'Singing with Leslie Cheung across 20 years': Douyin singer finds fame impersonating late Hong Kong superstar

The late Hong Kong superstar Leslie Cheung has been resurrected on social media.

Twenty years after the singer-actor died at the age of 46, he has 'reappeared' on Douyin in peak form, thanks to Chinese impersonator Yu Junhan, who has attracted 636,000 followers on the platform.

As his profile says: "I like Leslie, I am Junhan, and I enjoy Hong Kong music." He has a total of 39 videos to date, mostly of him having special makeup done to look like Leslie or singing his songs.

In one of his most popular videos with more than 30,000 views, Junhan sings Glass Love and the video is interspersed with old footage of Leslie singing the same song.

Besides his face looking very much like Leslie, Junhan also mirrors his mannerisms and fashion style to be like the latter. In the video, he looks downwards in a melancholic way, and also stares ahead to the distance with his eyes glimmering with tears.

This bears close resemblance to Leslie's original black-and-white music video for Glass Love, where he sits in the backseat of a car looking depressed.

In his caption, Junhan wrote: "Singing with Leslie Cheung across 20 years, using special makeup and visual effects to pay my respects to him."

In another video with 120,000 views, Junhan is shown having makeup applied under his eyes, his nose and chin to make him look like Leslie.

The clip cuts to footage of passersby gasping at his resemblance to Leslie, taking multiple glances and snapping photos of him while he is seated outside a cafe. He wears a black vest over a white shirt, one of Leslie's most memorable outfits.

The background music is Leslie's song Silence is Gold, and the caption reads: "No matter how hard I try, I can never compare with Leslie. A toast to his uniqueness and a consolation for 20 years of longing."

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Furrowing his brows, shaking his head and looking intently at the camera while appearing deep in thought, his actions and expressions are not unlike Leslie's own in his original music video for Silence is Gold, which he appeared in with veteran singer Sam Hui.

While most are in awe, some netizens remain dissatisfied, suggesting alternatives.

"I still think Guo Chaoyang looks more like Leslie," one said, referring to another Douyin influencer who posts photos of himself dressed up like the latter.

Leslie committed suicide by jumping off Hong Kong's Mandarin Oriental Hotel in 2003. Fans commemorated his 20th death anniversary in April by laying bouquets at the spot where he died.

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jolynn.chia@asiaone.com

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