Loong Kim Sang (born 4 November 1944) is a Cantonese opera performer. She is widely regarded as a pioneer in playing "Wenwusheng" lead male roles, combining literary opera and martial arts scenes.
Childhood and training Loong was born Lee Pui Sang on 4 November 1944 (Lunar 19 September 1944), the fourth child of a teacher father and a homemaker mother, who had one son and seven daughters. In 1960, against the wishes of her father and brother but with the financial support of her mother and sisters, she applied to train as a dancer with the Sin Fung Ming troupe created by her mentor Yam Kim-fai and Bak Sheut Sin. She and 21 other finalists were selected for training from 1,000 candidates.龍劍笙 - 細說當年 創藝文化企業有限公司出版 (Publisher:Chuang Yi Wen Hua Qi Ye You Xian Gong Si)
In 1963, the Chor Fung Ming Opera Troupe was founded and Loong was one of 12 of the finalists invited back to learn Huadan and Xiaosheng roles. From 1968 to 1970, she shared the stage with Yam Kim-fai and debuted in 1969 Farewell, My Husband. Loong was recognized as promising during the late 1960s and 1970s, and acted in various types of Cantonese opera as male leads in full versions with several female leads as co-stars.1961年 . Note that photo "Yam-Loong backstage" for Happy Valley Athletic Association (HVAA) Fundraising 05 March 1976 was annotated erroneously as 1979. That event erroneously referred to in the news article actually happened in 1980, the year before Leung Sing Bor passed away.
Loong worked and studied under Yam's tutelage for several years. In 1972, when Yam was invited to perform in Vietnam, Loong went in her place.跟著她「吃飯」的人可不少 - 呂大呂 戲迷情人任劍輝 轉自1973年12月1日出版《大成》第一期 In 1973, she made her home debut in Hong Kong with the Chor Fung Ming (Young Phoenix) Cantonese Opera Troupe (雛鳳鳴).Maybe The Cantonese Opera Diva 01 January 2016 Australia or 舞台下的龍劍笙 14 November 2015 Hong Kong戲曲視窗：重視流派有助粵劇承傳 2010-11-02 2010年11月02日【文滙報】戲曲視窗：香港粵劇不重流派？2010-10-19 2010年10月19日【文滙報】
Early career Loong performed nine times for a week in 1973 and in a total of 11 weeks in 1973/74. Investors and theatre managers would hire the troupe and, if they proved to be profitable, extend their season. Troupes were expected to perform a large repertoire at very short notice.Per RTHK radio 1 【Free as the Wind】 02 January 2017 Episode with Yuen as the guest. From 1973 to the early 1990s, Loong performed in over 50 well-known plays, usually one or two titles a day. These might be requested only the day before by theatre owners, and on overseas tours patrons might send requests written on a beverage napkin.
Having learnt the essential basics like ending rhyme戲曲視窗：我看香港青苗粵劇團的成長（中）2010-12-21 2010年12月21日【文滙報】 韻腳 in the decade of training from 1960 to 1970, Loong could honor new requests without even a day's notice in the evening by studying the manuscript overnight and rehearsing in the afternoon. This was the only way to survive extension after extension since repeating of titles was not acceptable to audiences, except for a small number of popular ones during first overseas tour in Vietnam.江雪鷺是以「雛鳳鳴劇團」六、七十年代開山戲《辭郎州》和《英烈劍中劍》著名的刀馬旦，《戲曲之旅》 第109期 34-37頁、 第110期 32-33頁、 第111期 28-31頁、 第112期 34-37頁、 第115期 23頁、 第116期 30-31頁、 第125期 28-29頁。 淡出舞台多時，身懷優質演藝細胞的江雪鷺。 江雪鷺 的新搞作 2006年《戲曲之旅》第50期第16至17頁 文武全才江雪鷺，《戲曲之旅》第134期 106-109頁 第十一期《大學線》有血有淚有汗︰「當年考上了仙鳳鳴劇團當舞蹈藝員，在八個月的訓練中要學會合步及舞蹈，例如一字馬、雲步、採海等。現在回想起來真的有血有汗又有淚。」有「仙派文武旦后」美譽的江雪鷺說從前的戲迷,熱情不比現今流行歌手的歌迷遜色︰「我和戲迷已經成為了好朋友。」 Thus in 1975 a planned 21-day Singapore trip was extended to 66 days (77 shows).
