Her maiden piece, a fourteen-line modern Chinese poem, was published in “
Everyone’s Literature” (??????) in the 1950s. When Xi Xi was studying in Form 3, she won the first price in the senior section of a writing competition organised by “
Learn-mates” (????) which the chief editor was Wun Pik-lam (???). In 1957, she continued her studies at the Grantham College of Education (later merged with others constitute colleges to form the Hong Kong Institute of Education), and became a teacher of a local governmental primary school after graduation. During her career as a teacher, she was an active member in the campaigns fighting for teachers’ rights. Besides poetry, novel, essay, fairy tale and translated literature, Xi Xi had an attempt in writing TV screenplay in the 1960s, like “
The Dark Green Age” (??????) and “
The Window” (???), and numerous movie critics as well, in a refreshing yet vivid style. She was one of the pioneers in the field of experimental films in Hong Kong.
Later, Xi Xi had been concentrated on the production of novels, likewise columns in various newspapers and magazines:
- 1960s: A fairy-tale column in “Tin Tin Daily” (????), “Movies and Me” ??????in “Chinese Students’ Weekly” (??????), and “Bull’s Eye and Me”??????in “Express Daily” (??);
- 1970s: “My Scrawling Room” (scrapbook) (??????????) in “Express Daily”;
- 1980s: “Notes on Reading” (??????) in “Express Daily”, “The Flower Column” in “Sing Dao Daily”, “Four Pieces of Jade” (?????) in “United Daily News”, “Siu Ming Chow” (?????), a children’s column about paintings, in “Ming Pao Monthly”, “Ear-man” (?????), a musical column, in “Sing Dao Daily”, and “How Xi Xi Views Soccer” (???????), a featured column for the World Cup, in “Ming Pao”.
Moreover, she had been the editor of “
Chinese Students’ Weekly” poetry section (1960s), as well as of “
Thumb Weekly” (???????) (1975-1977) and “
Plain Leaf Literature” (??????) (1981-1984), which were founded by Xi Xi and her friends in 1978. Plain Leaf was a non-profitmaking publisher, with its solemn, high-standard, and non-commercialised local publication, which was actually rare in the book market of Hong Kong. Up to 1984, The publishing company had produced books of 22 categories, including “
A Loafer Who Burnt His Guitar” (???????), a collection of Ma Lang’s (??) poems; “
A Tour in Mirrors” (????), a Chinese movie critics collection by Lin Nian-tong (???); and “
My Resplendence” (??????), a Zhong Lin-lin’s (???) essay and poem collection. Along with different series of readers, Plain Leaf had also published a magazine called “
Plain Leaf Literature” for 25 volumes. The publishing company closed down at length due to its excess deficit, yet it was re-opened in the 1990s and Plain Leaf is still operating business these days.
In 1979, the number of teachers was over-supplied, and the Education Department promoted an early retirement scheme. Xi Xi tendered her resignation, and subsequently paid more heed to studies and creative writing. However, Hong Kong had fluctuated drastically in social aspects in the 1980s, and the demand for teacher had been skyrocketing. Xi Xi was occasionally invited by her ex-colleagues and worked as a contracted teacher for a year, or even a substitute teacher. In fact, she did not desist her teaching career entirely.