Hong Kong writer explores trauma and the immigrant experience in new memoir
- Sonia Leung’s inspiring story details her move from mainland China as a child and the devastating sexual assault that led to her running away to Taiwan at just 15 years old
- Every week, Talking Points gives you a worksheet to practise your reading comprehension with exercises about the story we’ve written
Hong Kong writer and poet Sonia Leung poses with her latest book, “The Girl Who Dreamed: A Hong Kong Memoir of Triumph Against the Odds”. Photo: Jonathan WongBright lights and delicious smells greeted young Sonia Leung as she walked through the bustling streets of Taipei as a 15-year-old runaway.
Leung had recently fled Hong Kong after moving there from mainland China just a few years earlier. The teen was fed up with the bullying she experienced and the loneliness of dealing with trauma. She was ready to start anew in Taiwan.
The 49-year-old author, who lives in Hong Kong, reflected on her tumultuous childhood in her memoir The Girl Who Dreamed: A Hong Kong Memoir of Triumph Against the Odds. Published in March, the book sheds light on the harsh reality of life for many immigrants in the city.
“The Girl Who Dreamed is a love letter sent from my heart,” she said. “It is my love song to the marginalised people, the wounded souls, and everyone who cares.”
Life as an outsider
Leung came to Hong Kong in 1986 when she was 12. Her family left behind their hometown of Na’an in Fujian province and moved to a “little hut in a slum [in] Diamond Hill” in hopes of finding more financial and social mobility.
Her quality of life changed a lot once she arrived in Hong Kong; while her family had a large home before the move, they now shared their living quarters.
“The other half [of the home] was owned by another family, so our toilet and kitchen were underneath some other person’s staircase,” she recalled.
Leung also struggled to adapt to her new school. Because she had no foundation in Cantonese or English, she was demoted from Primary Six to Primary Four.
During roll-call on her first day of school, Leung could not recognise her name in English and did not answer. When asked in Cantonese to write her name on the blackboard, she stood there as “the class went wild with laughter”.
Leung worked hard and progressed quickly. By the following year, her English skills put her in the top five of the class. Still, the bullying persisted.
“[I was a] total outsider ... being singled out, you just don’t feel you belong,” said Leung. “I always felt inferior in Hong Kong.”
Fleeing to Taiwan
Leung finally found a sense of community when she started playing table tennis, first in her neighbourhood and later at a youth centre near her school with about nine other kids. The group was so talented that the centre found them a coach. She competed in various competitions and hoped to apply for the newly-opened Jockey Club Ti-l College, where she could live in a dormitory and lessen the burden on her parents.
But when Leung was 14, her coach raped her. This incident sent her to a dark place, and she was unable to open up about the assault, a problem which she feels is still common in Hong Kong.
“Telling us to face it [doesn’t work],” Leung said, explaining that victims should not have to hide their pain. “Being able to come out and tell [your struggles to] people you trust makes a difference.”
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After her assault, she found solace in books by Taiwanese authors, such as Chiung Yao’s Outside the Window. Leung felt she befriended these characters and “could speak to them, at least in my head”.
In addition, “I heard this song called ‘Olive Tree’ from a Taiwanese singer. It’s about freedom-seeking,” she said. “I felt Taiwan must be calling me.”
Using money she had saved from her job at McDonald’s, Leung jetted off to Taipei in 1990 without telling anyone. New friends helped her find refuge at National Taiwan University, where she listened to lectures, worked at a nearby cafe, and travelled “all over Taiwan for two years” while attending different schools. She eventually returned to Hong Kong after her friends encouraged her to apply for university.
More than 30 years later, Leung is an award-winning author whose work has been published worldwide. In 2020, she released her first book, a collection of poetry called Don’t Cry, Phoenix. She is currently working on her next book, a collection of essays and short stories on the lives of Chinese women.
Not only is the memoir is an accomplishment for her career, it also helped Leung cope with her trauma.
“Writing those scenes in detail helped me [put] pieces back together,” Leung said. “The book made me feel whole again.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, help is available. You can call RainLily’s support hotline at 2375-5322.
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