Tang Ti-sheng


Tang Ti-sheng , born Tang Kang-nien, was a Cantonese opera playwright, scriptwriter, and film director. His contributions to Cantonese opera significantly influenced Hong Kong's reform and development of the genre beginning in the late 1930s.
During his twenty-year career, Tang composed over 400 operas and achieved immense popularity within the Cantonese opera scene. He also wrote the film scripts adapted from his own operas, directed the movies and at times acted in them himself.
He collapsed in the Lee Theatre and died later in St. Paul's Hospital. He was survived by his second wife, their two daughters and two more children. A fifth child Cheng mentioned in a 1989 interview, after the passing of Yam Kim Fai, is not listed on Tang's headstone.

Early life

Tang was born in Heilongjiang province, northeastern China. Upon graduating from the Guangdong Sun Yat-sen Memorial Middle School, Tang reportedly attended the Shanghai Fine Arts School and also the Shanghai Baptist College. With the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Tang fled south to Hong Kong in 1937 where he joined the Kok Sin Sing Opera Troupe led by his double in-law and one of the "Four Super Stars" Sit Gok Sin. His first wife was the tenth sister of Sit while Sit was married to his paternal first cousin. Tang worked as a copyist and assistant to Fung Chi-fen and Nam Hoi Sup-sam Long, two famous writers for the troupe.
Encouraged by Sit Gok Sin, Tang began his career as a playwright in 1938 with his first opera The Consoling Lotus of Jiangcheng. Throughout the next twenty years Tang wrote a total of 446 opera scripts, while 80 of those were adapted for films.
During the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong, Tang penned many scripts for his wife and her co-stars to stage in return for food and found his footing eventually. #2 of #30Leaped into fame with the script White Poplar, Red Tears that Yam Kim Fai found worth "giving it a try" when script was short in supply.
It was first staged by the New Voice Opera Troupe of Yam and then adapted for a film starring Tang's close personal friend Luo Pinchao. Yam also released a vocal recording of the theme song with a well-known vocalist as the female lead.
In total, Tang directed nine films and acted in four of them. His first script for film production was The Tolling Bell with the help of Ng Cho-fan who in 1989 described how sick Tang looked the afternoon before collapsing in the Lee Theatre.

Career

Tang started out as in-law of the Sit household. Tang's rise from modesty to greatness went through a process generally taken to have three stages of remarkable improvements.

Initial stage

Ng Cho-fanUpon the divorce in 1941/2, Tang started working mostly with Chan Kam Tong to make ends meet. Chan, the first student of Sit, voted as champion among young warriors by the audience in 1950s, is on record his most frequent customer. There is only one title Red Silk Shoes and The Murder, with no fighting scene at all, Tang wrote for Chan in 1957 is still popular today.

Intermediate stage

The end of Second Sino-Japanese War started the busiest decade, until films took over, of 1900s in Hong Kong and SE Asia as a whole for Cantonese opera. When Tang's work still had plenty of room for improvement, the vocal performances made a big difference. His preference to work with, actresses as female leads over top-billed male leads, were Fong and Hung. His archrival was husband of an actress who is famous for mostly fighting scenes although she was also known by fellow performers as great old-school vocalist as Lady White Snake. Fong and Hung vocal styles were both new creations at the time. The two camps each had a usual venue on opposite side of the HK harbor.
Tang worked with musicians/composers below regularly in 1950s. Only some names are available in English. Except the Chu brothers and those who had already passed away, they talked about Tang on radio shows in 1980s.
  1. 王粵生 Wong Yue Sang
  2. 林兆鎏 Lam Siu Lau
  3. 吳一嘯 Ng Yat Siu
  4. 朱毅剛 Chu Ngai Kong, brothers
  5. 朱兆祥 Chu Siu Cheung, brothers
  6. 劉兆榮 Lau Siu Wing
  7. 黎浪然 Langran Li
  8. 靳永棠 Kan Wing Tong
On 25 August 1989, months before Wong Yue Sang passed away, Mr. Wong talked about his experience working with Tang on radio show. Tang's collaboration with Mr. Wong created theme songs that were instant hits at debut on stage. One example was the Hung Sin Nui December 1951 hit Red Candle Tears.#6 of #30Lyrics that Tang wrote before Mr. Wong came up with the musical score.
Fong Yim Fun, of Sun Yim Yeung Opera Troupe, was the other actress known for, inter alia, holding her own court with vocal performances, on stage throughout 1950s. She worked with Tang until she retired around the time Tang died.
These two “little palace maids” of the Shing Sou Lin Opera Troupe, Fong and Hung, vocal styles dominate the Cantonese opera world since early 1950s, with Hung mostly to the north of Hong Kong while Fong in Hong Kong and overseas until Hung visited Hong Kong in 1980 again since her departure in 1955. Hung presented the second Mrs. Tang the trophy for Golden Needle Award of RTHK Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award 1986 – .
The Immortal Zhang Yuqiao #11 of #30was a milestone in his career when he was asked to help an academic Jian Youwen in 1954 for the Sun Yim Yeung Troupe. The brutal blow to Tang's ego resulted in the first sign of enlightenment, better crafted lines spoken by the husband Cai Yong in ending scene of The Story of the Lute in early 1956.
The Summer Snow #17 of #30 is the last hit collaboration of Fong/Tang and Yam Kim Fai while Hung and Yam stopped sharing the stage much earlier in 1953.
His scripts, albeit monolithically Mandarin and Butterfly :zh-tw:鸳鸯蝴蝶派|鴛鴦蝴蝶派, gradually matured to making the performers successful instead of relying on the performers to make his scripts successful.

