Law Yim-hing was born Law Tai-hung in 1929 to a family from Huanglian, Shunde, Guangdong, and settled in Hong Kong at the age of seven. She began learning Cantonese opera at ten under her uncle Siu Ying-ying, appeared as a maid on stage from twelve and joined the Kwong Wah troupe at fourteen. She performed with celebrated companies including Kok Sin Sing, Kam Tim Fa and Tai Lung Fung, and led the Yim Tong Wong and Chin Hung troupes, starring in operas such as Drunken Beating of the Golden Boughs, The Spoilt Princess and the Foolish Prince Consort, Begging to Raise a Top Scholar and Lady Liu Jinding Slays the Four Gates. Her first formal master was the opera star Law Ban-chiu, and she also studied under Sit Kok-sin; she was one of the 'Eight Peonies', a sisterhood of opera actresses. She took her first film lead in The Five Rats Storm Tokyo (1948) and made her name with The Seven Swords and Thirteen Heroes (1949), going on to star in many period martial-arts and swordswoman films such as The Blood-Stained Sword (1958), Seven Swords Down the Tianshan Mountains (1959) and the 'Kunlun Swordswoman' series. Trained in northern and southern martial styles, she was admired for her agility and vigour in action films. She also starred in many opera films, among them The Merry Emperor (1953), Meeting the Wife at the Western River (1960) and The Great Red Robe (1965) with Yam Kim-fai. Her contemporary films included The Laughing Star Descends to Earth (1952) and the realist drama Typhoon Signal No. 10 (1959), earning her the nickname 'the Gorgeous Prince'. Between 1948 and 1969 she appeared in about 330 films, her last being The Demon-Subduing Sword (1969). She retired in 1966 and moved to San Francisco, returning in the late 1970s for the Rediffusion series The Chasing Clan (1978) and a 1988 cameo, and in 1994 formed a troupe with Law Ka-bo.
With about 330 films between 1948 and 1969, Law Yim-hing was one of the most prolific stars of Cantonese cinema, and her swordswoman roles carried the northern and southern martial arts of Cantonese opera onto the screen. A member of the 'Eight Peonies', she remained active on the opera stage, later joining charity and reunion performances over several decades.
Achievements
- 1948 · Took her first film lead in The Five Rats Storm Tokyo.
- 1949 · Made her name with The Seven Swords and Thirteen Heroes.
- 1994 · Formed the Bo Yim Hung troupe with Law Ka-bo, performing operas such as Forty Years of a Broken Dream.