From The Consoling Lotus to The Red Plum: The Legend of Tong Tik-sang’s Creative Career

Creative Career of Tong Tik-sang

1917 – 1937  An Illustrious Family Background
1937 – 1938  Entering the “Pear Garden” & Encountering the Masters of Cantonese Opera
1938 – 1941  The Gradual Revealing of a Youthful Talent, Abundant First Fruits
1942 – 1945  City Walls Break, the Nest Overturns: A Triumphant Success & Bumper Harvest
1946 – 1950  Arduous Labor Cultivates an Outstanding Career
1951 – 1954  Popular Actors Interaction & Another Peak of Career
1955 – 1959  Five Years at the Peak, An Excellent Talent Perishes
Epilogue – Striving for Perfection with Unprecedented Achievements

1917 – 1937 An Illustrious Family Background

Tong Tik-sang (唐滌生), originally named Tong Kong-nin (唐康年), was born to a family native to Zhongshan, Guangdong. He was born on 18 June 1917 in Shanghai (although some also say Heilongjiang Province).

The Tong clan was one of the distinguished families of Guangdong, with an ancestry indigenous to Tong Ka Wan. This location was the main entry between Guangdong Province and the outside world, the cradle of Lingnan culture. The family fostered numerous eminent members, including entrepreneurs and politicians, such as Tong Shao-yi (唐紹儀), Tong Qiao-qing (唐翹卿), Tong Ting-shu (唐廷樞), Tong Kwo-on (唐國安), etc.

Tong Tik-sang spent his childhood in Shanghai, and in 1935 returned to Zhongshan, Guangdong, where he studied at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Middle School. There, he was elected president of the student union and launched a student movement. In early 1937, after the death of his mother, he followed his father to live in Shanghai. During this period, he studied at the Baihe Academy of Fine Arts and at Huijiang University (also known as Shanghai College), set up by American missionaries. At the same time, he served as a stage lighting operator and prompter at the “Huguang Drama Troupe”, where celebrities gathered. He had many opportunities to get involved in Peking opera, drama and movies.

In July of that same year, the Japanese invasion of China began with the “Marco Polo Bridge Incident”. At this time, Tong’s father passed away and he moved to Guangzhou with his stepmother. It was said that he returned to Zhongshan to join a drama group where he wrote a play called Fishing Fire to promote anti-Japanese and patriotic ideology.

1937 – 1938 Entering the “Pear Garden” & Encountering the Masters of Cantonese Opera

In 1937, after the fall of Guangzhou to the Japanese, Tong Tik-sang fled alone to Hong Kong. There he joined the Gok Sin-sing Cantonese Opera Troupe, led by Sit Gok-sin (薛覺先), the husband of his cousin Tong Suet-hing (唐雪卿). On 23 September 1937, he married Sit Gok-sin’s younger sister, Sit Gok-ching (薛覺清).

At that time, the Gok Sin-sing Cantonese Opera Troupe hired many famous playwrights, including Mak Siu-ha (麥嘯霞), Nam Hoi Sup-sam Long (南海十三郎), Li Siu-wen (李少芸), Fung Zi-fen (馮志芬), Alice Yung (容寶鈿), Wang Jiangnan (望江南), and others. Tong Tik-sang became their assistant and was responsible for copying the first drafts of plays into manuscripts. Sit Gok-sing asked Mak Siu-ha and Fung Zi-fen to give pointers to Tong, while Tong also looked on Sit Gok-sing and Mak Siu-ha as his idols.

The Gok Sin-sing Cantonese Opera Troupe had been running for nearly ten years, and as a result, they had accumulated hundreds of age-old synopses, and clay-printed and lead-printed scripts for both traditional and contemporary operas. Together with their own and other troupes’ collections, these rich materials would in the future provide a lot of inspiration and subject matter for Tong Tik-sang’s career as a playwright.

1938 – 1941 The Gradual Revealing of a Youthful Talent, Abundant First Fruits

For more than a year, while working as a copyist, Tong Tik-sang had delved into many play scripts and watched many dramas. In 1938, he released his first Cantonese opera The Consoling Lotus of Jiangcheng. The opera was performed by the Hoi Chu Opera Company of Men and Women led by Pak Kui-wing (白駒榮). The story used Jin-Song Wars* to exhort the Chinese to strive to resist the Japanese. In terms of those times, it can be said that it was a was an innovative work, a masterpiece whose plot was both romantic and reasonable.

In 1939, Tong Tik-sang wrote two operas, Yang Baozong and Crossing the Nai He Sky, performed by the Aroma Cantonese Opera Troupe led by Chan Kam-tong (陳錦棠).

