Tsang started writing everywhere since he discovered his ancestors were granted the ownership of Kowloon by local governor before British colonization when cleaning up old stuff. But the descendants and he were no longer landlords, so he began to declare his “sovereignty” through graffities, that is why he had been given the title “The Emperor of Kowloon” (九龍皇帝).

His graffities were exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 2003 as art pieces, and he was the first Hong Konger who had the opportunity to be involved in this world-class art event. Until his death in 2007, there were lots of public discussions whether his work should be considered as “art”. But whether or not, his works are definitely a collective memory of Hong Kong. It also inspires people to rethink what “art” actually is.

Authorized by Tsang’s family and Lau Kin-wai (劉健威), a local art critic and Tsang’s close friend who owns the copyright of his “calligraphy”, coupled with the popularity of art technology and blockchain in recent years, Lau has invited Sunny Lee (李振民) to design a series of digital artwork and NFT based on Tsang’s writing style and authentic artwork, so that Tsang’s work can be seen in a contemporary way in the virtual world.

Due to the long-term weather erosion and clean-up by the government, the authentic works can rarely be seen in public areas nowadays, and they probably will disappear in foreseeable future as there is no preservation policy. However, this has given the NFT series a special mission – to preserve Tsang’s works in digital form on blockchains, to keep collective memories of Hong Kong in the 20th century alive on the internet forever.