繁體中文
向華勝1950年8月生，廣東陸豐人，係香港電影監製、出品人，有時亦做導演、編劇同幕前客串。佢爸爸向前係原國民黨少將，亦係黑社會新義安嘅創辦人；向華勝喺向家十三兄弟中排行第十二，七哥向華波同十哥向華強都活躍於娛樂圈。佢原名向華盛，「永盛」嘅「盛」字就係取自佢。向華勝1974年以演員身分出道，演出《虎拳鐵掌》，1983年再演《風水二十年》，後來主力做電影公司行政。1980年代初，佢同向華強創辦永盛電影公司（中國星前身），出品多部賣座電影；公司最初規模好細，喺尖沙咀得幾十平方米。佢一手捧紅周星馳同張敏等影星，出品嘅《賭神》（1989）由周潤發主演，同導演王晶合作無間，其後嘅《賭俠》、《逃學威龍》系列、《鹿鼎記》、《唐伯虎點秋香》、《九品芝麻官》等，屢屢刷新香港票房紀錄，亦令賭片同喜劇成為港片主流。九十年代係永盛嘅全盛期，香港一年票房收入約十億，佢哋佔約二億五千萬。佢同導演王晶長期合作，亦同周潤發、劉德華、李連杰、周星馳等影星熟稔。據友人講，佢其實更想拍文藝片，只係市場需要而多拍商業片。1993年起，佢一度淡出電影圈，轉為投資股票，並進軍澳門賭業，亞洲金融風暴後事業發展減慢，1999年底才重返影壇。佢為人低調，曾親自否認係黑社會成員。2014年中，佢喺香港驗身時證實患上食道癌，佢拒絕化療，轉去北京求醫，同年11月20日晚喺北京協和醫院因器官衰竭病逝，終年六十四歲；佢太太係端木櫻子，臨終時兩名親姪一直陪伴喺旁，遺體喺11月24日喺北京八寶山火化，骨灰運返香港，喺家族墓園安葬。佢生前一直希望重拍《賭神》。
English
Jimmy Heung Wa-shing was born in August 1950, a native of Lufeng in Guangdong, and became a Hong Kong film producer and presenter who also worked as director, screenwriter and occasional on-screen performer. His father, Heung Chin, was a former Nationalist major-general and founder of the triad Sun Yee On. The twelfth of the Heung family's thirteen brothers, he had two elder siblings active in show business, Heung Wa-bor and Charles Heung, and his original name, Heung Wa-shing, gave the Win's company part of its name. He debuted as an actor in 1974 in 'Tiger Fist, Iron Palm' and appeared again in a 1983 film before concentrating on studio administration. In the early 1980s he and Charles founded Win's Movie Productions, the forerunner of China Star, producing many box-office hits; the company began tiny, occupying only a few dozen square metres in Tsim Sha Tsui. He helped make stars of Stephen Chow and Sharla Cheung, and his productions such as God of Gamblers (1989) grossed HK$37.06 million and topped the 1989 chart; God of Gamblers II, the Fight Back to School series, Royal Tramp, Flirting Scholar and Hail the Judge repeatedly broke Hong Kong box-office records, making gambling films and comedies the mainstream of local cinema. In Win's heyday in the 1990s, of Hong Kong's roughly HK$1 billion annual box office the company took some HK$250 million. He collaborated for years with the director Wong Jing and was close to actors including Chow Yun-fat, Andy Lau, Jet Li and Stephen Chow. According to friends he actually preferred to make arthouse films. He stepped back from the industry from 1993, investing in stocks and Macao's gaming business, his fortunes easing after the Asian financial crisis, and he returned in late 1999. A low-profile figure, he personally denied being a triad member. In mid-2014 a medical check-up in Hong Kong confirmed oesophageal cancer, and he refused chemotherapy, seeking treatment in Beijing, where he died of organ failure at Peking Union Medical College Hospital on the evening of 20 November 2014 at the age of sixty-four; his wife was Duanmu Yingzi, two nephews stayed by his side, and he had long hoped to remake God of Gamblers. His body was cremated at Babaoshan on 24 November and his ashes returned to Hong Kong for burial in the family plot.
