Hong Kong mourns graffiti king and his vanishing art

By James Pomfret

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A poor and crippled Hong Kong man who became a cultural icon for his unique Chinese-style street graffiti has died at the age of 86, sparking nostalgic calls to preserve his vanishing legacy.

Tsang Tsou-choi, dubbed "The King of Kowloon" after the district he lived in -- was a Hong Kong original, who never saw himself as an artist but was hailed internationally as one.

A grubby man who looked like a tramp and who many thought barking mad, Tsang spent five decades roaming the metropolis -- often shirtless and on crutches -- scrawling his idiosyncratic calligraphy on lamp-posts, walls, phone boxes, pedestrian underpasses and electrical boxes.

"To some extent he's quite cuckoo," said leading Hong Kong fashion designer William Tang, a longtime admirer of Tsang who used the graffiti as a motif for several clothing ranges.

"I started to look at the calligraphy carefully and found it's not just a joke. It has some kind of power, which is very raw, very original," Tang added.

HONG KONG ORIGINAL

Some say Tsang's Chinese-style calligraphy, peppered with obscenities and abuse toward the Queen -- is naive and an eyesore. But its quintessential Hong Kong symbolism has inspired other artists, including local film-maker Fruit Chan, and has drawn international acclaim.

In 2003, Tsang's graffiti graced the renowned Venice Biennale art exhibition and in 2004, Sotheby's auctioned some of his work.