Holy & Dangerous

Hong Kong Film Award-winner Liu Kai Chi and his wife, former TVB actress Chan Man Yee, recently attended the Hong Kong Book Fair, where they signed copies of a booklet they’ve authored about their late son, Liu Man Lok. The book includes many pictures and appears to have been written with an evangelistic slant, though I’m not entirely sure about that since I’m basically Chinese illiterate.

In any case, Ta Kung Pao had an article about their time at the Book Fair, but because that article is in Chinese, too, and none of the usual translation sites have translated the article, I have no idea what it says. If you can read Chinese or if you just want to look at some pretty squiggles, here’s the article…

智叔仔仔有壓力拒上鏡

Courtesy of takungpao.com

圖：智叔與敏兒的兩兒子抗拒上鏡

廖啟智與陳敏兒在小兒子文諾離世後，推出了一本新書《小麥子》，前晚於書展舉行簽名會，智叔、敏兒及兩個兒子都有出席。不過，兩位仔仔卻表現得有點害羞，二仔更要求不上鏡。敏兒亦十分民主，由兒子自己決定。

驚照片被畫花

敏兒笑言以前兩個兒子都好恨上鏡，早前有雜誌刊登了他們的相片。二仔便對她表示不想再上鏡了，怕被人畫花他在雜誌上的相片。敏兒指可能仔仔以前見過其他雜誌的人物被畫花了，才有此想法。她笑言這樣可以讓他們明白一下成名的壓力。

出書打人情牌

此 書推出後，反應十分熱烈。至今已印第四版，銷量已有一萬四千本。至於會否再推出第二本書，敏兒笑言要看情況了。談及書中一些諾諾的照片，智叔指兒子的演技 比他更了得，是天生的表演者，雙眼更懂得說話。敏兒亦讚小兒子的表情好豐富。今次這本書成功推出，他們夫婦倆都好感謝身邊人的支持，因為太趕時間，很多時 都要拍膊頭，用了好多人情牌。

In case you don’t know the story, Liu Man Nok, a.k.a. Lok Lok, was the third and youngest son of Liu Kai Chi and Chan Man Yee. He died on April 5, 2006 of leukemia-related pneumonia at the age of five.

Lok Lok’s brief life was marked by physical difficulties. Prior to his birth on June 14, 2000, his mother experienced extensive life-threatening hemorrhaging, which required surgery. In July of 2003, three-weeks after Lok Lok’s third birthday, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

A two-year treatment regiment of chemotherapy and medication followed and his prognosis appeared to be good with a 70% chance of survival. However, in May 2005, Lok Lok’s leukemia recurred and he underwent more treatment, including bone marrow transplantation. This time, however, his chance of survival fell to 40% and those odds proved too long for the little boy to overcome. After a nearly three-year battle, Lok Lok passed away with his parents at his side. He is also survived by his two older brothers, Man Zit, 11, and Man Sun, 7.

The booklet comes with a DVD that contains an interview with Liu and Chan as well as footage from Lok Lok’s funeral. On the DVD, Liu Kai Chi recounts a funny story that took place shortly after Lok Lok died. When Lok Lok was alive, Liu would go and make sure that his son was tucked in as he slept. Out of habit, he even attempted this once after Lok Lok had passed away. Realizing that his son was gone, Liu began to weep loudly. Hearing him cry out, the rest of the family came over to see what was wrong with him. After realizing what had happened, they just stared at him and one of his sons said matter-of-factly: “Why are you crying? You’re the oldest one in this family. You’re going to die first and see Lok Lok in heaven before any of us will!”

Indeed.

Christian encouragement, Cantonese-style, baby.

You’re probably going to kick the bucket before any of us and will get to see Lok Lok first, so quit yer crying, Old Man.

Outstanding.

Liu Kai Chi is a veteran film and television actor, who’s married to former TVB actress Chan Man Yee.  They also happen to be Christians. Their youngest son, Liu Man Lok, died of pneumonia on April 5, 2006, after a nearly three-year battle with leukemia. He was five years old.

TVBspace News Roundup has translated a Ta Kung Pao article about Liu Kai Chi’s Father’s Day:

Courtesy of takungpao.com.hk

Liu Kai Chi was joined by over a thousand fellow churchgoers as they shared a rather unusual Father[’]s Day. As well as two shopping mall appearances, Uncle Chi also took his wife Chan Man Yee and two sons to a Cheung Sha Wan church to take part in a “Give Dad a Gift” event.

As Man Yee listened to the sermon about how God gave up his son for mankind, she was wiping her eyes with tissue. Then when they showed some footage of her late son Man Lok, she joined the audience in smiling at his antics.

Before Uncle Chi arrived, Man Yee had shared her thoughts with the congregation, saying that in her darkest moment, she had questioned her faith, but then she learned to let go, because this was the inspiration she gained from Lok Lok’s passing. As Uncle Chi arrived, she invited this great father onto the stage and they said that with their two sons and Lok Lok in their hearts, they will always be a family of five.

More about Lok Lok next time…

Sylvia Chang. Award-winning actress, director, writer, producer, singer, wife, mother, competitive eater…and Christian? Although I’ve yet to come across anything definitive, if you compile the clues out there, the evidence semi-strongly suggests that she’s a Christian believer of some sort…maybe.

For instance, there’s the Chinese-language commercials for World Vision, the Christian relief organization, in which she sports a crucifix and pleads for donations while cradling a starving African child. There’s also her appearance in Forever and Ever (2001), a social drama about an HIV-stricken hemophiliac and his mother, which has strongly Christian elements. And now her appearance (with a totally different crucifix) in a trailer for what appears to be an evangelistic video biography about Liu Man Nok (a.k.a. Lok Lok), actor Liu Kai Chi’s youngest son, who passed away on April 5, 2006, at the age of five, as a result of leukemia-related pneumonia.

Because the trailer was unsubtitled and my Cantonese is extremely shaky, I’m not entirely sure what Ms. Chang was saying. Her Taiwanese-accented Cantonese didn’t exactly help, either, though it’s definitely more my fault than hers. However, I’m working on acquiring a copy of the video for further analysis and will let you know if she appears in it and makes definitive declarations either way, whether it’s confessing Jesus as Lord or pledging her allegiance to Buddha, the Kitchen God, and/or Karl Marx. I’ll also be writing more about Lok Lok later.

By the way, if Ms. Chang is a Christian, then she’s not of the fundamentalist variety; more likely of a mainline orientation with a strong emphasis on social justice.