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HONG KONG: Actress Nancy Kwan said on Friday she was shocked at the wholesale destruction of the colonial Hong Kong that formed the charming backdrop to her classic 1960 film "The World of Suzie Wong".
The former screen siren said her hometown used to be a "laid-back sea port" with Chinese junks plying its famed Victoria Harbour - a rare sight these days in the bustling financial hub of seven million people.
Kwan, 70, visits the former British colony every few years, but said she still cannot believe its metamorphosis.
"Hong Kong was really very charming in those days," she told AFP in an interview ahead of the screening of a documentary about her life at the Hong Kong International Film and TV Market forum on Monday.
"I can't believe it -- every time I come back it's like going to a new city... I loved the old colonial buildings in Hong Kong, but now they've torn them down. It's terrible."
Among those buildings was the since-rebuilt Luk Kwok Hotel in Hong Kong's Wan Chai district, where late actor William Holden's character meets and falls in love with the charming Suzie Wong, a Chinese prostitute played by Kwan.
The iconic film catapulted Kwan - born to a Chinese father and Scottish mother - into the spotlight as the first Asian woman to star in a Hollywood film.
Kwan, who now lives in the United States and has appeared in dozens of films and television shows, chalks up her discovery by a Hollywood producer as a matter of fate.
"I was very lucky. Everything in life is about timing and if it's not meant to happen, I don't care what you do it's not going to happen."
The documentary, entitled "To Whom it May Concern: Ka Shen's Journey", a reference to Kwan's Chinese name, traces the ups and downs of her career and life, including the death of her only son in 1996 at age 33.
In response to Kwan's remarks on the changing face of Hong Kong, a government spokesman defended the city's development, saying policy "strives to maintain a balance between economic development and heritage conservation."
"Over the past 40 years, the city built railways, highways, public estates, new towns and an airport while the private sector carried out development projects of their own. The community then recognised that construction and urban development projects were essential to the city's continued prosperity.
"However, times have changed and now development is no longer considered paramount, especially when the loss of heritage buildings is the price we pay for progress." - AFP/ir/de
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