Hong Kong somehow knew the name Tsang Cho Choi or his nickname ‘King of Kowloon'. Yet, he was so much ignored that no press, radio or TV would report on his life, not to mention analyzing his art or classifying him as an artist. He existed, existed in the daily life of every Hong Kong dweller as his presence through his graffiti intruded into the eyes of the public. Paradoxically, he did not exist at the same time because nobody at that time would be concerned with what he had done for the streets of Hong Kong. Whether he lived or died－no one cared.

       Tsang Cho Choi, the martyr for the cause of street art, is reminiscent of the lyrics of a great song called Streets of London "Have you seen the old man outside the seaman's mission. Memory fading with the medal ribbons that he wears. In our winter city, the rain cries a little pity. For one more forgotten hero. And a world that doesn't care".

        Tsang was born in 1921. He was born in Siu Hing Prefecture, Kwang Tung Province. He left China with his family for China at the age of 16. He claimed his family was royal and rich in China and owned the lands in Kowloon. The British colonial government took away his royal Kowloon lands brutally without a penny for compensation for his kingdom. To fight for the justice for his royal family, he had no alternative but wrote everywhere in Hong Kong to declare and protest for the sovereignty of his Kingdom. He called for national solidarity and support in order to defeat the British. He started his graffiti in 1950s. Tsang was often taken to the Police Stations for the criminal act of vandalism and convicted by Courts. Luckily, he was treated as having mental problem and thus could escape from jail imprisonment. It was reported that at the peak of his success, he caused more than "1,000 damaged places" all over Hong Kong. In the 90s, his family members supporting his livelihood passed away. He was alone, lonely and lonesome. Due to his old age, his energy for graffiti went down. He survived modestly on the social assistance money from the Hong Kong Government. The rapid city developments of Hong Kong in the 1990s compelled the Government to demolish and erase his traces of art on the public infrastructures. The fewer and fewer presences of his art in the streets of Hong Kong alerted a group of local artist and culturists to lobby for a movement for the Government and general public of Hong Kong to pay respect to and preserve Tsang's art work in public places; and to formally recognize his vandalism as "public art" which term of course enjoys a more elevated status than "graffiti". They advanced 4 positions:

(1)   graffiti began in the Western cities in the 60s but Tsang initialed the wall art in Hong Kong as early as in the 1950s. He was the pioneer of the wall art in Asia. His world record achievement was the pride of Hong Kong.

(2)   Hong Kong's high art such as orchestra and ballet was imported from the West. Locally, Hong Kong should however try to identify and honour our own sub-culture. Since Hong Kong began as a British colony 100 years ago, Pop Art had been rare and unusual. Tsang Cho Choi's graffiti as a Pop Art was such an invaluable and precious art form in the history of Hong Kong especially being the forefront of Pop Art.

(3)   Tsang's works were part of Hong Kong's treasured collective memories of the glorious past of Hong Kong. His graffiti reminded people of how the Hong Kong streets, and public places looked like in those golden years. Therefore, Tsang's jobs were more than art. They are the great heritage of Hong Kong.

(4)   Tsang was looked down by some because he was suspected of having a mental problem. Even if he had, a mental problem should not disenable or disqualify a person from being an artist. If that was the wrong belief, it would be the most disgusting form of discrimination. Van Gogh was said to be insane but he was such a talented artist. The long discrimination for years against him is grossly unfair and would warrant a formal rectification of Tsang's status from a "lunatic", "beggar", "handicapped" or whatever to that of a Hong Kong true artist.

       In 1997, to signify for the handover of political power from the British to Red China, famous fashion designer William Tang staged a large scale fashion show in recognition of Tsang's graffiti styles and patterns. In 2000, a movie "Kowloon Queen" (九龍皇后) by director Fok Yiu Leung made use of Tsang's works as the art for his movie posters and concepts within the film. In 2001, a song known as "Kowloon King" was recorded. In 2002, a drama known as "East Palace, West Palace" (東宮西宮) developed a character known as Tsang Cho Choi. In 2003, Tsang's works were sent to the international grand exhibition Venice Biennale for display. In 2005, a world magazine "Colours" (Issue 65) contained a feature article on Tsang. In 2008, famous singer Lam Yat Fung (林一峰) wrote a song "Story of Our City Graffiti" (塗城記) which was based on Tsang's life.

         Lamentably, in 2007, after being sent from the Home for the Aged, in which he lived as a wardmate, to Kowloon Hospital, he died of heart attack. He passed away at the age 86 and had lived in his Kowloon Kingdom for 70 years. But he remains in our heart of Hong Kong and the soul of Hong Kong city forever. This legend has had unthinkable impact and influences over the art, history and culture of Hong Kong, our proud city which government however has infamously ill-treated Tsang for decades. Up to now, the majority of Tsang's works have been eliminated from our city and there is only a pillar in Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry Pier helplessly carries the beautiful calligraphy of Tsang Cho Choi, our art and culture superstar.