In 1940, Tong Tik-sang’s first movie debuted, The Tolling Bell, which starred Ng Cho-fan (吳楚帆) and Lai Cheuk-cheuk (黎灼灼). He also used his stage name “Tong Dan” to take a role in the film, and reached a state where he achieved in three areas: opera, movies, and acting.

In 1941, before the fall of Hong Kong, Tong Tik-sang completed a total of four Cantonese opera scripts, composed songs for one Cantonese opera, and finished one screenplay. The first Cantonese opera script Fog in the Flower he wrote for Sit Gok-sin; the second one Meet Me After Spring was written for Chan Kam-tong; the remaining two scripts were written for Sun Ma Sze Tsang (新馬師曾), named Bei Yan Nan Fei and The Eternal Beauty Chiu Fei-yin. The songs in Long Miles were written by Tong Tik-sang and composed by Mai Bao-lin (麥寶琳). Three Amorous Women was his second screenplay filmed in the same year.

From 1930 to 1941, Hong Kong Cantonese opera entered its peak period. The content of the repertoire, the music, and even the organizational system of the troupes all bear the marks of a type of fresh and bright new atmosphere. Tong Tik-sang was able to immerse himself in the achievements and efforts of the previous generation of artists, and thanks to his connections and relationship with Sit Gok-sin, he obtained immediate success, and his youthful talent began to gradually emerge.

*The Jin-Song wars were a series of conflicts between the non-Han Jurchen Jin dynasty (1115–1234) and Han Chinese Song dynasty (960–1279).

1942 – 1945 City Walls Break, the Nest Overturns: A Triumphant Success & Bumper Harvest

In December 1941, Hong Kong fell to the Japanese. In early 1942, in order to present a false appearance of peace and prosperity, the Japanese army forced the Cantonese opera artists to start performing. Gok Sin-sing Cantonese Opera Troupe, lacking food, and short of money, and under the intimidation of the Japanese army, took the lead in starting to perform. Thereupon, the word on the street spread, “Gok Sin-sing is a traitor.”

Tong Tik-sang divorced Sit Gok-ching in 1942; it’s said he wanted to draw a clear dividing line separating him from the Sit family. Later, he married Cheng Meng-ha (鄭孟霞), a famous Beijing opera performer. Cheng was born to an abundantly wealthy family and was of Chinese and Japanese ancestry. In 1937, she left Shanghai for Hong Kong. Before the fall of Hong Kong, she had starred in 17 films. The four Cantonese operas written by Tong Tik-sang in 1942 were all written for Cheng after they got married.

1943 and 1944 were the first “prolific years” in Tong Tik-sang’s creative career. In 1943, he completed a total of 44 scripts, including 16 operas written for Cheng Meng-ha and 24 operas written for Pak Kui-wing. Tong made his name with the masterpiece Bird in the Sunset, which was adapted from Zhang Henshui’s (張恨水) famous novel.

1944 was the most productive year in Tong Tik-sang’s career. He completed a total of 58 scripts, with more than 50 of them written for Cheng Meng-ha, including Tears and Laughter, The Bride Napping, My Kingdom for a Husband, etc. In 1945, Tong completed 26 scripts. In these two years, many of his operas were made into films, including Peacock Flying Southeast and White Poplar Tears.

1946 – 1950 Arduous Labor Cultivates an Outstanding Career

In 1946 (after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War in 1945), Hong Kong’s governance and economy became more stable, leading to the gradual recovery and flourishing of Cantonese opera. During this period, the combination of the principal male and female roles in Tong Tik-sang’s work become more varied than before. These included Ma Si-tsang (馬師曾) and his wife, Hung Sin Nui(紅缐女); Sun Ma Sze Tsang (新馬師曾) and Yu Lizhen (余麗珍); Pak Kui-wing (白駒榮) and Yu Lizhen (余麗珍); Chan Kam-tong (陳錦棠) and Yu Lizhen (余麗珍); Luo Pinchao (羅品超) and Wei Shaofang (衛少芳); Chan Kam-tong (陳錦棠) and Fong Yim-fun (芳艷芬), etc. From 1946 to 1947, Tong Tik-sang wrote 37 operas in total.

From 1948 to 1950, Tong completed 98 plays, eight of which were adapted and filmed. He himself personally adapted and directed The Story of Tung Siu-yuen and Mysterious Murder. In 1948, he premiered in directing his own movie Gone the Phoenix from the Cage.

