It Won't Be Long For Us To Meet Again

 

張國榮：再見不會太遙遠

Written by Zhao Rong (趙榮)

Source: 'Movie Stories' 1995

Originally posted in the Leslie Cheung Artist Studies website on August 17, 2004

Translated by Daydreamer posted January 17, 2007

At 7 o'clock in the evening, inside the Red Maison Hotel in Songjiang (see note 1), the room was brightly lit and the sounds of people were bubbling like a caldron. Director Chen Kaige stepped up on to the stage, picked up the microphone and said, "This morning, Kwok Wing told me that he would like to invite the whole crew to dinner tonight, then I suddenly understood one thing -- he is about to leave us. All of Kwok Wing's parts in 'Temptress Moon' are finished. Having worked with him in two movies, I think this person’s good thing is…. let me use our Beijing dialect to say it out, "He is one who is especially friendly, considerate and cares about others…" Before Kaige could finish his sentence, there was already a big applause. Following that, Kwok Wing and Kaige made a toast to the ten tables full of crew members.

I lifted up my camera. Flashlight repeatedly glistened from all directions. No matter how many beautifully decorated and delicious dishes were being brought to the table, no one seemed to care about them. The attention was completely concentrated on Cheung Kwok Wing alone. At the beginning, only those who were bold enough would go up to Cheung Kwok Wing's table with an excuse to propose a toast to him, actually they wanted to take a picture with him. Then afterwards, Kwok Wing was simply being pulled away from his seat. No matter whether it was a member from the make-up team or from the stage property section, stage manager or lighting member, stage scenery worker or driver, no one would give up the precious chance of taking a picture with him. During the one-year shooting process, Kwok Wing has never showed any supremacy or arrogance. He especially sympathized with the crew members who have worked very hard. Everyone has a tender affection for him.

At this moment, the screen in front of the stage suddenly played the MTV of 'When Will You Return 何日君在來'. Ms. Sun Huizhuan of Thomson Film Company with her wonderful voice and feeling started to sing, "Beautiful flowers do not bloom often, and good time does not last long…" This song brought all of the people who were making a lot of noise back to another state. After the song was over, Ms. Sun said, "I am not a good performer. I sang this song because Mr. Cheung has requested me to sing it for him, therefore I chose that song. Now, I am requesting Mr. Cheung Kwok Wing to sing a song for us." "Great…!" Not allowing Cheung Kwok Wing to consider, everyone has answered that for him. Applauses and summonses were everywhere. It gradually changed to a rhythmic unison of "Cheung Kwok Wing, sing a song!" The noise of this was so loud that it could almost make the roof collapsed. If taking pictures with Kwok Wing was the first climax, then singing a song was certainly the second one.

Cheung Kwok Wing helplessly shook his head, sighed and said, "It's all my fault, I have asked for this!" Of course, now Kwok Wing owed Ms. Sun a favour, but most importantly, as a host today, how could he object to the guests' earnest request? Finally, Cheung Kwok Wing came up on to the stage with a smile and sang the song 'Blessings祝福' for us. He picked up the microphone and said, "My friends, my best wishes to all of you…" Wow, the noise of the applauses almost covered up the song. Tse Yin, the elderly actor who played the role Xian Xie [or Dai Dai] in 'Temptress Moon' was also there tonight, he came up on to the stage and presented a flower to Cheung Kwok Wing. This attracted another wave of applauses and laughers and the atmosphere reached its peak.

Don't ask, don't say,
Everything is understood without saying a word.
At this moment under the candlelight let's quietly spend the time together…

A voice full of emotion and affection reverberated in the hall, like magnet drawing the attention of each audience, the entire audience was extremely quiet, no one dared to breathe trying to fully enjoy those few minutes of precious time... "Bide farewell, but it won't be long for us to meet again..." Cheung Kwok Wing's song came to a stop, but everyone still seemed to be fully embraced by the mood of the lyrics and had not come around as yet.

"Look at Lin Jian-hua's face..." Miss Sun said trying to make the atmosphere lighter. At this moment, everyone noticed that Lin Jian-hua who was standing at the corner below the stage has been crying so hard that his tears have made his jacket all wet. He was embarrassed, therefore quickly turned around and drilled into the nearest group of people. Lin Jian-hua has joined the 'Temptress Moon' crew for almost a year. This time last year, in order to play the role of 'Duanwu' well, he attended a two-month acting course at the Central Drama School. I also discovered at this time that the little actor who played the role of little Zhongliang sat beside Cheung Kwok Wing and cried heartily and sadly. Cheung Kwok Wing tried to dry up his tears and comfort him. During this year, little Zhongliang has grown a lot, he was almost one head taller than the adult Zhongliang. Little Zhongliang has learned a lot from the drama group. He and Cheung Kwok Wing has become good friends despite their age difference.

Everybody tried to make Lin Jian-hua sing for us. Lin Jian-hua picked a song called 'Why Did You Make Me So Sad你怎麼舍得我難過'. Following that, it was Zhou Jie's turn to sing. Zhou Jie who was originally a dancer played the role of the woman living in Zephyr Lane in 'Temptress Moon'. Although her part was small, she loved this role very much because she found it lively and colourful. She told me that it was very exciting to play against Cheung Kwok Wing, and she also respected Chen Kaige very much. Although she was very lively most of the time, however, tonight after Cheung Kwok Wing finished singing his song, she merely sat there remaining very quiet. At this time, everyone tried to persuade her to go up to the stage but she merely used her two hands to cover up her face. People originally thought that she was just being playful, but she did not put down her hands for a long time; when taking a good look, we found that tears were dripping down through her fingers. Her face was all red and tears kept coming down continuously. Perhaps, this moment had brought some very special memories back to Zhou Jie.

It is true that all the crew members have tasted moments of happiness, sadness and bitterness ever since the camera started rolling a year ago. Who wouldn't sigh with emotion and who wouldn't be excited and agitated? Although Ms. Sun kept reminding people that, "Don't let Kwok Wing's farewell dinner changed into a camera shut-down meal...", everyone still could not shake off the uneasy feeling of departure. At this moment, everyone thought, in consensus, of Gong Li who had taken a leave of absence for a few days to go to the Festival de Cannes for the movie 'Shanghai Triad'. Everyone felt sorry and said, "Tonight it would be more perfect and thrilling if Gong Li was here."

At the end, Mr. Cheung Kwok Wing left the crowd quietly. When someone discovered that he was leaving and tried to call him, he waved his hand signalling him to keep quiet, just like the lyrics of the song:

Don't wave your hand, don't look back...
It won't be long for us to meet again.
If there is fate then we may anticipate tomorrow, you and I will meet again in the bright season.

Note 1 – Songjiang, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songjiang,_Shanghai