黃霑 | nl

Wong Jim, James Wong Jim M.Phil., D.S.Sc. (Traditional Chinese: 黃霑; Cantonese Yale: Wong Jim) (February 21, 1940 – November 24, 2004) , whose real name was Wong Jum-sum (Traditional Chinese: 黃湛森; Cantonese Yale: Wong4 Jaam3 Sam1), an alumnus of La Salle College, was best known as a master of Cantopop lyrics in Hong Kong, but was also well known as a talented columnist, composer, actor, movie director, scriptwriter, talk show hosts and various other creative positions in the field of entertainment and mass media in Hong Kong.

Wong died of lung cancer after a four-year battle at the age of 64 in November 24 of 2004 at 00:46.


Education
Wong was born in Panyu, in what now is part of Guangzhou, China and migrated to Hong Kong with his family in 1949. He completed his secondary education at La Salle College. In 1963, he graduated from Chinese Department, Faculty of Arts of the University of Hong Kong. Wong obtained the degree of Master of Philosophy from the University of Hong Kong in 1983 for his study in Cantonese opera. In May 2003, in the midst of his fight with lung cancer, he completed his doctorate study at the Department of Social Science, University of Hong Kong. The title of his thesis was "Hong Kong Popular Music (1949-1997)".


Career and contributions

Exhibition of Dr James Wong's works during Hong Kong University CAS Openday in October, 2005
Music Blanket is one of James Wong's favourite personal collectionWong had participated in a variety of media fields including advertisement, movie and music. He was best known for his achievements as a lyricist of Cantonese songs in Hong Kong. Beginning from the 1960s, he was the lyricist for over 2000 songs, collaborating with composer Joseph Koo (aka. Gu Gaa-fai) on many popular TVB TV drama theme songs, many of which have become classics of the genre. His works had pushed the development of Cantopop to unprecedented popularity. Joseph Koo, might be one of his closest friends, but James Wong acknowledges that Koo is the exact opposite of him, saying that he (Wong) is handsome (in nature), while Koo has a terrible reputation, he curses or uses vulgar while Koo doesn't know how to curse!

At the same time of being well known and praised for his creative works in the entertainment and advertisement fields, Wong was also famous for his vulgar and indelicate image. His vulgar includes jokes that lightly touch on adult topics. In one of his last concerts, he sung ones of his songs intended for advertisements. This one, "Leung Go Gau Sai So" has one particular line where he emphasises the word for mother, lo-mo. On that night he also said he loves si-lai (married women, he said, his mother was a si-lai and he loves si-lai so badly, his si-lai at home said he could only one si-lai. His charismatic nature blends perfectly with his jokes that makes everyone laugh until they fall off their chairs. He had a series of best-seller books on adult-oriented jokes. He was regarded as the one breaking the cultural barrier to taboos in Hong Kong during the conservative environment in 1970s. He is best remembered as the person who came up with the slogan "Two kids are good enough" for The Family Planning Association of Hong Kong.

Wong hosted several TV programs, mostly interviews or talk shows oriented towards adults, on both TVB and ATV. One of the talk shows called "Off-guard Tonight" (今夜不設防), co-hosted by Wong and his close friends Chua Lam and Ni Kuang on ATV, is particularly remembered.

Since 1990s Wong's creative works had become less popular, and many entertainment company had introduced less Wong's songs. Some TV shows hosted by Wong were also unpopular. Wong had decided to turn back to Hong Kong University to take the Doctor degree, about the popular culture of Hong Kong. His essay is now in the library of Hong Kong University.

On November 24 of 2004 at 00:46, he passed away in Union Hospital in Hong Kong Shatin. At this moment, Hong Kong people reflected back and agreed to his career and accomplishment. For the following few days the news of his death had become the headline of medias in Hong Kong and his compositions were played throughout the week. A remembrance ceremony took place at Hong Kong Stadium, over 15,000 attended this ceremony.
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