People

Anthony Wong Chau Sang:

When career meets interest

By Annie Chan

He was a good surgeon. He was a notorious cold-blooded killer. He was a gangster. All these sum up one person: Anthony Wong Chau Sang.

He has won lots of honors in Hong Kong , including Best Supporting Actor and Best Actor of the Hong Kong Film Awards. However, he treats movies as a way to earn a living rather than his interest.

“Filming is not my love. Most of the Hong Kong movies are not serious in production, and are of low quality. They are deeply influenced by Hollywood movies. People look for neurotic excitement from them. They like to watch gunfights and anything with great effects,” Mr. Wong said.

The situation is like a cook trying to add seasoning to rotted meat so as to make it tasteful, but in fact the meat is stale, he says. Therefore, filming is just a job to him, where he could make a living to support his family. The thing he most enjoys doing is legitimate drama.

“I could learn a lot from drama, it enriches my life. Legitimate drama requires skillful acting, that makes it quite tiring but I enjoy the process. Most importantly dramas usually articulate thoughts. They carry meanings and messages, while most of the Hong Kong movies are just for fun,” he criticized.

Some may think that movies should be only entertaining, but Anthony Wong adheres to his belief that even the entertainment business can still carry messages.

Although it is difficult for most people to strike a balance between their career and their interest, he has done it well.

“The only thing is to try your best and work hard on your part. I treat filming as a practice, or sometimes I would laugh at silly things to entertain myself. Whenever I have spare time, I would go back to drama performance, that is my way to maintain a balance.”

An actor should love acting on stage rather than in movies, just like a lawyer would love to be in contestation rather than writing contracts. They belong to these places, he maintains. But very few Hong Kong people appreciate arts. Artists in Hong Kong have little respect from the public. We have many good artists like Cheung Dat Ming and Chim Sui Man, but the government seldom gives them support. People are rarely aware of them.

Anthony Wong feels upset that the culture of Hong Kong is very monotonous.

“It is boring. Hong Kong people do not even know how to respect our history and culture. I mean these are simple and basic things that we ought to do! So how could they appreciate artists and arts?” he questioned.

To learn to appreciate something must have a basis. They have to be knowledgeable so that they can compare and distinguish what is good and what is bad.

“We are not used to learning. Some of us do not pay attention to the quality of life. They can live in houses that are painted like a kindergarten. People should learn more, so to have more choices.

“It is absolutely fine to love Twins if you have already encountered other types of music like jazz, blues and classics. But the point is you must look for other choices before you make a decision.

“Never be too sure about anything. There is always something else, try more. It is impossible to eat the same bowl of rice for the rest of your life,” he said.

It is a common saying that the Hong Kong market is slim and so cannot contain a diversified culture. When it comes to the deteriorating quality of Hong Kong movies, we put the blame on BT download. But to Wong, it is all about quality.

“Look at all these sky-pointing buildings, over 6,000,000 people live in this tiny little island. Then why couldn't we accommodate different cultures?

“But dreams are not enough. You have to strike a balance between career and interest. Try to present your work in a simple but inspiring way. Your success will be recognized by others one day. Like myself, I am in the 10 greatest Rock n' roll singers of China . It is just that Hong Kong people calculate success in money terms. If you are a millionaire, then you are very successful. We are too money-minded,” he sighed.

Teenagers in Hong Kong are deeply affected by these values. Some students even drop out of school in order to earn more money.

“These people have lost their direction. If you want money so eagerly you can speculate in shares without ‘wasting' time in education,” he condemned.

Mr. Wong pointed out that our education also affects the formation of monotonous culture.

“Parents teach their children not to argue with teachers, they say it is impolite. The system emphasizes memorization instead of creativity. Students will be isolated if they are different from others. It discourages students from learning new things. They feel to follow is the best way to be accepted.

“It is obvious when it comes to the use of language. Words are one of the ways for you to express your ideas, but students in Hong Kong are weak in languages. They know very few words and that makes it difficult to communicate with others.

“As a result, they refuse to think and lose interest in learning. It makes them naive,” he concluded.

He sincerely hopes that students would be more curious and challengeable. It is the base of thinking.

“When you are curious, you automatically look for knowledge, then it can widen your horizon. After you receive information, you should process it with a suspicious heart. You begin to wonder and ask questions. To think is a way to change the Hong Kong cultural environment,” he explained.

Many universities students feel lost once they are promoted, as there are too many different thoughts flying into their minds.

“This is also a problem because students were not trained to think when they were in lower forms. Either they reject these new thoughts, or they are confused by them. My only advice is to digest them one at a time,” he kindly suggested.

While he was a wild child who learned by himself, he has developed a distinctive way to teach his son.

“I would give him total freedom. Labeling is not my concern. For example, those labels of good students like being truthful, polite etc., I never teach him in this way. Of course he should know what is politeness but why should we be polite?

“For the problem of foul language, once he comes across his first foul language I would start to teach him. I feel it is ridiculous for parents to hope that their children do not use foul language. Could you believe a 30-year-old man who doesn't know any foul language and is still being polite when people say it to him? It only makes him look like an idiot,” he said.

He would let his son study overseas as he is disappointed with the Hong Kong education system. He feels his son would have a different experience and widen his horizon by studying abroad.

Though he always has wonderful and new perspectives on normal things, he is quite a traditional man. He especially loves Chinese traditional culture.

“I have been drinking Chinese tea since I was small. It is a must for we Chinese to understand our traditional culture. You must encounter these traditions in person, it is hard to learn them from school.

“Culture is an arbitrary concept, but it is vital to our living,” he said.

He also believes that having children is a natural process in life.

“Life would not be complete without children. It is as natural as death. Those people who are afraid of giving birth, saying that they could not take up such an enormous responsibility or are incapable economically are selfish. They are just afraid and try to avoid it.”

Being a father also helps him in acting.

“I have a stronger feeling when acting with children, and of course I understand better the philosophy of a father.”

Experiences are important to a person, he says. There are always things you would never realize unless you encounter them. As a father and having a family to support, he does not have any further dreams for his career.

“I just want my family to live better, while for myself, I could perform drama once in a while. Then when I am older I want to teach,” he said.

He thought for a while, then continued: “It is necessary for youngsters to dream, no matter how big and impossible the dream is. But if you continue to dream when you grow older and older, then you are irresponsible.

“Can you imagine a person crossing the Sahara Desert with his family running after him? When I graduated from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, I told myself that I would come to terms with reality in order to earn money to support my own interest. I would never be one of those ‘artists' who only knows how to blame the society but at the same time refuses to work,” he said seriously.

Anthony Wong has his unique way of life, but his motto is simple.

“One cannot control most of the things in life, so we can only try our best in our controlled parts. But we ought to walk the first step and think,” he emphasized.