Sales of tragic film and pop star Leslie Cheung's extensive back catalogue have soared across the country in the days following his suicide in Hong Kong last week.
The star, also known on the mainland as Zhang Guorong, was 46. He leapt to his death from a hotel in the city on April 1. One of China's few openly gay stars, he was believed to have been suffering from depression.
The sombre mood at the 22nd Hong Kong Film Awards, which opened on Sunday night, reflected the feeling in the city which was already plunged into gloom by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) scare and economic difficulties.
Cheung, perhaps best known for his role in 1993's Farewell My Concubine (Bawang Bieji), in which he played an opera singer who commits suicide, had been nominated in the best actor category for his starring role in Chi-Leung Law's Inner Senses.
Four of Hong Kong's biggest pop stars paid tribute at the event by singing one of Cheung's hit songs.
Meanwhile in Beijing, DVD stores this week reported a sharp rise in demand for his movies. His films include:
Chinese Ghost Story (1987) in which he plays a young tax collector who escapes the feverish appetites of life-draining spirits in a haunted temple - only to fall in love with a beautiful ghost. Cheung's charming performance endeared him to a new generation of movie fans in a fantasy hailed by many as a classic.
In Farewell My Concubine, he stars alongside Zhang Fengyi as a mentally tortured, sexually confused actor who forms an unshakeable bond with his childhood friend. Gong Li plays the woman who comes between them in a film which crams decades of China's history into a world-acclaimed epic.
Also well known in the West is his starring performance in 1996's Temptress Moon (Feng Yue), in which he plays Yu Zhongliang, a successful gigolo who seduces and then blackmails rich married women. Enter the beautiful Pang Ruyi (Gong Li), whom he first encountered as a child and is now head of the household. Sparks fly all round as their mutual attraction turns tragic in this complex but beautifully filmed drama.
Happy Together finds Cheung in his most acclaimed gay role as Ho Po-wing who embarks on a trip from Hong Kong to Argentina with his lover, Lai Yiu-fai (Tony Leung). Their troubled relationship gets even worse as events unfold.
2002's psychological thriller Inner Senses saw a return to form in his role as a psychiatrist who tries to help a woman (Lam Ka Yan) escape from the ghosts she sees everywhere she goes. Cheung's youthful good looks and powerful lead performance again caught the eye of reviewers.
Cheung's other films included: action director John Woo's 1986 outing, A Better Tomorrow, in which he plays a rookie cop betrayed by his criminal brothers; Shanghai Grand (1996); Moonlight Express (1999) and Okinawa Rendez-Vous (2000).