File photo of Albert Leung

Hong Kong's popular lyricist Albert Leung is in hot water after he was found cheering up a Hong Kong secessionist on a social website, a move that observers and his fans in the Chinese mainland said showed his narrow-minded mentality as a member of the literati, and his immaturity and ignorance of social and political matters. 

The lyricist's name was trending on Chinese social media on Monday, after he was found colluding with high-profile Hong Kong secessionist Nathan Law Kwun-chung, who fled to the UK after the enactment of the national security law for Hong Kong. Law was put on a wanted list by Hong Kong police in late July for promoting the independence of the city. 

The long-distance communication was started by Law, who posted altered lyrics of Leung's famous song Appointment on Friday on Instagram, showing that he still remembers his family members' faces and that he is not willing to leave Hong Kong.

He tagged Leung in his post. 

Later, Leung echoed Law on this platform, saying that "I haven't forgotten my appointment with you,  our faith is not yet dead, even as your courage to leave… your families can still recognize you," in a way to cheer up Law and comfort the secessionist, who announced plans to break ties with his family after his escape. 

The news came as a bomb on Chinese social media with many netizens, including fans of Leung, denouncing Leung for "colluding with Hong Kong secessionists," and saying that his actions "came from nostalgia, but exposed his immaturity and ignorance in political and social issues."

This is not the first time Leung publicly demonstrated support for Hong Kong secessionists. Leung also urged all opposition lawmakers to quit as some local media reported, after the Hong Kong government decided to postpone the Legislative Council elections for one year. 

He also frequently smeared the Hong Kong police and supported rioters during the protests that ravaged Hong Kong for half a year in 2019, and wrote songs for violent protesters during the illegal 2014 Occupy Central movement. 

Born in the 1960s, Leung grew up under the British colonial government, so the local thinking of Hong Kong and arrogance nurtured during the period was deeply rooted in Leung's head, Fan Peng, a research fellow from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Political Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times on Monday. 

Fan said that Leung, and a group of Hong Kong people born at the same time, have linked this local thinking with secessionism, which demonstrates their ignorance. That's why the national security law for Hong Kong comes in handy to define the boundary of actions that defend localism in Hong Kong and threaten national security. 

Under such a mentality, Leung, a member of the literati and other same-thinking people, out of their narrow-minded literati mentality, believes they are standing together with the "suppressed" violent protesters, but this also shows their political and social immaturity. 

Leung has turned a blind eye to the rioters' damage to Hong Kong society, and ignored how Hong Kong society was torn apart by those protests, said Fan.