Historical overseas tours 1972, Her first overseas tour was in Vietnam, doing more than over 40 shows in 37 days, at a theatre in Cholon, Ho Chi Minh City. 1975, SE Asia, 106 shows in 91 days, at Ketra Ayers People's Theatre in Singapore and elsewhere.A souvenir for top HK artiste from Goh, The Straits Times, 13 July 1975, Page 6 Deputy Prime Minister Goh Keng Swee invited the troupe to attend the celebration of the tenth Singapore National Day.Charity performance by Hong Kong Cantonese opera troupe at Kreta Ayer People's Theatre, Ministry of Information and the Arts Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore Sample image 1 and Sample image 2 Ending scene Loong fighting the villain, Goh 24 April 1975, stage wide image, and close up image from left to right:- Loong, Madam Choo Sow Yin (Cau2 Daan2) as grandmother character and female lead Kong as sister 1976, SE Asia, 117 shows in 102 days: Loong's troupe returned to Singapore in 1976 because there were requests for more performances after 77 sold-out performances the year before.Big come-back for Chinese opera, New Nation, 16 July 1976, Page 13Midweek, New Nation, 10 November 1976, Page 10 to 11, departed after 72 days of Kreta Ayer People's Theater performanceHK show a success, The Straits Times, 5 June 1981, Page 12, Mr. Phua Bah Lee, Parliamentary Secretary (1968-1988)All aglow again to lure new fans, The Straits Times, 9 February 1986, Page 12 1978, United States and Canada, 89 shows in 71 days.A rightful place in opera front, The Straits Times, 11 June 1981, Page 4 1982, Loong was invited to perform for the Christmas season by the Caesars Palace casino in Las Vegas. This followed the in stage success of The Story of Emperor Li. This was a theatrical adaptation of a failed 1968 film, Tragedy of the Poet King. Loong hired Yip Shiu-Tak (葉紹德) to adapt it for the stage. 1984 North America tour, the Mayor of New York, Ed Koch, honored the troupe she led just as Mei Lanfang had been honored in the 1930s after the performance at the Sun Sing Theatre.
Film Loong made only four films, including three remakes of works by Yam.梨園青黃不接 記者:曾錦玲/黃渭瑜 編輯:陳綺娜 第十一期《大學線》HKMDB 01/30/1968, 02/08/1975, 01/30/1976 and 02/12/1977
YearMovie TitleTitle In ChineseCharacter In MovieIn ChineseDirectorDirector In Chinese1968Tragedy of the Poet King李後主King's Brother Li Congshan皇弟李從善Lee Sun-Fung李晨風1975Laugh in the Sleeve三笑姻緣Tong Pak-Fu唐伯虎Lee Tit 李鐵1976Princess Chang Ping帝女花Zhou Shixian周世顯John Woo吳宇森1977The Legend of the Purple Hairpin紫釵記Li Yi李益Lee Tit 李鐵
Sabbatical and return, 1992–2014 On 10 March 1992 Loong announced her retirement and moved to Canada.Women Pioneer in Hong Kong, population Seven million, the Debut guest 七百萬人的先鋒 07 April 2012 Hong Kong "獻醜不如藏拙" - Loong's motto A number of factors played a role in her decision. In 2012 and 2014, Loong disclosed that before her retirement she had been in poor health, particularly since the death of her mentor Yam in 1989.阿刨夢中見任姐 師徒生死相分 【明報專訊】2014.10.09 發表 In her later years Yam had advised Loong to consider retiring because of the lack of good new scripts. She did not want Loong to simply continue performing legacy works to make a living.牡丹亭來的男人 周耀輝 原發表於1990年3月23日《信報》文化版。 By the time she retired Loong was exhausted from close to 150 performances per year.
Many of the people she had worked closely with in her earlier career were no longer with her by 1992. Two Chu brothers were musicians who had composed scores for Yam as well as for Loong herself, died in 1981 and 1985. Two associates from her dance class of 1960 moved on in 1988 when her godfather Luo Pinchao also left China for the United States. Other veterans of the group, including Lang Chi Bak, also left or retired.
