Literary gathering for Spring Purification (Xiuxi) on the Double Third Festival (i.e., the third day of the third lunar month) has been deep-rooted in Hong Kong literary circles. The Kam Shan Literary Society, led by scholar-merchants Chen Boqi, Liang Yaoming, Liang Qizheng, He Zhuping, and Pan Xinan (a.k.a. Pun Sun-on), organized such literary gatherings for two decades, during 1972 to 1991, consecutively. They brought together literati in Hong Kong for drinking, composing poems, making paintings and calligraphy, as well as playing music and chess. These literary gatherings were held in Nam Tin Chuk Temple in Tsuen Wan, Yan Lo on Kam Shan of Taipo, Wun Chuen Sin Kwoon in Fanling, etc., contributing greatly to the development of Hong Kong classical poetry, paintings, and calligraphy.

In the late Qing period of China, Hong Kong and Macau were the origins and nexus of exchange for the bourgeoning print culture, which was represented by the surge of new types of publications, such as bilingual dictionaries, language textbooks, newspapers and magazines. From this historical backdrop emerged a generation of Cantonese bilingual literati, who would in turn impact the diversifying linguistic landscape, print culture and educational environment in the region. The lecture unfolds a varied set of accessible and interesting primary sources to engage the public audience in re-living the learning, working and expatriate experience of these late-Qing Cantonese bilinguals who made their very first steps in Hong Kong and Macau before embarking on varied paths connecting China to the world.

The Cantonese poems in the Xixiao ji by Liao Entao (1865–1954; style name Fengshu) are in strict poetic metre and formal tone patterns, while the Cantonese vocabularies used are rather lively and witty. These poems, thus, are catchy and memorable among Cantonese readers. In fact, the Xixiao ji does not belong to a new genre, but it stems from Cantonese literature with a long-standing history. This lecture introduces some pieces from the Xixiao ji, as well as explores the origin and evolution of Cantonese literature.