We Miss You Much: Inside Leslie Cheung’s 70th Birthday Exhibition

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“I hope you will always remember me. For every night, the applause and cheers you have given me, I will hold them in my heart forever,” Leslie Cheung once said during his 1997 concert. Like many around the globe, we at Zolima CityMag certainly remember Gor-gor.

And now, nearly 30 years after the iconic performance, Miss You Much: Leslie 70th Birthday at Hong Kong Heritage Museum (HKHM) honours the music, fashion and cinema legend on what would have been his 70th birthday. In one word, the show is memorable.

A large red origami crane welcomes visitors, symbolising Cheung’s enduring influence on fans around the world, from countries such as Japan, Malaysia, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Full-sized photographs of the Cantopop icon in extravagant costumes line the walls, while classics such as “Monica” and “拒絕再玩” (transliterally “Refuse to Play Again”) add another interactive dimension to the visitor experience.

Further along, wave after wave of memorabilia glimmers inside exhibition cases. More than 300 exhibits trace Cheung’s remarkable career, including 11 classic stage costumes that evoke the deafening applause of his concerts. Several items are being shown publicly for the first time, among them his personal furniture including a studio desk and a set of blue sofa that welcomed different stars to his home like comedian Lydia Shum Din-ha. The intimate settings dive into the private world behind the superstar’s public image — one that inspired him to write more than 30 songs.

On display are also different costumes like the gold jacket, sequinned top and purple striped trousers worn during the Live in Concert 97 film. Interestingly, in 2000, taking the reins as artistic director for the Passion Tour, he enlisted legendary French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier to craft his wardrobe. Built around the concept of “From Angel to Devil,” the tour transcended the boundaries of a standard pop concert to become a glittering art showcase — solidifying Cheung’s status as a global trendsetter. Especially emotive are vinyl covers of his classics, movie posters starring Cheung in movies like Rouge (1988) and Days of Being Wild (1990), as well as a portrait by local artist Yuen Tai-yung.

In honour of Gor-gor, the museum has specially designed a limited-edition, poster style exhibition pamphlet. Each visitor can take one copy and will be distributed each day while stocks last.

During the exhibition, the museum will screen six of Cheung’s films for free, including A Better Tomorrow, A Chinese Ghost Story, Rouge and He’s a Woman, She’s a Man. At the end of this year, there will be a special free retrospective screening of Cheung’s Live in Concert 97. Film tickets will be distributed on the day of each screening at noon on HKHM’s first floor on a first-come, first-served basis while tickets last. The admission arrangements for the concert video will be announced later.