Sun Ma Sze Tsang (20 June 1916 – 21 April 1997), born Tang Wing-cheung and nicknamed 'Sun Ma Jai' or 'Brother Cheung', was a Cantonese opera and film actor, operatic singer and philanthropist from Shunde, Guangdong, and an MBE. His parents separated when he was eight; his father Tang Kei earned a living by gambling and was a keen opera fan, his mother Lo Lin left to work as a domestic servant in Hong Kong, and the boy, left at home, was ill-treated by his stepmother and eventually ran away to live on the streets. In 1925, aged nine, he was taken in by itinerant performers; spotted by the veteran Ho Sai-kei while singing in teahouses, he was sent to study under Ho Shau-nin, and after rigorous training in traditional form was performing at the Lee Theatre by the age of ten, where he was reunited with his mother. Because he imitated the famous actor Ma Sze-tsang so convincingly, his master renamed him Sun Ma Sze Tsang. At eleven he performed in Shantou under the banner 'Tai Ping Tung Yat' and was hailed as a child prodigy. He went on to join many troupes and at one point ran his own Yu Ma male-and-female company, studied under Sit Kok-sin and travelled to Shanghai to watch the Peking opera stars Lin Shusen and Gai Jiaotian. Drawing widely, he absorbed the nan-yin style of the singer Siu Ming-sing and blended Peking opera vocal technique into Cantonese opera to create his own distinctive 'Sun Ma style', noted for powerful breath control and clear enunciation; though slight of build, he specialised in the operas of Lord Guan and knew Peking opera well. Active on the Cantonese opera stage from the 1930s, he also starred in many operas and opera films such as The Beggar's Aria from All Evil Begins with Lust, The Yongzheng Emperor's Night Sacrifice to Consort Zhen, Sleep on Brushwood and Taste Gall and Autumn Grief at the Ferry; the 1950s were the peak of his film career, including the opera film Two Silly Heroes. He joined the Kuomintang in 1936 and sang for the troops during the war against Japan; in 1954 Chiang Kai-shek wrote to him personally with a photograph in recognition of those performances. From 1950 he sang at annual fundraisers for the Tung Wah hospitals without a break until illness confined him in 1994, and for many years his arias closed the televised charity gala Tung Wah Charity Show, earning him the title of the charitable opera king. In 1994 he donated one million Hong Kong dollars to Kwong Wah Hospital to help establish renal services, and the expanded renal ward was named after him. In 1953, when the Chinese Artists' Association of Hong Kong was founded, he was elected its first chairman and served several terms. In the 1950s readers repeatedly voted him the leading male role, and he was chosen among the top ten Cantonese film and opera stars fourteen times in the Wah Kiu Yat Po poll. He received an honorary doctorate of arts from the University of Oxford in 1977, an MBE in 1978 and a further medal from the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission in 1979. In declining health in later years, he was admitted in January 1997 with bronchitis, pneumonia and heart disease and died on 21 April 1997 after 109 days in hospital, aged 80; he was buried in the Chinese Permanent Cemetery in Tseung Kwan O, and a long family dispute over his estate, including the Wing Cheung Building and restaurants, followed. In 2003 the Tung Wah Group erected a bronze bust of him in the lobby of Kwong Wah Hospital.
Sun Ma Sze Tsang won deep public affection with the powerful vocals of his 'Sun Ma style' and his closing charity performances, and his unbroken fundraising for institutions such as the Tung Wah hospitals over more than forty years earned him the widely known title of the charitable opera king. As the first chairman of the Chinese Artists' Association of Hong Kong in 1953, he made a practical contribution to organising and sustaining the Cantonese opera profession. By bringing Peking opera vocal technique from Shanghai into Cantonese opera he enriched its singing, and arias such as the beggar's lament and the sacrifice to Consort Zhen became classics of both the opera stage and televised charity galas.
Achievements
- 1953 · In 1953, when the Chinese Artists' Association of Hong Kong was founded, he was elected its first chairman.
- 1977 · Received an honorary doctorate of arts from the University of Oxford in 1977.
- 1978 · Was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1978.