Film director Ang Lee (李安) yesterday received a welcome befitting a hero in his hometown of Tainan from students of Tainan First High School (台南一中), where he spent so much of his youth.
After winning four Oscars for his martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (
Lee's gifts for his mother included a hug, a birthday cake, and a glowing Oscar statuette.
"I wish her to stay young forever. She is, like my father said, still naive, like a child," said Lee, with a joyous smile. He was accompanied by Yang, his father Lee Sheng (
It was not the first time the 47-year-old filmmaker had returned home with a statuette. In 1996, Lee brought a Golden Globe Award for his father's 80th birthday, won for the film Sense and Sensibility.
As the first Taiwanese filmmaker to win an Oscar, Lee's return this time is glorious indeed. Lee chose to share some of the honor bestowed upon him with his alma mater, Tainan First High School. The school, where Lee spent his boyhood days, gave him a hero's welcome.
Lee's father, Lee Sheng, was principal of the school for more than two decades.
Dozens of students jammed up against the school's fence next to the teacher's dormitory where Lee's family still resides, leaning against the bars shouting, "We love you, director! We want the statuette!"
Responding to his "fellow schoolmates," Lee said "I am bringing back my happiness to share with everyone here, in the place I grew up."
"So I brought the statuette here specially to let everyone touch it," Lee said, lifting up the Oscar in triumph. He later gave a speech at the school.
Returning home for Lee is a journey full of complexity and joy.
Lee recalled, "my circle of life during my youth was around the school and my house, the teacher's dormitory. I was a shy boy and a good student in class and at home. But I was not happy. I went to a bushiban every day, and that took up all my free time during those days. The only happy time I remember ... was the movies I went to every Saturday afternoon, my escape from reality," he said.
"The further I went away from home, the more freedom I had. But ... Chinese culture is a tricky thing. The more you want to escape the more you are seized by it. The more you are forced to face how you were brought up and your character," he said.
Lee went on to explain that, had he not gone overseas, he would not have had the chance to study Chinese culture from a "Western angle," referring to his cross-cultural film The Wedding Banquet (喜宴), a bittersweet comedy about traditional Taiwanese parents dealing with their son's homosexuality.
"I am the son in the film the Wedding Banquet. You think you're having a happy life in New York, but your family and those family rules come and grab you!" he said, jokingly.
The schedule for Lee's six-day visit also includes a meeting with President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen was Lee's schoolmate at Tainan First High School, although he was two years ahead of him. Chen will travel to Tainan to meet Lee.
On Thursday, the director will meet with Government Information Office (
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