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| www.goodbyeleslie.com |
| www.goodbyeleslie.com |
CHAPTER 2: MY SCHOOL DAYS (PRIMARY SCHOOL) An autobiography by Leslie (1985) ~ Commercial Radio (Source: Leslie Cheung Cyber World- http://www.lesliecheung.cc/biography/autobiograph/index/index.htm) My Best Schoolmates As a kid, I wonder if you have any schoolmates who will take hold of your hand and talk to you. I have had schoolmates like this, but not really holding hands as such. Rather we are like Three Musketeers. There was Lau, Kwan and then there was me, Cheung. The three of us together with another schoolmates of mine name Hui, were very close. I still regard them as friends till this day, although I have lost touch with Lau and Kwan. But I maintain contact with Hui. Hui is of Teochew (Chiu Chow) origin. He was one of my best schoolmates. I have known him since Primary One, although later we were separated as we both chose to study in different countries upon graduating from Secondary School. I went to England and he to Canada. However up until now, we still talk to each other about personal problems, sometimes over the phone. I still remember this Teochew boy, he looks rather cute, and he was very chubby, like a piggy. I remembered having been rather envious of him because his parents loved him very much. His father was a taxi driver. His mother is a Chinese Singaporean. She is one of those really privileged woman, you know one who need not work, and therefore Hui has a chance to live with his parents. His grandfather was a legal advisor, and owned a shipping company. However due to the rise of communism in China, his grandfather was forced to escape to Hong Kong and closed down his company. I was never able to understand the reality of having to escape from oneÕs own country. Nevertheless, on the surface, they look like a happy family. Even their daughters remain at home even after marriage. It was then that that I truly understood the Chinese proverbs of ÔChiu Long Yap SehÕ. For example, HuiÕs aunt lived at her family home after she married her husband. His cousin sister lived under the same roof as him, and I vividly remember they would often go to school together. (And then jokingly he said) Their family ÔmanufacturedÕ fat people. His cousin was also rather chubby. St. Luke Primary School I attended St. Luke Primary School. The reason was simple. My eldest sister and her husband were teachers at St.Luke. She taught at higher level, i.e. Form (Secondary) five and Form six. At that time, I was still attending kindergarten. I was sent to St.Luke prematurely, skipping the higher level of kindergarten. As a result, I failed. That, I was not surprise as I was forced to catch up one whole year of work. It did not change anything I suppose. I repeated Primary One; I was merely substituting the higher level of kindergarten as a Primary One student. Later I progressed academically until Primary Six. During this time, there was nothing much worth remembering. But what I did remember was the numerous private tuitions with my fifth sister. That was when I encountered ÔBig AlphabetsÕ (Se Tai Chi), I really hated it. Not to mention I was loaded with schoolwork, on top of that I was made to practice calligraphy at night. I was criticized for writing poor English alphabet, and I was made to write calligraphy. It was a rather difficult task. Calligraphy involves the use of brush (Kong Pat) and ink, unlike now in which ballpoint pen is used. If you visit a stationary shop, you will see what Kong Pat looks like. It is roughly 9 inch long, and you need to attach its tip, the finess of the tip depends on the preference of the writer. You need to dip the tip in a bottle of ink and apply it on paper. You need to make sure that you refill its ink before the ink dried up on paper. Its purpose is to nurture oneÕs patience and the accuracy of the stroke in writing alphabets. However it didnÕt really help, as my writing remains poor. That was what I remembered throughout my primary education, except to add that my sister was very strict to me. My Sister Ophelia Cheung Is Very Demanding I remembered an argument, which involved my grisly bear brother. I believed I have worked hard in my studies. But my sister (Ophelia Cheung) was never satisfied. Maybe she was influenced by our family, i.e. one should be independent and not be a failure, or maybe itÕs an unwritten code of our family. My sister pushed me to study hard; in fact this is the way she showed her affection. I began to feel pressure mounting. Then one day, my teacher punished me and I was detained at school for very minor offence. My sister scolded me and it seemed that her anger escalated. Then she grabbed a hanger, (one that was made of wood; manufactured by my father, with my fatherÕs company logo imprinted on it), and hit me with it until the hanger was broken. My grisly bear brother could not stand this and confronted my sister. ÒDo you know this hurtsÓ. My sister retaliated, ÒItÕs none of your business, I am only teaching my little brotherÓ. ÒWhy donÕt you try it on yourselfÓ My sister was still not satisfied even after hitting me with the hanger. She whipped me with my brotherÕs belt. My brother was furious, ÒSo you donÕt know what it means to hurt, let me give you a taste of your own poisonÓ. And so my brother whipped my sister and they both ended up in a heated argument. My sister was a real fighter; she was as aggressive as the boys. She broke my brotherÕs head with a coca-cola bottle. Well, this is one of my familyÕs little affairs, if you like. Interesting Memories of Primary School Days At school, there were several gangs; one gang excel in academic, another in sport and yet another in courting girls. I belonged to the academic gang. Talking about sports; I was very short, I am not really tall even now, as you know, but at least one would say my height is average. But back then I was really short. I donÕt know if you are familiar with Wut Sui? Wut Sui was situated at the north of Kin Lei Tei To. It was a park. Back then, schools were lacking in terms of sporting facilities; with the exception of the few privilege schools. There was no sports hall at St. Luke. Each time there was a P.E. lesson; it was rather silly really. By the time you reach the sports hall, 15 minutes were gone, and by the time you returned to class, another 15 minutes, which means there were only 15 minutes left for P.E. I was never really into sports, but I love sports wear, because they are comfortable. Lots of people donÕt understand why one would prefer to go to school in short pants. My family called me Dirty Pong. Do you know why? I wore a long pair of white socks, a pair of white short pants and white shirt with a little school logo. Maybe the school wooden benches were dirty, and I used to get stains all over my clothes. I hated the socks; maybe it was not of good quality. Maybe with new socks, itÕs a bit tight. But having worn it several time, it became lose. I was always looking for rubber bands to tie round it, the rough one you used for pants. Luk Che bought them for me and sewed them on for me. It was so tight that it left an itchy feeling on my skin. Nevertheless I was never really the complaining type of kids. I did rather well academically. I remembered for two years, I achieved 2-3rd place in the entire level in Chinese. However my sister gave me a feeling of being very demanding and overly anxious. As a result, I began to resent this. Later on I moved to a new school called Rosary Hill, a new environment. By then Luk Che no longer see me off to school nor pick me up from school. |
| Leslie's Autobiography Chapter 2 Translated by Puppet |