Friends and family pay final respects to literary giant Louis Cha (original) (raw)

The late celebrated Chinese author Louis Cha Leung-yung was cremated on Tuesday afternoon at Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island, one of Hong Kong’s most important Buddhist sanctums, renowned for its giant Tian Tan Buddha statue.

About 50 family members and friends arrived at the Po Lin Monastery around noon, escorting the hearse carrying the Chinese literary giant, better known by his pen name Jin Yong, to a private cremation site.

The site, called Hoi Wui Tower, was closed from 10am to 3pm for the service. At 12.04pm, the hearse, decorated with white roses and orchids arrived, followed by family members on two minibuses provided by the monastery. Friends of the family arrived at about 12.15pm on a couch and walked into the site in silence. The hearse left at around 12.24pm.

A secretary of the monastery, surnamed Fung, told the _Pos_t that Cha’s ashes would not be kept at the monastery.

Andrew Cha holds a portrait of his father Louis Cha as he leaves Hong Kong Funeral Home in Quarry Bay on Tuesday morning. Photo: Felix Wong

“The cremation site was closed to the public today at the request of the Cha family,” Fung said. Hoi Wui Tower’s columbarium has about 2,000 niches for funeral urns, more than half of which have been taken, according to Fung.