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SCMP

These articles were first published on April 2, 2003
by Tommy Lewis and Niki Law
Pop star, actor and director Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing plunged to his death from the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Central in an apparent suicide last night.
Cheung, 46 - star of the hit 1993 movie Farewell My Concubine - fell from the 24th floor window of the hotel and was found lying in Connaught Road at 6.41pm.
He was rushed to the Queen Mary Hospital where he was certified dead on arrival.
Police found a suicide note, his driver’s licence, two credit cards, a car key and a few thousand dollars on his body.
Police refused to disclose the contents of the note but said his death was believed to be due to emotional problems.

As news of Cheung’s death emerged, young women fans arrived and laid bouquets and cards near the spot where his body was found.
Cheung, who was gay and lived with his banker lover in Kadoorie Avenue, Ho Man Tin, shot to fame when he was runner-up in ATV’s Asian Music Contest in 1976.
Friends and colleagues last night expressed shock and sadness over the star’s death.
“I know that he had complained of feeling sick a while ago. But after going to the doctor his condition improved,” said Kelvin Wong, general manager of the Chinese music division of Universal Music.
“Everything is in a state of chaos now. There were no signs that he was emotionally disturbed.”

Mr Wong said that in the past few months, Cheung had been composing and recording songs for his new CD, which was to be released later this year.
Stephen Chan Chi-wan, assistant general manager of TVB, said that the station would call a meeting this morning to arrange for programmes commemorating the star’s life to be aired.
Cheung was nominated best actor for Inner Senses at the Hong Kong Film Awards due to take place on Sunday.

Showman who dared to be different
by Winnie Chung
My first reaction on hearing the news about Leslie Cheung was sheer disbelief. His death just wasn’t possible; it was an April Fool’s joke that was in extremely bad taste.
I had met Cheung on many occasions over the past decade and a half - mostly for work but also the odd night out at Central nightspots with mutual friends.
He was always proud of the way he looked. One of his frequent questions while twirling around in some new outfit would be “doesn’t this look nice on me?” Cheung has always admitted to being narcissistic. It is one of the reasons why my first interview with him, sitting in a Chinese restaurant in Malaysia with Anita Mui Yim-fong in 1987, had always stuck in my mind. “I’m a narcissist,” he had purred. “I love the way I look and perform.”
He was already on the fast track up the pop star chart then - one of the few who was just known by a first name. Unlike all the other Cantopop singers who played safe with boring, politically correct comments, Cheung was refreshingly honest. In a sense, this was what brought him his biggest headaches in the business.

Unable to deal with his frankness, the press labelled him as arrogant and pitted him against rival Alan Tam Wing-lun. The comparisons did not please Cheung.
In subsequent interviews and meetings with Cheung, he wavered between trying to be politically correct to win approval and being unable to hold back in voicing honest opinions.
You could almost see him being pulled apart. His narcissistic nature craved the public adulation and the limelight. Yet he also hated the strings that came with the fame; the criticism and the invasion of his privacy.
I remember sitting in a lonely dressing room with him on the set of The Bride With White Hair one cold night in 1992. He had essentially quit singing - at least for the major awards. In an unusually frank chat, Cheung was busy gossiping about an actress we both didn’t like. “Oh, she’s such a bitch,” he said then, laughing with a carefree air that I had never seen in him before.

Since then, every time I met him, he was more and more open as he became comfortable with himself, with little to lose in the battle for popular opinion. This probably coincided with the fact that he felt he no longer had to go to extremes to hide his sexual preferences, even if he never discussed his homosexuality.
The final metamorphosis of Leslie Cheung seemed to have been complete when I sat opposite him in a suite at the then-Regent Hotel where he was promoting the film Inner Senses last year. Still charmingly boyish, but this time with an impish mischievousness, he was lamenting the appearance of wrinkles. “I’m growing old,” he moaned. Yet, his laugh implied that he was less than upset about it.
When I left the interview, I remember calling some friends and remarking on how much more at ease with life he seemed. It was like he had finally thrown off the last shackles of Canto-pop stardom that had imprisoned him. We made plans to meet for dinner.

