| Sun Ma Sze Tsang | |
|---|---|
| Chinese name | 新馬師曾 |
| Chinese name | 新馬師曾 (Traditional) |
| Chinese name | 新马师曾 (Simplified) |
| Pinyin | Xīn Mǎ Shī Zēng (Mandarin) |
| Jyutping | San1 Maa5 Si1 Zang1 (Cantonese) |
| Birth name | Tang Wing Cheung (鄧永祥) |
| Born | 20 June 1916 Shunde, Guangdong |
| Died | 20 April 1997 (aged 80) Hong Kong |
| Occupation | Movie actor, cantonese opera singer |
| Genre(s) | Cantonese opera |
Sir Sun Ma Sze Tsang (新馬師曾）MBE (20 June 1916 – 20 April 1997) was a Cantonese opera singer and actor in Hong Kong.
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Born as Tang Wing Cheung, in Shunde, Guangdong. He was eight when his parents divorced, his father Tang Kei was a gambling and Cantonese opera addict, when his parents divorced, he moved with his mother Lo Lin to Hong Kong. His mother was often bullied when she was a maid, and Tang decided to leave the house, and from then learnt Cantonese Opera
Later, Tang impressed his bosses in the cantonese opera by his stunning performance that resembled the great Ma Shizeng, hence his master gave him the name Sun Ma Sze Tsang, which in cantonese means new Ma Shizeng. Sun became very popular with his singing technique, and the opera in which he was in went from loss to profit, he later studied under Xue Juexian, Gai Jiaotian and other opera masters in Shanghai. From then on Sun's career flourished and he went to filming movies, and continuing to perform cantonese operas and also movies. Based on records, his earliest film is from 1936.
Sun Ma Sze Tsang is so popular that word has it that scientists wanted his skeleton to know why people who have small frame, could control their voice to such a high pitch, Sun Ma, refused when he was alive, and his family never approved of it.
Sun was a charitable man who has attended the Tung Wah Charity Show for many years, performing his hits like Man Ok Yan Wai Shou, Emperor Guangxu mourns Zhen Fei and other hits that garnered huge amounts of donations in TV. His performances are widely seen by TVB as the biggest performance every time. Sun thus gained the nickname The Charity Opera King in Hong Kong.
Sun was awarded in 1977 a Cambridge university honorary professorship, and a year later was awarded the MBE by Queen Elizabeth II
Sun suffered from bronchitis and heart diseases, legend has it that he was the only man in Hong Kong that has the special license to smoke opium since the 20th century, Sun died in hospital on April 21, 1997 at 8:30pm after 109 days staying in hospital. After Sun's death, Sun's sons including TVB artiste Tang Siew Chuen fought with their birth mother Madam Hong Kam Mui over his assets. Leading to the infamous Tang family assets saga.