The ‘Avenue of Stars’, Located on the Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade at Kowloon, was created to highlight Hong Kong’s rich cinematic tradition.

In this city, often touted as the ‘Hollywood of the Orient,’ the idea of building something on the lines of the Hollywood’s popular ‘Walk of Fame’ seemed an apt one. The Avenue is meant to be a tribute to the outstanding professionals of Hong Kong’s film industry.

The Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade commands a stunning panoramic view across Victoria Harbour. With the cruise-ships anchored for a rest and the ferries gliding softly by, it is a delightful sight.

Cinema paradiso

Visitors entering the avenue from the Salisbury Garden end are greeted by a 4.5-metre-tall replica of the statuette given to winners at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Nine red pillars, with printed inscriptions, standing along the 440 meter promenade narrate the history of Hong Kong’s hundred-year-old cinema.

Set into the promenade are plaques honouring the celebrities. Some plaques contain hand prints and autographs of the stars set in cement, but most of the plaques only contain celebrities’ names.

A video about the local movie industry, sculptures of particularly notable stars, souvenir kiosks, and interesting titbits about Hong Kong’s more than 100-year film history are also a part of the Avenue.

Initially, 100 actors — both living and dead — were honoured along the ‘Avenue of Stars’. One of the recent additions to the avenue is a two-metre-high bronze statue of the world’s most famous martial arts actor, Bruce Lee.

Dedicated in 2005, the statue marked the 65th anniversary of Lee’s birth. Tsui Hark, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, have all left the imprint of their hands, cemented into commemorative plaques, to the delight of the movie buffs.

At night, lit up by the myriad lights twinkling all around, the ‘Avenue of Stars’ takes on the character of a fairyland.

Every night, at 8 pm, the avenue turns into a veritable feast of senses during ‘The Symphony of Lights’, which has been recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest permanent light and sound show.

The nightly harbour-side spectacle set against Hong Kong’s skyline, on both sides of the Victoria Harbour, comes alive with 33 buildings decked out in dancing neon lights, searchlights and laser beams coordinated to music and narration, for about 15 minutes.

Time for Tai Chi

Captivating by day and mesmerising by the night, the avenue is popular for all the above but its popularity has a lot to do with the Tai Chi classes conducted in the mornings by one of Hong Kong’s famous Tai Chi masters, William Ng.

Often described as ‘Shadow Boxing’, Tai Chi has become synonymous with health and wellbeing. It was with great excitement that I approached the Avenue of Symphony on my second morning at Hong Kong.

I had been told that the Hong Kong Tourism Board runs the Tai Chi class, free of cost, for the tourists.

The fact that the Tai Chi master, William Ng had also performed before Tony Blair, the then British Prime Minister, during his visit to Hong Kong, fuelled my curiosity further. Clad in loose-fitting clothes and a pair of sleek sneakers I rushed to the avenue skimming through the shallow puddles of the late night downpour.

Failing to find anyone practicing the martial art, I rushed around the promenade till a person informed me that the classes were being held on the other side, due to the inclement weather conditions.

Undeterred, I rushed till I located the master and his pupils — a group of eager Americans and Europeans. Armed with cameras, videos and our best manners, we waited for the master to begin. Oriental music played in the background, creating the right ambience for a practice of the traditional Chinese art form.

“The graceful movements help to balance the yin and the yang, doing as much for the mind and soul as for the body,” we were told.

“You are about to learn the fluid motions of a traditional Chinese practice which remains one of the favourite means of keeping fit in Hong Kong, especially among the older generation.” The master elaborated, “The Tai Chi diagram is a circle.

The movements must be continuous and smooth. They are apparently bent, but actually not, or they are apparently closed, but actually not. The continuity of circles and arcs is the image of boundless.”

Clad in white, silken pyjamas, the master and his assistant, Pandora Wu, took the pupils through the basic moves.

Tai Chi is like a slow motion aerobics class, its graceful movements are performed slowly and deliberately to achieve a sense of liquidity akin to meditation.

“These seemingly simple movements help develop balance, improve muscle tone and breathing and can help in digestion as well,” I had read somewhere. “Tai Chi is known as an internal art because of its emphasis on internal chi power, rather than on external physical power,” the text had said.

Strange names

Concentrating on the demonstration being given by Pandora, I smiled at the names of the movements. ‘Grasping the bird’s tail’, ‘single whip’, ‘white crane flaps its wings’, ‘needle at sea bottom,’ the names suggested the movements.

Like clumsy beginners, the group floundered with the actions, trying to follow the leaders. The pupils were eager but the time too short.

As I struggled to keep the rhythm, I realised this was an art form that had developed in the 12th century and still held its sway. Its efficacy had been tried, tested and proven for so many centuries.

Ted Latimer, an enthusiastic Australian, smiled encouragingly as I nearly collided into him while moving backwards. We were a bunch of novices struggling to imitate the master, all eager and crazy enough to believe we could learn the complex art form in just a couple of mornings.

At the end of the hour, the master and his assistant demonstrated a few movements of the martial art as used in defensive mien and then Pandora Wu and a few old students performed a scintillating performance with their daintily painted hand fans.

We watched, with rapt attention, as the fans closed and opened with the rhythm of the music, in a total synchronised manner. The practitioners with in total control.

Before we realised the hour was over and with it our class. Disappointed at having picked up nothing more than the ‘Ready Form’, I thanked the master, who was smiling indulgently at his pupils. “You can buy a CD for practice,” he advised.

“Like any practice Tai Chi requires regular and consistent practice.” Those were the words of wisdom imparted by the master to an audience likely to forget everything in the hurry and worry of life by the time they landed in their country of origin.

Whether I had learnt Tai Chi or not didn’t matter. What mattered was the memorable experience of a morning spent on ‘Avenue of Stars’, trying to pick up bits of wisdom rendered by a master of Tai Chi. My mind recalled a few lines -

‘Stiff and unbending is the principle of death.
Gentle and yielding is the principle of life.
Thus an Army without flexibility never wins a battle.
A tree that is unbending is easily broken.
The hard and strong will fall.
The soft and weak will overcome.’
-Tao Te Ching

If you are in Hong Kong and want to experience the beauty of Tai Chi class on the ‘Avenue of Stars’, contact the Hong Kong Tourism Board. They have visitor’s information and services centres all around the town. Alternatively, visit their website – www.DiscoverHongKong.com