I borrowed the 'A Chinese Ghost Story' box set which includes all 3 parts of the movie and a beautifully binded booklet with pictures on and off set and some descriptions which I have yet to read.

Anyway, what I wanted to talk about is Leslie Cheung, the star of many of the classic HK movies including A Chinese Ghost Story.

When Leslie Cheung committed suicide on 1st April 2003, I was very much affected. Sure, he wasn;t the best of actors (he tended to overact sometimes), but he was one of my favourite HK actors and his movies were a staple part of my life since I started watching HK cinema in the late 80s, early 90s. I loved his sissy, spiteful character in Alls Well Ends Well with Stephen Chow and Sandra Ng, I loved his confused song-writer role in He's a Woman, She's a Man, I was in awe with his rendition of the tragic character in Farewell My Concubine, and his last movie, Inner Senses, was one of the best HK movies to emerge of that year.

I was still in NUS the time he committed suicide, still a psychology major struggling to pass her exams each term. It was a hugh shock to learn that the actor I knew so well had passed away, gone from this world forever.

Rumors ran wild. Was he stricken with AIDS? Was he possessed? Was he depressed cos he was growing old?

Whatever the reason, one thing's for sure, that he was clinically depressed. With my own experience with depression, I began to take an interest in depression cases from then on.

Wonder why this wasn't detected earlier? Why didn't anyone intervene early on?

And then when Anita Mui pass on shortly after that, it was like an end of an era for me. It was at that moment when late 80s, early 90s movies and cantopop died, literally. Anita Mui died of cancer, but I'm sure the passing of her good friend Leslie Cheung had an enormous impact on her prognosis.

Hours after watching this movie I happened to switch to HK's mandarin TVB8 channel and saw a special program dedicated to the Korean entertainment scene. In one of the first stories, they talked about the recent spate of suicides among female entertainers. In a short span of a year, 3 female entertainers had committed suicide. This was such a worrying trend that the South Korean governement had recently announced plans to educate students on suicide, and even entertainment companies (unlike this part of Asia where artistes are signed on by individual TV stations or movie companies, it appears that in Korea artistes are managed by independent entertainment companies) also have plans to provide regular counselling sessions for their artistes. The programme made the following comparisons of the similarities of the 3 singers and actresses:

1) All came into the entertainment scene at an early age

2) All had chosen to commit suicide just before their new works were slated to be released after a period of rest

3) All had come from troubled family backgrounds

The exposure to the media where everything from yourselves to the people around you are magnified is definitely a stressor for many celebrities, particularly those who had been exposed early on. How many times have we heard of former child stars getting into trouble with the law for stupid mistakes they make? The psychologist interviewed in the program also suggested that the pressure of releasing a new work may be too hard for some especially after a long rest / preparation, especially for those with the strong need for perfection. And no, it's definitely not to create publicity for their works cos if that was their main concern, they would want to live to see the results of the publicity.

Not sure what I am driving but I guess watching A Chinese Ghost Story just evoked these thoughts again. Hence, I urge everyone once again to be mindful to the people around you. If they show signs of depression, find a counsellor to help who may eventually make a referral to a psychiatrist or a psychologist if it is deemed as of concern. In fact, what I learnt from my job is that the moment you find that a person is depressed, always be on a watch-out for signs of impending suicide, and it will be best to find a professional to help check this because you wouldn't want to add thoughts to their minds.

See this site for some information and guidelines: http://www.suicide.org/