Gao Xiong (San Su) [real name Kao Tak Hung 高德雄] 1918-1981

Gao was for decades one of Hong Kong's best-known and most prolific writers. He wrote under a variety of pen names, each often used specifically for a serialized long work or a sub-genre. Among the most famous are La the Salesman 經紀拉 (for Jingji riji 經紀日記 [Diary of a salesman]), Shigougong 石狗公 (for Shigougong ziji 石狗公自記 [The memoirs of Shigougong]), San Su 三蘇 (for political and social satire) and Gao Xiong (for a variety of popular fiction and essays). An aficionado of late-Qing fiction, he was influenced by the social exposes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His works such as Xianggang ershi nian mudu guaixianzhuang 香港二十年目睹怪現狀[An eyewitness account of two decades of Hong Kong oddities] (1972), Tiantang youji 天堂遊記 [Travels to paradise] (1952), and Jigong xinzhuan 濟公新傳 [New biography of the eccentric monk Jigong] (serialized in 1951–1958) were all social satires. His linguistic style－a combination of baihua, Cantonese, and classical Chinese－won him the condemnation of purists and the admiration of a large local reading public.

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