Final stage

Tang, in and out of hospital for his heart problem, was rumored to be mixing alcohol with coffee as he encountered writer's block in these four years. Mind over heart? Or heart over mind? He hurried to throw in the kitchen sink. One reason could be that linchpin Yam Kim Fai, after more than 30 years, was ready to quit stage performance entirely especially after some surgeries in 1950s. That is, make or break, time for last call.
Tang only worked with those he found worthwhile to spend time and effort on. For example, good vocalist Tam Lan Hing, whose physique was same as the first Mrs. Tang, was never on Tang's radar.
At this stage, Tang immersed himself in work to create "the perfect female lead for the male lead to dive head first for" roles for only his favorite few actresses. Audience was led to admire, respect, love,.., pity, feel sorry for the noble/honorable female characters he wrote. What's leftover for the male lead to make do with gave them very few "roles of a lifetime". In 1990, one columnist wondered why ladies in the audience would be hooked to the male lead character and eventually also to the performer personally.

Influenced by Cheng Meng-har

Born to a Chinese father and a Japanese mother, Cheng Meng-har was an accomplished Chinese opera performer long before Tang started diving into some of his most famous career choices. A ‘’in Cantonese’’ only radio show had a complete account of Tang’s life and work, from birth to death. Other than personal hygiene, lifestyle and family, major contributions in several aspects the second Mrs. Tang made are:-
Generally
  1. Instead of travelling like Hung and Sit had to, Cantonese opera performers were introduced to assorted Chinese opera performers in Hong Kong by Cheng.
  2. Ma Lianliang was in Hong Kong briefly and met with Lang Chi Bak who talked about the occasion in 1986 on radio.
  3. Others, particularly those Mei Lanfang related, stayed behind and were fully engaged for decades as tutors and mentors.
Title specific
In 1959, Yam edited as she saw fit when she chaired the script-review sessions with six pillars and Tang at the table. Photograph recorded this scene with Lam Kar Sing in it.
The audience laughed out loud when a female lead delivered her line about her character being 15/16 years old only in some of the biggest stage productions in 2000s Hong Kong. The costume design, bag lady in high price fabric, did not provide the kind of support needed to fight gravity and therefore did not help either. For male leads, the lack of precision about age generally makes it less offensive to audience when actors in those male lead roles show their pot belly on stage if they still have all the other essential qualities such as good vocal performances.
Tang botched a few times before finding his footing and came up with his life's work, in very quick succession, those titles now represent Tang in Cantonese opera. Beauty is in the eye of beholder. He understood the limit of imagination of audience to follow his desire. His desire was for audience to see the female lead as irresistible. The male lead also had to convince the audience such young lady in his arms that lovable for very good reason.
The 1956 Pan4 Hing1 was not a success to say the least. As such, what did not happen was the film Dream of Red Chamber directed by and produced by a new production company, with Yam as Jia Baoyu along with:-
#18 of #30Notwithstanding the excellent track record of such a classic novel, Tang's 1956 The Dream of the Red Chamber did not register with the audience even though the male lead, Yam Kim Fai, had been very well-received for over a decade as Jia Baoyu already since the debut of another version of same title in Macau. In 1964, Yam basically put Loong up against Xu Yulan, the then contemporary best known Jia Baoyu from a 1962 Chinese opera film, having her student with only a year of training to debut as such character. The 1983 version with Loong Kim Sang as the male lead has also been very well-received.
Without cult of personality, Yam became known as Hei Mai Ching Yan under such circumstances. In 1959, Yam was photographed with a pen in hand reviewing Tang's last title, with the second male lead for debut, Lam Kar Sing, and Tang at the table. Yam and Loong, her successor, had demonstrated how little difference it made when they each had different co-stars in these titles known as the BIG FOUR.
Repertoire by chronological order of debut:-
On air for the 50th anniversary of Tang's passing, Lau Tin Chi commented in 2009 how "unreasonably grumpy, ill-tempered " the debut female lead had been in this character to him.
Yam and then Loong took these four titles along with many other titles of Tang all around the world, including Vietnam and Las Vegas. However, their reputation as iconic started in mid-1970s. In those years since the 1970 grinding halt, Cantonese film productions in Hong Kong were few and far between. Loong and fellow classmates were limited by design to play characters in these four only and none others, in order to boost the status of these titles of teachers. Yam had much more under her belt beyond these but other teachers were not in the same shoes. Fame came much faster and through wider audience from cinemas than theaters.
Loong's first film as male lead was, except for Yam who made it happen, an unexpected hit. The grand plan came only since then. It started with Di Nü Hua directed by John Woo and ended with the next low-budget production by director Lee Tit. Lee wanted to make The Peony Pavilion in 1975 but in vain. Being under the weather in 1976, Yam neither monitored the work of Lee nor found the result satisfactory after it was all said and done. Egoism, copyrights and profitability led to wars among studios/directors/producers/copyright-holders. Yam put an end to all related activities. Loong's loyalty to Yam was tested. Loong sent the offer of "HK$100,000 per film" right back to Yam. That stopped the yet-to-be-named person in his track. Director Kong Lung talked about his desire related to The Reincarnation of a Beauty in 1989.
Characteristics of the BIG FOUR are:-
1). Main characters:-
2). Plot good in structure and logic
3). Polished and well crafted lines/lyrics
4). Melodies and scores well-received
5). Glamorous setting and costumes to match
6). Big casts
7). Rehearsals
8). Sing and dance but duet instead of solo
9). Hanky-panky
10). Happy ending

