Hung Sin-nui

Hung Sin Nui (25 December 1924 – 8 December 2013) was a former Chinese actress and Cantonese opera singer from Hong Kong and China. Hung was a national treasure level Cantonese opera master.

Life In 1924, Hung was born as Kuang Jianlian (Kwong Kin-lim in Cantonese) in Guangzhou, China. Hung's ancestral hometown is in Kaiping, Guangdong province, China. With her aunt Ho Fu-lin as her mentor, she began to sing Cantonese opera at the age of 12. She started from Mui Heung and her first stage name was Siu Yin Hung. She took to the stage from 1939, adopting the stage name Hung Sin Nui (Red Line Girl). Hung's notable films include The Judge Goes to Pieces, A Mother's Tears, Everlasting Love, Wilderness, The Pretty Tigress, Searching the School and Guan Hanqing. 1951 Red and White Azaleas - Mei-Fung 1952 Red Rose, the Songstress (aka Songstress Red Rose) - Red Rose. 1953 A Mother's Tears 1954 Autumn - Maid, Chu Man. 1955 The Pretty Tigress - Pak Yim-Hung/Pak Lan-Chi

Personal life Hung married twice, first to well-known Cantonese opera actor Ma Si-tsang from 1944 to 1955 and then to a writer Hua Shan from 1970 to his death in 1985. Hung had two sons and a daughter from her first marriage: Ma Ting-cheong Ma Ting-sing (born 1949), military commentator and academic Hung Hung, daughter, a Cantonese opera star, during the Cultural Revolution she named her mother in struggle sessions. In 1981 she escaped to Taiwan and criticized the Chinese Communist government. Later she made up her relationship with Hung Sin Nui. When she immigrated to Canada she wanted to take her mother with her, but Hung Sin Nui declined.

Hung died on 8 December 2013 of a heart attack at the Guangdong General Hospital in Guangzhou, China. Hung was 88 years old. Hung is interred at Guangzhou Yihne Public Cemetery in Guangzhou, China.

Legacy Hung was regarded as one of the greatest treasures of Cantonese opera and Hong Kong cinema.

Her son Ma Ting-sing said "mother can be described as 'never abandoning or wavering, with neither complaint nor regret' toward Cantonese Opera. Whether it was in the midst of war or when the market was light, she still insisted on performing and teaching. Even when she faced 70% empty seats she still performed at will and persisted on that passion for Cantonese Opera."