That dinner never came to be. Since finishing the film, friends reported that he hadn’t been “quite himself”. He avoided all but his closest circle of friends.
It is that same circle of friends who yesterday shared my disbelief. It is just so not like him, those who called me said. “What a waste,” said those who weren’t his friends.
It was probably the one time that Cheung’s supporters and detractors finally agreed on something.
Love him or hate him, he was the consummate showman. He could dance, he could sing and, as he showed later in his career, he could certainly act. He was that kind of all-round talent that is becoming a bigger and bigger rarity in Hong Kong. You will be missed, Leslie.
If you are having suicidal thoughts, or you know someone who is, help is available. For Hong Kong, dial +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans or +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services. In the US, call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on +1 800 273 8255. For a list of other nations’ helplines, see this page.


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Hong Kong society

Pop star Leslie Cheung dies in fall from Hong Kong hotel in 2003 – from the SCMP archive

Hong Kong actor and singer Leslie Cheung died after a fall in 2003. Photo: Michael Tsui

Flowers and notes left by fans outside the Mandarin Oriental hotel for Leslie Cheung on April 2, 2003. Photo: Robert Ng

Cheung in April 1988. Photo: Chu Ming-hoi

Clipping from SCMP’s April 2, 2003 issue. Photo: SCMP

Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-wai in the film Happy Together. Photo: Jet Tone Production

Fans of Leslie Cheung wave to the hearse after his funeral service outside Hong Kong Funeral Home, North Point, on April 8, 2003. Photo: K. Y. Cheng

Fans lay flowers and photos of late Cantopop star Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing in Tsim Sha Tsui on March 31, 2025. Photo: Jelly Tse

How Leslie Cheung excelled in Chen Kaige films Farewell My Concubine and Temptress Moon

Zhang Fengyi (left) and Leslie Cheung in a still from Farewell My Concubine. Photo: Tomson Films

Leslie Cheung as Peking opera singer Cheng Dieyi in Farewell My Concubine, one of his greatest performances as an actor. Photo: SCMP

Cheung (right) and Chen Kaige on the set of Farewell My Concubine, in July 1992. Photo: SCMP

Cheung (left) and Fengyi Zhang in a still from Farewell My Concubine. Photo: Beijing Film Studio

(From left) Cheung, producer Hsu Feng and Chen Kaige at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak airport with the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or for Farewell My Concubine. Photo: SCMP

Zhang and Cheung in a still from Farewell My Concubine. Photo: Tomson Films

Cheung in a still from Farewell My Concubine. Photo: Tomson Films

Cheung and Gong Li in a still from Temptress Moon. Photo: Tomson Films

Why are Hong Kong cinemas closing despite box office hits?

Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

The strong performance of blockbusters such as Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In has failed to arrest the wave of cinema closures in Hong Kong. Photo: Entertaining Power Co Limited

Golden Harvest announced the closure of its Nam Cheong theatre in December last year, bringing the total number of its cinemas to cease operations in 2024 to eight. Photo: May Tse

An exhibition in Causeway Bay displays posters, props and film stills of box office hit The Last Dance in December last year. Photo: Sun Yeung

Grief in Singapore as founding father Lee Kuan Yew dies in 2015 – from SCMP archive

Singaporeans pay their respects to Lee Kuan Yew days after his death on March 23, 2015. File photo: EPA-EFE

The remains of Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew lie in state at the National University of Singapore on March 29, 2015. Photo: Reuters

Members of Lee Kuan Yew’s family carry the former Singaporean leader’s photo during his funeral on March 29, 2015. File photo: AP

Singaporeans at a shopping mall observe a minute of silence to pay respects to former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew during his state funeral on March 29, 2015. Photo: EPA-EFE

Singapore’s then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong pauses while giving a eulogy for his father Lee Kuan Yew. File photo: Reuters

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The 46-year-old fell from the 24th floor window of the Mandarin Oriental hotel and was found lying in Connaught Road


The 46-year-old fell from the 24th floor window of the Mandarin Oriental hotel and was found lying in Connaught Road.


From our archives

Leslie Cheung

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Hong Kong cinema

On This Day | Pop star Leslie Cheung dies in fall from Hong Kong hotel in 2003 – from the SCMP archive

The 46-year-old fell from the 24th floor window of the Mandarin Oriental hotel and was found lying in Connaught Road

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