Roles as Mature with Life Experience

Tang chaired the script-review sessions with the six pillars.
was an up-and-coming performer who just hit big with her martial agility in the breakthrough role of Leang Hung-yuk in How Liang Hongyu's War Drum Caused the Jin Army to Retreat when Tang was ready to help her excel as "verdant-robed girls". To commemorate the 30th anniversary of Tang's passing, Ng put five titles of their collaboration on stage in Hong Kong City Hall from 4 to 8 in June 1989.
The female leads, not described as particularly lovable, in these five titles go through life starting out young or already married with a son while the male leads had major interactions between themselves. Cast for debut were all actors who could hold their own courts. No successors to those actors however spent time on these titles as Loong did for Yam's legacy titles. That may explain the relative lack of popularity compared to the BIG FOUR.
Original male lead for most of these titles was Ho Fei Fan, a well-known vocalist who held his own court and one of the very few actors who successfully portrayed Jia Baoyu. In The Blessings of the Moon, the original scene when male and female leads meet, date and get engaged has been replaced by a clean version for the male lead to look more decent in the minds of actors who picked up the baton since Ho. Actors of a generation, except only one recently, found such move of a hot-blooded young man, a scholar, to be scandalous. Hard to tell if a scholar's mind in the gutter or those actors' minds in the gutter was the true reason. It was confirmed to be the later in 2018 by Law Kar Ying.

Copyright

In addition to the usual one time payment from Yam, Loong provided ex-gratia payments of a few thousand dollars each year for Tang's family as a friendly gesture for years. In 1990, not long since the passing of Yam,the second Mrs. Tang sold copyright of about 34 titles, mostly those Loong performed over the years, for a 6-figure sum in HK$, contrary to the gentleman's agreement Tang made with his customers regularly as a librettist. In mid-1980, Loong wrote about her conflicting emotions being the lucky one carrying the torch, probably only because Tang passed away so young. A simple way to put it, but not her words, could be:
「生笙不識，生生不熄！」

Book deals, interviews on TV or radio, by the Press in general, academics' researches, former acquaintances, etc. became the livelihood of those, pedestrian A, not even remotely related to Tang. Instead of stealing Tang's bowl of thunder, they became known informally as something like Tang Scholars instead of successors of the sort that could come up with more decent opera scripts. In 2009, Yuen opined that Loong was the only performer of their generation could have put another librettist on the map. Unfortunately, that could have happened only if Loong were not required to stay with all the Tang's titles, good or bad, since debut as career performer. The attempts to breakthrough were resisted, in no bigger way than:
  1. 1982 The Story of Emperor Li production, Loong's successful attempt to break that mold or
  2. Mid-1970s rumored but failed attempt of Run Run Shaw to make a Dream of the Red Chamber film instead of what ended up in 1977 by another film production company or
  3. Failed attempt to make a Farewell, My Husband film in Cantonese instead of what ended up in 1970s.
To people around Tang beyond immediate family, they benefited from what could be exhibit A for
"...worth more dead than alive." – quote from Death of a Salesman

