15年过去了 为什么大家还在怀念“哥哥”张国荣？

For the past 15 years fans of tormented superstar Leslie Cheung, one of the first celebrities to come out as gay in Asia, have gathered at Hong Kong’s Mandarin Oriental Hotel to mourn the day he took his own life.

过去15年，张国荣的粉丝们都会于4月1日他自杀之日聚集在香港的文华东方酒店进行吊唁。这位命运多舛的巨星是亚洲最先出柜的名人之一。

One of Hong Kong’s most popular male singers and actors of the mid-1980s, Leslie Cheung Kwok Wing was not afraid of provoking controversy with his overt sexuality and provocative performances during a more socially conservative era.

张国荣是20世纪80年代中叶香港最受欢迎的男歌手和演员之一。在那个相对保守年代，他不惧因性取向和挑逗性表演引发争议。

And 15 years after his death, Cheung is still attracting new fans, including teenagers and millennials.

张国荣去世15年了，但是他仍在吸粉，其中包括青少年和千禧一代。

Lam, a 15-year-old who attended 1 April’s vigil, was only a few months old when Cheung died. She told BBC Chinese she had "discovered him on YouTube".

15岁的Lam参加了4月1日的守夜。张国荣去世时她才几个月大。她向BBC中文频道说道，她“是在YouTube上认识张国荣的。”

"He was charismatic; especially when he went androgynous...it’s gorgeous," she said.

“他超有魅力，尤其是在雌雄同体的时候……太绚了，”她说道。

Meanwhile, 25-year-old Wu travelled from Hunan province on mainland China with his boyfriend to mourn the icon.

此外，25岁Wu和他的男朋友从中国大陆的湖南省赶到了香港，吊唁他们的偶像。

Wu told BBC Chinese he drew strength from Cheung’s "spirit of being true to oneself".

Wu向BBC中文频道表示，张国荣的本真精神激励了他。

"He showed the [Chinese-speaking] world that gay people can be positive, bright and worthy of respect."

“他（用汉语）向世界表明，同性恋也可以积极、光鲜和值得尊重。”

Born in 1956, Leslie Cheung was one of Hong Kong’s most famous stars during the golden era of Cantopop in the 1980s.

张国荣出生于1956年，为20世纪80年粤语流行音乐黄金时期香港最有名的明星之一。

He was dashing, stylish and fitted the public idea of a perfect heterosexual male lover. But in reality, he was in a long-term relationship with his childhood friend, Daffy Tong.

他很时髦，符合公众对异性恋完美男朋友的要求。但是事实上，他长期在跟他发小唐鹤德谈恋爱。

It was not an easy time to be gay. At that time, homosexuality was still viewed by many as an illness and abnormality in Hong Kong, especially after the emergence of the first local case of Aids in 1984. It was not until 1991 that adult gay sex was decriminalised in the territory.

那时同性恋并不好过。在香港，同性恋仍被很多人视为一种疾病和变态，尤其是在1984年香港出现首例艾滋后。直到1991年，同性才被合法化。

Cheung first came to international attention with his portrayal of Cheng Dieyi, the androgynous Peking Opera star, for the film Farewell My Concubine, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1993.

凭借在影片《霸王别姬》中扮演雌雄同体京剧演员程蝶衣一角，张国荣首次受到国际关注。1993年，《霸王别姬》在戛纳获得金棕榈奖。

He went on to star in Happy Together directed by Wong Kar Wai - a gay cinema classic about a couple who struggle to find a peaceful co-existence.

他继续出演由王家卫导演的《春光乍泄》，这是一部关于同性恋情侣努力和平共处的影片。

Christopher Doyle, the renowned cinematographer who worked with Cheung on various Wong Kar Wai films, told BBC Chinese: "He was so beautiful. We both wanted to convey through my lens the most beautiful, sincerest side of him.

著名摄影师Christopher Doyle曾与张国荣合作过多部由王家卫导演的影片，他向BBC中文频道说道：“他太美了！我们都想通过我的镜头展现他最美、最真诚的一面。”

On stage, Cheung unleashed a sexually fluid charm. His defining queer performance came in a 1997 concert where he danced intimately with a male dancer to his song Red. He wore a black suit with a pair of sparkling crimson high-heels.

在舞台上，张国荣也展示了非凡的魅力。1997年演唱会，他穿着一双闪闪发光的深红色高跟鞋，放着自己的歌曲《红》，与男舞伴热舞。

At that concert he dedicated a classic love song to the two "loves of his life", his mother and his partner Daffy Tong. This is seen as the moment he came out of the closet. Cheung did not proclaim his sexuality as such, but confessed his love for a man.

演唱会上，他给他生命中的两个爱人——他的妈妈和他的男朋友唐鹤德——献上了一首经典情歌。这被很多人视为他出柜了。张国荣从未这样宣告自己的性取向，只是承认对男性有爱慕。

Despite his success across Asia, there were many who did not appreciate this side of Cheung.

尽管在亚洲取得了成功，但是仍有很多人不欣赏张国荣。

At the 1998 Hong Kong Film Awards, Happy Together was mocked by comedians, who described it as a film that would make the audience vomit. A music video he directed, featuring him topless with a male ballet dancer, was also censored by major local TV channel TVB.

在1998年香港电影奖颁奖典礼上，《春光乍泄》遭到了喜剧演员们嘲讽，他们称这部电影使观众感到恶心。他导演的一个音乐视频——他与一名男芭蕾舞者坦胸露乳——也受到了当地大型卫视TVB的审核。