A wax figure of legendary Hong Kong singer and actor Anita Mui on display at Madame Tussauds in London. [Getty Images]
A wax figure of legendary Hong Kong singer and actor Anita Mui on display at Madame Tussauds in London. [Getty Images]

Hong Kong police have launched an investigation after allegations emerged that the funerary urn of the late Anita Mui — the legendary singer and actor known in Chinese as Mei Yanfang — had been stolen.

According to local media including the South China Morning Post and Sing Tao Daily, Mui's international fan club posted a statement on social media on behalf of her family on Friday, confirming that the urn had gone missing and that the matter had been reported to police. Friday marked what would have been Mui's birthday.

A fan visiting Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island on July 18 first discovered the urn was missing and alerted the family, who then filed a police report.

Mui's ashes had been interred at the monastery's Haihui Pagoda after her death in 2003. The monastery is a popular tourist destination that is also home to Tian Tan Buddha, one of the largest outdoor bronze seated Buddha statues in the world, and draws large numbers of visitors.

The family had sought a quiet resting place for Mui, attaching no photograph to the urn and listing only her nickname rather than her full name. The urn was found to be missing with the screws securing its nameplate left loose.

With roughly three months having passed since the investigation began and no apparent progress, the family took to social media to appeal for public tips. They asked anyone who witnessed suspicious activity near the Haihui Pagoda or Po Lin Monastery between early January and mid-July, or who saw someone carrying what appeared to be a funerary urn, to contact police.

Mui's older brother, Mui Kai-ming, has offered a personal reward of HK$50,000 ($6,400) for information leading to the recovery of her ashes.

A police spokesperson said the case is being handled by the serious crime unit in the Lantau district and that no arrests have been made. The family has also not received any extortion demands in exchange for the urn's return.

However, it remains unclear whether the urn was actually stolen. The monastery declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

News of the disappearance, breaking on what would have been Mui's birthday, left fans shaken. Some fan clubs called on the monastery to review its security systems and take steps to determine the whereabouts of the urn.

Born in 1963, Mui was one of the defining figures of Hong Kong popular culture in the 1980s and 1990s, earning the nickname "Madonna of Asia" at the height of her fame. She was part of a generation of stars — alongside Leslie Cheung, Chow Yun-fat and Maggie Cheung — who drove Hong Kong cinema's golden age. Her films, including "A Better Tomorrow III: Love & Death in Saigon," "The Heroic Trio" and "Rouge," also won her a following in South Korea.

Mui publicly disclosed her battle with cervical cancer in 2003 and died on Dec. 30 of that year at the age of 40.


betterj@heraldcorp.com