Sun Ma Sze Tsang MBE
Sun Ma Sze Tsang in the 1960s
Born	Tang Wing-Cheung (1916-06-20)20 June 1916 Shunde, Guangdong, China
Died	20 April 1997(1997-04-20) (aged 80) Hong Kong
Resting place	Tseung Kwan O Chinese Permanent Cemetery
Occupation(s)	Movie actor, Cantonese opera singer
Years active	1920s–1996
Spouse	Hung Jin Mui ​ (m. 1992⁠–⁠1997)​ (deceased 2019)
Children	Johnny Tang (b.1967)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	新馬師曾
Simplified Chinese	新马师曾
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Xīn Mǎ Shī Zēng Yue: Cantonese Jyutping San1 Maa5 Si1 Zang1
Musical career
Genres	Cantonese opera
Musical artist

Tang Wing-CheungMBE (Chinese:鄧永祥; 20 June 1916 – 20 April 1997), better known by his stage nameSun Ma Sze Tsang (Chinese:新馬師曾;lit. 'New Ma Sze-Tsang'), was aCantonese opera singer and actor in Hong Kong.

Born inShunde, Guangdong, China, his parents divorced when he was eight. His father, Tang Kei, was a gambling and Cantonese opera addict. He moved to Hong Kong with his mother, Lo Lin, after she had divorced his father. His mother worked as a maid and was often bullied. Tang later left home to learn Cantonese opera.

Tang impressed the Cantonese opera industry by his stunning performance that resembledMa Sze-Tsang, a famous Cantonese opera singer.^[1] His teacher gave him the stagename Sun Ma Sze Tsang, meaning 'New Ma Sze-Tsang'. Sun Ma Sze Tsang became very famous for his singing technique. He later became pupils ofSit Kok-Sin,Kai Chiao-tien and other famous Chinese opera singers in Shanghai. From then on his career flourished and he went on to become a film star, while continuing to perform in Cantonese operas. His film debut was in 1936.

Scientists wanted to study his skeleton to understand how people with a small frame like him could hit ultra-high notes. Sun Ma Sze Tsang refused when he was alive, and his family never approved of it.

Sun was a charitable man who had attended theTung Wah Charity Show for many years, performing his hits likeMan Ok Yan Wai Shou,Emperor Kuang-hsu MournsConsort Zhen. His performances garnered huge amount of donations and were seen byTVB, the largest Hong Kong TV station, as the most important performance in the Tung Wah Charity Show. He, therefore, gained the nickname of 'Opera King of Charity' (慈善伶王) in Hong Kong.

Sun Ma Sze Tsang was appointed, in 1977, an honorary professor of theUniversity of Cambridge. In 1978, he was made aMember of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE).

Sun Ma Sze Tsang suffered frombronchitis and heart diseases. There is a rumour that he was the last man in Hong Kong who had a special license to smoke opium.^[2] Sun Ma Sze Tsang died in hospital on 20 April 1997 at 8:30 pm after staying in hospital for 109 days. After his death, his sons, including TVB artist Johnny Tang, fought a court battle with their birth mother, Hung Jin-Mui, over their father's assets.^[3] Sun Ma Sze Tsang was buried atTseung Kwan O Chinese Permanent Cemetery after a funeral service on 1 May 1997.

• HK cinemagic entry
• Sun Ma Sze Tsang atIMDb
• Sun Ma Sze Tsang at theHong Kong Movie Database

• Hong Kong male Cantonese opera actors
• Hong Kong male film actors
• 1916 births
• 1997 deaths
• People from Foshan
• Male actors from Guangdong
• Members of the Kuomintang
• 20th-century Hong Kong male actors
• 20th-century Chinese male singers
• Chinese male film actors
• 20th-century Hong Kong male singers
• 20th-century Chinese male actors
• Chinese emigrants to British Hong Kong

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