Chinese Literature - Li-hua Ying 2010
LIANG BINGJUN, A.K.A. LIANG BINGGUAN, LEUNG PINGKWAN, P. K. LEUNG, AND YESI (1947— )
The Dictionary
LIANG BINGJUN, A.K.A. LIANG BINGGUAN, LEUNG PINGKWAN, P. K. LEUNG, AND YESI (1947— ). Poet and fiction and prose writer. A Hong Kong native, Liang Bingjun received his Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University of California at San Diego in 1984. He began writing while still a middle school student and was a cofounder of several literary journals, including Da muzhi (The Thumb). Since receiving his Ph.D., Liang has held teaching and research positions at universities in Canada, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, the United States, and China. Currently, he teaches literature at Lingnan University in his native city. A well-known figure in the cultural circles of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the mainland, Liang is a prolific writer engaged in both creative and critical writings. He has published numerous books of poetry, prose, and fiction, including Lei sheng yu chan ming (Thunder and Songs of Cicadas), Youli de shi (Poetry of Dissociation), Dong xi (East West), Dao he dalu (The Island and the Mainland), Jiyi de chengshi xugou de chengshi (A City Remembered and a City Imagined), and Bulage de mingxinpian (Postcards from Prague).
Liang is a powerful intellectual voice representing the spirit of Hong Kong. Familiar with the city’s history and life, Liang understands the marginalized position assigned to Hong Kong by both the British colonizers and the Chinese mainlanders. He attempts to grapple with the definition of “home” and “country” in his poems, essays, and fiction. Written with characteristically modernist techniques and published under the pen name of Yesi, his fictional works capture the essence of colonial Hong Kong in a highly imaginative way. Liang is among the first generation of home-grown writers to explore the issue of identity in the cultural and linguistic hodgepodge. He continues to examine the sense of loss and complexity of identity politics in posthandover, postcolonial Hong Kong. For his sustained effort at exploring the meaning and the perplexity of life in the multicultural and multilingual city, Liang is regarded as one of the best interpreters of the so-called Hong Kong consciousness, which is molded by the paradigms of colonialism and the myth of nationalism imposed upon its residents during its colonial history.