In November 2004, in commemoration of 15th anniversary of her death, her mentor Yam Kim Fai, Loong returned to the stage. Her work from 2005 onwards received great critical acclaim戲曲視窗：有聲粵劇歷史 2011-01-04 2011年01月04日【文滙報】 戲曲視窗：粵劇觀眾大量流失 2009-12-29 2009年12月29日【文滙報】戲曲視窗：粵劇寒風何時減退 2003-12-09 2003年12月09日【文滙報】戲曲視窗：粵劇前途未卜 2009-10-06 2009年10月06日【文滙報】戲曲視窗：粵劇新世代 2009-12-22 2009年12月22日【文滙報】 and Loong remains the Cantonese Opera performer with the best box-office record.11月騷 10月8日開售 頭條日報 20140914 報導 開售前六天（10月2日），已有不少刨迷在售票處門外排隊。龍劍笙十場折子戲門票30分鐘賣清光！【on.cc東網專訊】 20141008 報導 龍劍笙宣布加場【文滙報】馮仁昭四圍超：阿刨加開10場【蘋果日報】 阿刨開心賀壽(農曆生日)宣布加10場 【東方日報】 阿刨慶生宣佈 《任藝笙輝》加場【頭條日報】阿刨慶生宣佈加場【澳門日報】20141014 報導 刨姐演《牡丹》《紫釵》懷念恩師 【大公報】20141111 報導粵劇不死 【澳門日報】20160509 報導
From September 2005 to September 2008 Loong gave 80 charity performances to full houses (mostly full versions of two titles) in Hong Kong and Macau. Despite having undergone keyhole surgery just two months before performances started Loong took on a very demanding role as male lead in Di Nü Hua.戲曲視窗：粵劇導演不懂粵劇 2010-06-15 2010年06月15日【文滙報】, 戲曲視窗：冬寒花更香 2008-12-16 2008年12月16日【文滙報】 and 戲曲視窗：身段是戲曲的標誌 2010-05-04 2010年05月04日【文滙報】
In 2009, for the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China, a series of celebrations were held in Hong Kong. Loong was invited as one of two special guests to perform in the Hong Kong Coliseum "on 31 October" in a Cantonese opera gala to celebrate National Day.龍劍笙壓軸演國慶騷 2009年5月23日 but
In August 2010, when a new manuscript was sent to her in Canada, Loong replied within couple of days that she had no plans to return to the stage.
Since 2014
In 2014,「任白」得意門生龍劍笙（阿刨）演出共25場《任藝笙輝念濃情》折子戲圓滿結束，阿刨在尾場淚浸戲台，教人動容。爆106歲母親長壽秘訣 【on.cc東網專訊】 對兩位年輕花旦而言，此乃天上掉下來、千載難逢的機會也！阿刨風采 【澳門日報】台語國寶x粵劇國寶 江蕙香港交流龍劍笙 【蘋果日報】 Loong shared stage for the first time with some new "love interests" to commemorate the quarter of a century since the death of her mentor Yam. The title of this event in Chinese was "Ren Yi Sheng Hui Nian Long Qing" (任藝笙輝念濃情), a series of 25 shows as a tribute to her mentor Yam's iconic roles on stage.
The press praised the effort in 2014 and called for continuation of opportunities in the future for other up-and-coming performers.任藝笙輝後 誰再念濃情？ 【大公報】葉中敏2015年1月15日 Loong responded with 16 shows in 2015/2016 at the Lyric Theatre, HKAPA, where all the performers except her were up-and-coming performers in main roles. The headline production in this series was “The Purple Hairpin”(龍劍笙:紫釵記全劇).梁煒康飾演崔允明及黃衫客。再刨紫釵 輕羽【大公報】2016年1月08日"任腔" (1) Impression as per Eunice Lam 明周第2402期林燕妮:聲含情 字含韻 (2) Mainly influenced by - Masculine traits (字字鏗鏘) of Yam style(任腔) is one of the more famous exponent of Kwai Ming Yeung style. (3) Detail description 戲曲視窗：任劍輝唱片曲知多少？2013-01-15 2013年01月15日【文滙報】
The Peony Pavilion (Chinese: 龍劍笙 - 牡丹亭驚夢全劇) was staged in 2017/8 to complete the 2014 events in remembrance of mentor Yam. In 2019 Loong staged 13 performances of “Di Nü Hua” (28 November – 14 December) to commemorate 30 years (1989–2019) since the deathof mentor Yam Kim Fai.
Accolades 1982 Gold Disc Award1982 Gold Disc Award 1990 Artists of the Year Awards in acting: Best Actor Award by the Hong Kong Artists Alliance. 2011 IFPI awards: (credited as Lung Kim Sheng), Award for Excellent Contribution to Cantonese Opera IFPI (香港粵劇貢獻大獎).IFPI HKG 2011 The IFPI Hong Kong Award for Excellent Contribution to Cantonese Opera. 2012 IFPI awards: (credited as Lung Kim Sheng), DVD "Ren Qu Sheng Yun" () and "Long Qing Shi Yi Ban Shi Ji" (龍情詩意半世紀).IFPI HKG 2012, first year List of Best Sales Releases, Classical and Operatic Works Recording (Order in Chinese Stroke Counts) 2015 IFPI awards: (credited as Lung Kim Sheng), received recognition for her effort to remember her mentor Yam Kim Fai and to bring up-and-coming performers onto stage in 2014. 2016 IFPI awards: (credited as Lung Kim Sheng), DVD "Zi Chai Ji (Quan Ju)" 紫釵記(全劇)
References