Leslie, this is your second birthday since you left us. I miss you a damn lot...
I'm still not used to life without your presence. It's still such torture
to realize again and again that you're no longer with us...
13/9/2004
[News report from Oriental Daily] It was Leslie's 48th birthday. Fans from around the world have gathered in HK for a series of memorial events, including "celebrate - 912 meeting at the peak", "the heart meeting with Leslie", "Remembering Leslie's artistic life discussion meeting"..etc. And there were a lot of fans who brought flowers to gor gor's home and also to the outside of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The pain of missing Leslie has not ceased at all - on this very remarkable day, a lot of gor gor's fans shed their tears.
More than a hundred fans have attended the wax museum at the HK peak, where a birthday gathering was held. There was even an opening for the giant "paper cutting" (of Leslie's figure). When happy-birthday was sung, lots of fans cried. The peak tower was like a red ocean, with hundreds of fans all wearing red shirts, and releasing red balloons. There were also booths selling gor gor's books, posters, also red charity cards for the "Children's cancer fund". In the evening, they played the "Passion Tour" concert.
On the other side, at the Wan Chai exhibition center, where the "Heart meeting Leslie" gathering was held - fans from more than 10 different countries were present, including Italy, German, Japan, Korea...
In the morning, there were already a huge group of fans gathering at the spot outside the Mandarin Oriental hotel, they have all placed down their white roses, birthday cards and Chinese birthday buns. Also, the gathering "Remembering Leslie's artistic life discussion meeting", which was hosted by a Leslie website, was held at the Kowloon exhibition centre. There were nearly 200 people who attended, mostly were fans from Taipei. They enjoyed Leslie's past movies together, e.g. "Inner Senses", "Happy Together".. and they also had a discussion on the changes in Leslie's artistic life. Some female fans started sobbing when they saw his films being played.
Sept 12, 2004: Memorial events
the whole place was decorated by gor gor's photos, posters, as well as the paper swans and cards made by fans. They played gor gor's clips throughout the program, and fans took turns to go on stage to share their feelings towards Leslie. In the beginning, the mood was light and relaxing, and when fans saw the clips of Leslie dancing to the fast songs, they also joined in and danced themselves. However, at the later part where the birthday cake was cut, it played Leslie singing "Bright Star" (ming sing), the fans couldn't help but started crying. It was a touching scene.
