Edward Li, originally Li Hong-wah, was born in Hong Kong in 1955 to a family from Heshan, Guangdong. He entered the Hong Kong Baptist College's communication department in 1972 and graduated in 1977, then worked as a newspaper editor before joining a film company to handle publicity, including for the Taiwanese picture Your Smiling Face (1979). In 1981 he moved to Intercontinental Film Distributors (HK) to publicise Western releases for over two years. From Cinema City's founding in 1980 he had already done contract publicity for the studio, and in 1983 he joined it officially as head of its publicity department, overseeing newspaper advertising and film booklets, promoting releases on television and radio, and running the Cinema City Fan Club. He devised large-scale poster campaigns, blanketing busy roads with film posters to create a striking visual spectacle. He wrote scripts for films such as The Occupant (1984), For Your Heart Only (1985) and The Family Strikes Back (1986), and later co-wrote The Eighth Happiness (1988). After leaving Cinema City's publicity department in 1986 he briefly served as its chief planner. From the mid-to-late 1980s he offered feng shui and fortune-telling consultancy, launched the magazine Qi Wen in the early 1990s and hosted television programmes, and produced and appeared in a 1992 documentary-style feature on superstition. In 2010 he founded the Sheng Shi Tian Cantonese opera company; his first libretto, Die Hai Qing Seng, was later adapted for Peking and Yue opera as well, the three forms being staged together, and in 2012 he leased the Sunbeam Theatre, then facing demolition, keeping the landmark stage in use for Cantonese opera and earning the nickname of the theatre's 'white knight'; he renewed the lease for six more years in 2016. He has since hosted television and radio shows and produced and appeared in Lunar New Year feature films in 2018 and 2019.
As Cinema City's publicity chief, Li helped turn film marketing into a large-scale operation, using saturation poster campaigns and broadcast promotion that became a model for 1980s Hong Kong cinema. Later, as a feng shui consultant and Cantonese-opera patron, he leased the Sunbeam Theatre in 2012 and kept the landmark stage in use for Cantonese opera.
Achievements
- 1983 · Joined Cinema City officially as head of its publicity department.
- 1988 · Co-wrote the screenplay for The Eighth Happiness.
- 2012 · Leased the Sunbeam Theatre, then facing demolition, keeping it in use as a Cantonese-opera venue.