Tsang Tsou Choi

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One of Tsang's public art in Tsim Sha Tsui's Star Ferry Pier that has yet to be removed.

Tsang Tsou Choi (Chinese: 曾灶財), or the "Kowloon Emperor" (九龍皇帝; born circa 1920 in Liantang Village, Guangdong Province, China) is well-known in Hong Kong for his calligraphy graffiti. He traveled to Hong Kong when he was sixteen. Tsang is a poor worker who belongs to the lowest class in Hong Kong's social hierarchy and is barely literate.

He began to mark the streets of Hong Kong with his distinctive graffiti at age 35. Tsang claims that he studied his ancestral tree and discovered that most of the land of Kowloon belonged to his ancestors. He says that Kowloon belonged to his grandfather, in particular. There are no records which back up Tsang’s claim.^[1]

Tsang has been arrested for his graffiti a few times, but the law is the least of his hardships. Considering that he has been blatantly identifying himself in his graffiti for decades and does not write stealthily, the fact that he can count his arrests on one hand means that officials have largely turned a blind eye. The things he has suffered for this strange belief are more personal; his family disowned him, saying he is unbalanced and a public nuisance^[2] and his wife grew tired of his obsession and left him.^[3]

His obstinacy may have created a rift in his personal life, but it made him a cultural legend in Hong Kong and throughout the world. Although his graffiti was persistently covered by paint, he often returned to re-vandalize sites as soon as the paint dried. At the height of his ‘career,’ his obsessive marking of territory made his graffiti an ever present aspect of the streets of Hong Kong.

The graffiti has been spotted just about everywhere imaginable on the streets of Hong Kong, ranging from lampposts, utilities boxes, pillars, pavements, street furniture, and building walls, to an occasional car. The contents of his calligraphic graffiti usually include his name, his title (Emperor or King of Kowloon, Hong Kong, or China), his family tree – a variable list of about twenty individuals, the names of illustrious emperors, and the exclamation, “Down with the Queen of England!”^[4] His complaints about the supposed misappropriation of his land are not always so formulaic, however. He will occasionally throw in something such as a demand that the government pay him land taxes.

He paints with a loose brush and primarily uses permanent black ink. He writes in a grid that can range from three columns to any number allowed by the surface he is working with. Tsang seems untroubled by drips and irregularities, and legibility often suffers as he creatively interprets the Chinese characters and experiments with spacing. His style is very distinctive, and the staying power of the paint well known. Tsang’s iconic status is evidenced by his appearance in a commercial for Swipe cleaner, in which he cleaned away his permanent ink graffiti, proclaiming the product's effectiveness to Hong Kong consumers.

As can be expected, Tsang does not make a blip on the political radar, despite his fame. A Hong Kong magazine recently named Tsang as one of the city's ten least influential people. However, his lack of influence does not extend to the art world. Tsang’s typography has inspired many fashion designers, art directors, interior decorators, and CD cover artists.^[5] His style has also informed the work of traditional artists, such as Oscar Ho.^[6]

Tsang’s health has recently declined; his legs, in particular, are problematic. He now lives in a retirement home, and no longer writes on walls. However, his poor health has not entirely halted his calligraphic efforts; he continues his work on paper, household linens, and other mundane items. He is just as adamant about his claims today, and will tell visitors that he should have been elected chief executive of Hong Kong, instead of Donald Tsang, that ‘impostor.’^[7]

Lately, Tsang Tsou Choi has received international recognition for his work. Photographs of his work have toured in shows, such as "Power of the Word," which began its US tour at Grinnell College's Faulconer Gallery on Oct 6, 2000.^[8] In 2003 he was included in the Venice Biennale. His first major commercial recognition came when Sotheby’s auctioned a board, painted by Tsang, for HK$55,000 (USD $7,050) on October 31, 2004.^[9] His graffiti is now on the official list of “Hong Kong identity symbols to be protected.” Regardless, Tsang’s ‘art works’ on the streets are becoming rare.