Yeung Man (born 1938), whose original name was Yeung Kwong-yuk, was born in Chao'an, Guangdong. Yeung learned Chaozhou opera with an amateur troupe in the home region under Su Jincheng, taking the dan (female) role, and later performed on stage. Yeung came to Hong Kong in 1958 and worked as a behind-the-scenes singer for Chaozhou films dubbed into the dialect, including singing for the actress Ng Kwan-lai in the 1957 film Chen Qi Mu Sao. Invited by Ha Fan, Yeung first starred under the stage name Bai Yunxian in the Yifan company's Long Jing Du Tou (1961). Yeung then joined the Dongshan Chaozhou Operatic Art Association and, under the name Yeung Man, appeared in many Dongshan Teochew-language films, among them Jin Yu Nu (1961), Princess Chang Ping (1961), the two-part San Shen Yu Tang Chun (1961–62), Shuang Fu Ma (1961), Bai Shan Ji (1962) and Wen Wu Xiang Qiu (1963). In September 1963, at the producer Hui Kin's invitation, Yeung starred in Qingshan's San Niang Jiao Zi (1963) and also appeared in Ha Fan's Qiulian (1964), making more than ten Teochew-dialect films in all. In the mid-1960s Yeung toured Thailand with leading opera artists such as Chong Suet-kuen and Shek Ling, performing plays including The Pearl Pagoda, Dream of the Red Chamber and The Golden Flower Shepherdess. Yeung lives in Hong Kong. Moving from the Chaozhou opera stage to the screen and then singing behind the scenes for early dubbed films, Yeung's career reflects how closely Hong Kong's Teochew-dialect cinema was tied to the opera troupes in the early 1960s.
Yeung Man moved from the Chaozhou opera stage to the screen, starring in more than ten Teochew-dialect films including Jin Yu Nu and Princess Chang Ping, and also sang behind the scenes for early dubbed films, bearing witness to the flourishing of Hong Kong's Teochew cinema in the early 1960s and to the close ties between opera troupes and studios.
Achievements
- 1958 · Came to Hong Kong and sang behind the scenes for dubbed Chaozhou-dialect films
- 1961 · Starred under the stage name Bai Yunxian in Yifan's Long Jing Du Tou
- 1963 · At producer Hui Kin's invitation, starred in Qingshan's San Niang Jiao Zi