Lee Luk Yung (10 February 1940 – 14 May 2010) was a Chaozhou-dialect film and opera actress. Born in Jieyang, Guangdong, she came to Hong Kong with her mother at the age of ten when life in the countryside became hard. A few years later she joined the Ching Ming Shun Chiu opera troupe, where she met Chan Wing-ming; the couple married when she was sixteen and later joined the Dongshan Chaozhou Operatic Art Association. In 1960 she appeared in the association's first production, Pearl Liu Thrice Tries Yu Zhi Lan, both on stage and in its film version, and also took part in Lu Lin Hui (1960), released by Man Sing. After the association became a long-term partner of Dongshan Film Company, she appeared in many of its releases, most often in male roles, among them Xiao Duan Meng Yi Ban Da Si Jiang Xi Wang (1961), Tian Bo Lou (1962), Shuang Tui Hun (1962), Da Nao Fen Zhuang Lou (1962), Tian Qi Lang (1962) and Bai Yan Hong (1963). She played the lead Di Qing in Eight Precious Princess Pursues Her Husband (1962) and the adulterer Su Jie in Rouge Maiden (1962), both substantial parts. Over her screen career she appeared in more than ten Chaozhou-dialect films, toured on stage with her troupe and also dubbed Chaozhou dialogue for Cantonese period pictures. When the Chaozhou-film boom faded she and her husband kept working for local opera troupes such as Xin Tian Yi, Xin Yue Sheng and Sheng Yi, performing mainly during the Hungry Ghost Festival and occasionally in religious rites. After Chan died in 1980 she continued with the Xin Tian Cai troupe for a few more years before retiring, and she died in Hong Kong on 14 May 2010.
As one of the mainstays of the Dongshan Chaozhou Opera Art Association, Lee specialised in male roles and appeared in more than ten Chaozhou-dialect films. Her career traces how the genre's cast moved into festival and religious opera after Chaozhou cinema declined.
Achievements
- 1960 · Appeared in Pearl Liu Thrice Tries Yu Zhi Lan, the Dongshan Chaozhou Opera Art Association's first work, on stage and in its film version.
- 1961 · Appeared in the Dongshan production Xiao Duan Meng Yi Ban Da Si Jiang Xi Wang, mostly in male roles.
- 1962 · Played the lead Di Qing in male disguise in Eight Precious Princess Pursues Her Husband and the adulterer Su Jie in Rouge Maiden.