Signal Hill Theatre

Returning to the day before everything began Friendly recommendations from Bai Shuangquan and Tung Sun-kwok! Someone with so many abilities must be a genius; I feel it's a waste for them to be stuck in one job. —Bai Shuangquan (Artist) If life were to be divided into sweetness and bitterness, this book discusses the bitter aspects more. However, if everyone can write out life's bitterness like the author, they will discover: bitterness can be shared, and sharing itself is a joy. —Tung Sun-kwok (University Student, Bus Enthusiast) "Signal Hill Theatre" is the first collection of works by Lin Zhaorong—a Lin Zhaorong who could be an artist, a writer, an actor, a tram enthusiast, a train buff, a walker, a truck driver, a lecturer, and more. The paths he has walked have shaped all these facets of Lin Zhaorong, with each chapter serving as a significant play in his life, where different identities take turns on stage—or perhaps, it is this very complexity that comes closer to a person's true self. In the titular short story "Signal Hill Theatre," the design graduate "Qi" follows in the footsteps of his ex-girlfriend "Xia" (in every sense of the word), becoming a tedious theatre administrator. In his prime youth, he strives to follow the rules of the game, much like a ferry that has never sailed into open seas. Love departs without warning, leaving Qi to find solace in the documents she left behind. "The Day Before Everything Began" compiles Lin Zhaorong's travel essays, with footprints ranging from local to global destinations. While playfulness seems to be the main theme of his journeys, it is undertaken with profound seriousness. He uses himself as a coordinate to map the world, with railways and buses as unique modes of transport, offering both practical knowledge and niche interests. The short story "Jubilee Line" even gives Hong Kong's streets a voice through an illustrated format. "Scout's Bouncing Bed" features the author's carefully selected "Ming Pao" columns, using anecdotes to document the era's madness. All illustrations in the book are hand-drawn by Lin Zhaorong, transforming scenery into stills with every stroke. The various chapters playing out along "Signal Hill Theatre" are accompanied by stills that hint at the characters' "growth"—Qi's increasingly skilled art style reflects his transition from idealism to meekness. Readers might be deceived by the realistic depictions of Hong Kong's nightscapes, but they can also discern how he deceives himself. The "Scout's Bouncing Bed" drawings, rendered in blue ballpoint pen, are casual and uninhibited. Childhood coloured pencils depict charming West Side streetscapes through a child's eyes, while the maps that are drawn exhaustively throughout the book physically embody the author's fondness for urban strolls. Tung Sun-kwok considers "Signal Hill Theatre" a love story, while Bai Shuangquan views it as a warm-up for the genius author's next ten books. As Lin Zhaorong himself says, the time narrated in the book feels as distant and estranged as ancient history. Looking back now at these "expired texts," though they are fragments of a life lived in the past, they can only exist in the past. Yet, in reality, through reading, obsession, and gazing, we may rediscover the present that was born from fiction.