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March 10, 2006

GET BETTER, SANNEY

If you follow Hong Kong movie news at all then you probably spend quite a bit of time at Hong Kong Entertainment News in Review, Sanney Leung's site which was one of the first and best Hong Kong movie sites on the internet. Week after week, Sanney has fed readers all the news, gossip, paparazzi photos, reviews and box office rankings that they can stand in his always funny and always sincere style.

The site hasn't been updated in the past month and John Charles finally reveals why: Sanney has Nasopharynx cancer. Sanney is, I believe, in his 30's and an avid jogger and non-smoker so this is completely unexpected for everyone. While undergoing chemotherapy he has contracted a chest infection and been admitted to the hospital indefinitely.

More than any other film industry, the Hong Kong industry owes its international success to fans. It was fans who created awareness of stars like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Anita Mui and Stephen Chow overseas and fans who passed around bootlegged tapes of their movies like some kind of underground spy network. It was fans who created an audience overseas for these stars and their films, and Sanney is an enormous part of this. His site has provided all the information, in English, that you ever wanted to know about a certain Hong Kong actor or an upcoming Hong Kong film and I remember back when the internet was largely steam powered poring over his "Fluff in Pictures" with a near-religious intensity.

You can learn more about his condition here, and if you've ever visited his site I encourage you to email your support to John Charles who will pass them on to Sanney at mail@dighkmovies.com.

And, if Sanney or anyone in his family reads this, know that you're in my thoughts and I'm praying for a speedy recovery for Sanney so he can get out of the hospital and back online where he belongs.

March 10, 2006 at 01:30 PM in News | Permalink

Comments

Thanks so much for telling us about Sanney. I have sent an e-mail as you suggested. I depend on websites such as yours and Entertainment News in Review for the news on my website and blog.

Charlotte G.

Posted by: Charlotte G. | Mar 11, 2006 3:05:31 PM

I was on the verge of emailing everyone and posting on forums to discover the reason for the nearly one month lack of update on www.hkentreview.com. Thanks
for keeping us informed.

Just want to say that it is no exaggeration when I say that of all online resources I have used in regards to Asian entertaiment, it is Sanney's site that is perhaps the most influential to me. It kept me informed and interested, and had been bookmarked on my browser as the #1 site to check out every Monday morning for more years than my boss will ever know.

I too have sent John Charles a get-well email. Hopefully it will get forwarded to Sanney and entertain him a bit during his difficult convalescence.

Posted by: Buma | Mar 13, 2006 7:51:25 AM

Every so often I've visited his site to see if there's some news but noticed that some time during the past week, the HK Ent Review domain expired. I hope his recovery is going well.

Posted by: Chris | Jul 11, 2006 12:43:59 AM

Some of you who are into asian entertainment might know me, I'm the owner of asianfanatics.net.

I'm also a good friend of Sanney and got worried that he didn't respond to my annual email to him. His last email was causing some concern too. After seeing the domain got expired and snatched away, I was even more worried. And then finding this message...

I've put up a message on my site to inform others about this too. Hope he's getting better soon.

http://asianfanatics.net/forum/about_hkentreviewcom-talk276401.html

Posted by: athlon | Jul 14, 2006 8:04:39 AM

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