TSANG TSOU CHOI (KING OF KOWLOON) 曾灶財 | KOWLOON BAY, HONG KONG 香港九龍灣

Tsang Tsou Choi's calligraphy often draws reference from the traditional format of Chinese family records. It also follows the tradition of writing in vertical columns, with each line from top to bottom, and the lines written from left to right. At the top left corner, three generations of "Kings" appear in the list, a practice taken from traditional Chinese family records and often seen in Tsang's calligraphy. They were also listed at the very beginning of the whole passage.

The skateboard design originates from photographic work Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong by Lau Kin-wai. The photograph and Tsang's calligraphy, under the Lion Rock, form an image filled with dramatic tension, also a visual symbol of the emotional resonance for us born and raised in this city.

Tsang Tsou Choi was born in 1921 in Liansu Village in Zhaoqing, Guangdong. At age seventeen, he moved to Hong Kong where he worked as a construction worker and a waste collector. On one visit to an ancestral village in Yuen Long, Hong Kong, he allegedly found in his family record that his ancestor was granted the possession of Kowloon. Thus he came to believe that most of the peninsula belonged to his family, and beginning 1956, Tsang started calling himself the "King of Kowloon." He painted calligraphy in the streets of Hong Kong as a way to declare his form of sovereignty over the territory.

Although Tsang never received formal training in art, he was able to create an original calligraphic approach using the public space as his canvas. Guided by his own creativity and a free spirit unhindered by convention, he painted his family legacy in all corners of the city. He was staking the territory of his kingdom, anointing himself the crown king of this fantastical domain. Tsang Tsou Choi's street calligraphy found its inspirations from the city of Hong Kong and its local culture. His work, as well as images of him painting on the streets, have also become a fixture of the collective memory in Hong Kong over the years.

Image reproduction courtesy of Mr. Lau Kin Wai

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曾灶財的書法佈局多引用中國傳統家譜的格式，亦因循中國傳統書寫的習慣，多為豎排， 從上到下，左至右閱讀。作品左上角所見的一二三世祖，即取自傳統家譜的說法，常見於九龍皇帝墨寶之中，且排在全篇文字縱列的最前。

滑板設計源自劉健威先生所攝的《香港九龍灣》一照，獅子山下的九龍皇帝墨寶，兩者一同構成富有張力的畫面，亦是「我哋大家」生於斯長於斯，有所共鳴的視覺符號。

曾灶財於1921 年生於中國廣東肇慶蓮塘村，17歲來港後曾做過建築工人和垃圾站工人。據說他在某次回到元朗祖村，翻看祖先遺物期間，因看到族牒中的九龍封邑而開始相信九龍的大部分土地，原是屬於其家族的，於是大約在1956年，曾灶財開始在香港街頭各處留字，並以九龍皇帝自稱，以宣示對領土的「主權」。

「九龍皇帝」從未接受正規藝術訓練，卻憑著其獨特的創造力及自由意志，以公共空間為畫布，透過用書法在城市角落塗寫他的家譜，以「國王」的身分及其自創的方式，重新「佔領」他的想像帝國裡的領土。曾灶財的街頭書法作品均取材自我們的城市和本土文化，其墨寶和他在街頭揮毫的畫面，亦成為了香港人的集體回憶之一。

此作品蒙 劉健威先生俞允授權。