2022

For two pianos

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Ghasts of the Lake portrays three spirits in different parts of Chung Chi College, the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Two Pigtails depicts a ghost girl on Pond Crescent. She arrived in Hong Kong as a refugee, having snuck onto a train and escaped the Cultural Revolution in China. As she jumped off the train by the university, her pigtail was caught and her face was ripped off. Now she haunts the dimly lit path as a ghost with a pigtail at the back, a pigtail in front, and no face.

Do you have the time? depicts a water ghost in Lake Ad Excellentiam, at the heart of the college. She once agreed with her lover to meet on the bridge at midnight and elope, but the clock struck twelve, and he did not appear. She leapt to her death, and now, she appears at night to ask young men on the bridge for the time—and drags them into the water if they respond twelve.

Disappearing Statue depicts the Goddess of Democracy statue in the college. She was first sculpted to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen massacre and subsequently relocated here in 2010, becoming a core landmark of the university as well as a symbol of liberty. At Christmas 2021, she was taken down under pressure from the Hong Kong authorities. While her form is no more, her spirit remains with the people of the university.

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