Tsang Tsou-choi, better known to Hongkongers as the 'King of Kowloon', who passed away at the age of 85, was famed for his distinctive graffiti that marked the streets of Hong Kong. In an attempt to protest against the British and Hong Kong governments, which he believed had robbed him of his ancestor's land in Kowloon, the self-proclaimed royalty began covering different facades around the city in 1956 with his unique Chinese calligraphy. From street walls and pavements to lamp posts and electrical boxes, Tsang's obsessive markings eventually became a part of the city's streetscape.
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Although much of Tsang's graffiti has now been "cleaned up" on the streets, local creative group When in Doubt made a discovery of Tsang's work in Mong Kok on March 31. Whilst passing under a bridge along Boundary Street, members of the group noticed that parts of Tsang's graffiti had resurfaced after the paint had peeled off the walls. The group then later compared photos of the site on Google Arts & Culture and was able to find an image of the graffiti in its original form, completed around 1996 to 1997.
In response to the discovery, the Leisure and Cultural Services Department said that staff members will be sent to the site for assessment and will be in contact with relevant departments for further actions. Meanwhile, netizens expressed their concerns that the authorities are likely to paint over the graffiti due to similar cases in the past and hope that the government will acknowledge the significance of the artwork.
Tsang's works were recently included in M+ Museum's Hong Kong: Here and Beyond exhibition, which captures the city’s transformation from the post-war decades to the present day. In 2009, one of his signature calligraphy acrylics on canvas sold for the record price of $500,000 at Sotheby's contemporary Asian art sale. If you would like to see more works by Tsang, check out Google Arts & Culture's online exhibition King of Kowloon: The Life and Art of Tsang Tsou-choi, which documents the Kowloon King's legacy throughout his lifetime in Hong Kong.
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