Fong Yim Fun appeared to be the only performer who managed her collaborations with Tang best by getting the film rights and making the films as many times as she wanted to her satisfaction. Lam Kar Sing also appeared to have learnt from Fong when he kept most of his collaborations with librettists published in his troupe's name. On the contrary, Loong was made to record CD for free for librettist in 1980 and could not get other CDs made on her own with that librettist's approval. However, said librettist renamed the pieces and sold them as many times as he wanted on top of royalty payments.
sometimes for one troupe in Hong Kong while the other troupe performed in Vietnam, per Ng Kwun Lai. A Wife in Nobility is Never Free and Marrying the Sister-in-Law may be another example of legitimate twins since they are both Fong's work but decades apart by Tang. The clean version of Yam's The Marriage of Tang Bohu renamed as The Marriage of Three Smiles for Loong is also well-known. A few evil doubles have no such proofs and therefore are not necessarily legitimate twins. For example, same plot, lines, lyrics and names for characters in contemporary opera title Heaven Brought Us Together instead of using those titles on records, Loong's A Phoenix in Springtime or Yam's The Merry Phoenix.
  1. Ex-gratia payments, an honor for Loong, was confirmed by the second Mrs. Tang on radio in 1980s but never reported by publications from very serious academics or pedestrian A. Rewriting history had been the case more often than not in works of academics, especially from universities in Hong Kong. Another piece of evidence illustrating the paid for or motivated to be biased nature of publications on Cantonese opera.)

    [Libretti]

Over 440 in total.

A

  1. All Because of a Smile

    B

  2. Beautiful Begonia or Beautiful Crab Apple Flower
  3. Beauty Fades From Twelve Ladies' Tower
  4. A Beauty's Flourishing Fragrant or A Pedestal of Rouge Fragrance or Sweet Dew on a Beautiful Flower
  5. Bird at Sunset
  6. The Blessings of the Moon
  7. A Buddhist Recluse for Fourteen Years

    C

D

  1. Di Nü Hua
  2. Dong Xiaowan
  3. The Double-Pearl Phoenix
  4. The Dream Encounter Between Emperor Wu of Han and Lady Wai
  5. The Dream of the Red Chamber
  6. Dream of the West Chamber

    E

  7. The Eternal Peony

    F

  8. Flower of the Night
  9. Forty Years of Cherished Love
  10. The Fourth Son of the Yang Family Visits His Mother
  11. The Frosty Night

    G

  12. The Gilded Fan
  13. Goddess of the Luo River
  14. Goddess from Ninth Heaven
  15. Golden Leaf Chrysanthemum

    H

  16. The Happy Wedding
  17. The Hero and the Concubine

    I

  18. The Impatient Bride
  19. I'm Crazy About You

    J

K

L

  1. The Lady’s Sash
  2. Lonely Moon on a Lonely Bed or Sad Autumn for the same Chinese title
  3. The Lover with a Heart of Steel
  4. Lovers' Reunion or Returning Home on a Snowy Night
  5. The Love Song in the Scripture
  6. Love Triangle

    M

  7. The Marriage of Tang Bohu
  8. Marrying the Sister-in-Law
  9. Mistake at the Flower Festival
  10. Mrs. Cheng "Alias: A Forsaken Woman"
  11. Mysterious Murder or Hongling's Blood as directed by Tang in 1951

    N

  12. Nocturnal Dreams of Love

    O

  13. The Outburst of a Shrew

    P

  14. Pearl Pagoda and )
  15. The Peony Pavilion
  16. A Phoenix in Springtime or renamed The Merry Phoenix
  17. The Purple Hairpin

    Q

R

  1. Rain Flower
  2. Rainbow at the End
  3. Red Cherries and a Broken Heart
  4. The Red Plum Pavilion
  5. Red Silk Shoes and the Murder
  6. Red Tears of an Aspen or White Poplar, Red Tears
  7. Regret from the Spring Lantern and Feather Fan
  8. The Reincarnation of a Beauty
  9. Reunion at Rouge Alley
  10. The Reunion by a White Hare
  11. Romance Across the East Wall
  12. Romantic Night
  13. A Romance of Pear Blossoms

    S

  14. A Scholar in a Buddhist House
  15. The Spy Who Loves Me
  16. The Story of Horse Selling and with the same English title of this story
  17. The Story of the Lute
  18. The Story of a Woman Scholar at the Han Place
  19. The Summer Snow
  20. Swallows Come Home
  21. The Swallow's Message
  22. A Sweet Girl's Fancies
  23. Sword of Destined Revenge

    T

  24. Tears of Ashes
  25. The Ten-Year Dream

    U

V

W

  1. War Cape of Rouge and Blood
  2. The Widow with Grievance
  3. A Wife in Nobility is Never Free

    X

  4. Xi Shi

    Y

  5. You Sisters of the Red Chamber
  6. Younger Brother Bridge

    Z

Musicians worked with Tang