After 1950, many artists and scriptwriters from the Hong Kong Cantonese opera circle went north to Guangzhou to participate in the construction of the post-liberation New China. They included Pak Kui-wing (白駒榮), Chor Chuk-wan (楚岫雲), Fung Zi-fen (馮志芬), Mo Zhiqin (莫志勤), Chen Zhuoying (陳卓瑩), etc. In Hong Kong, master playwrights Mak Siu-ha (麥嘯霞) and Lok Kam-hing (駱錦卿) passed away, and Nam Hoi Sup-sam Long (南海十三郎) suffered from depression, all of which contributed to Tong Tik-sang’s flourishing career and to his standing out in his field.

1951 – 1954 Popular Actors Interaction & Another Peak of Career

Tong Tik-sang is best known for creating his operas to suit the special talents of the artists. In early 1950s, he started searching for scripts from different sources such as Yuan Zaju ( drama of Yuan Dynasty) and classical operas and tailor-made them for different actors and actresses, which brought Cantonese opera to another new height after the 1930s.

In 1951, many famous actors and actresses performed Tong’s operas, including Chan Kam Tong (陳錦棠), Fong Yim Fun (芳艷芬), Hung Sin Nui (紅缐女), He Fei Fan (何非凡), Yam Gim Fai (任劍輝), etc. The famous repertoire included Radiant Phoenix, A Sweet Girl’s Fancies, From Marriage to Monastery, etc.

In 1952, He Fei Fan (何非凡) and Tang Pik Wan (鄧碧雲) performed four of Tong’s operas in including Han Palace Butterfly Dream and Tonight and Every Night. In addition, Fong Yim Fun (芳艷芬) and Yam Kim Fai (任劍輝) performed the famous works Forty Years of Cherished Love and The Two Sisters in the Red Mansion. Other of Tong’s masterpieces used the Chinese word “一“ (meaning, “one”) in the title, such as A Smile of Woe (梨渦一笑九重冤), Rainbow at the End (一點靈犀化彩虹), A Pedestal of Rouge Fragrance (一枝紅艷露凝香), etc.

In 1953, troupes playing Tong’s operas included Fong Yim Fun (芳艷芬) and Yam Kim Fai’s (任劍輝) Kam Fung Ping Opera Troupe; Chan Kam Tong (陳錦棠) , Yam Kim Fai (任劍輝), and Pak Suet Sin’s (白雪仙) Hung Wan Opera Troupe; and Chan Kam Tong, Chen Yim Nung (陳艷儂) and Fong Yim Fun’s (芳艷芬) Da Hao Cai Opera Troupe. These three troupes were the most popular ones, each having their own fans. Among them, the collaboration of the Hung Wan troupe of Yam Kim Fai (任劍輝) and Pak Suet Sin (白雪仙) and Tong Tik-sang showed tranquil understanding and mutual cherishing as they created a series of Tong’s well-known operas, such as Love of Mount Fuji. At the same time, Fong Yim Fun (芳艷芬) and Huang Qiansui’s (黃千歲) San Yim Yeung Troupe also performed Tong’s operas like Sunshine Long sheds Peony and Auntie Cheng (adapted from Lu Xun).

In 1954, Tong Tik-Song tailor-made a number of famous operas for Fong Yim Fun (芳艷芬), including Memorial Zhang Yuqiao, Regret from the Spring Lantern and Feather Fan and Slashing Tears of flowers. He also wrote eight operas for Chan Kam Tong (陳錦棠), Chen Yim Nung (陳艷儂) and Luo Lijuan (羅麗娟).

In these four years, Tong Tik-sang wrote and participated in 104 operas; on average about one opera every two weeks. Twenty-one of them were made into films.

1955 – 1959 Five Years at the Peak, An Excellent Talent Perishes

In the last five years of Tong Tik-sang’s playwriting career, the first three of those years he began to work less heavily.

In 1955, Tong Tik-sang wrote a total of 26 different repertoires for seven troupes. The famous ones included Reunion at Rouge Alley, The West Chamber, Li Xiangjun, etc.

In 1956, Sin Fung Ming Opera Troupe was founded. Tong Tik-sang tailor-made nine operas for Sin Fung Ming and Lee Wing Wah which were both led by Yam-Pak. Some of these were The Story of Lute, Peony Pavilion, and Gold-braided Fan. He also wrote Goddess of the Luo River, Snow in June and Xishi for Fong Yim Fun’s (芳艷芬) San Yim Yeung Opera Troupe and The Lady’s Sash for Lai Sing Opera Troupe led by Ng Kwan Lai (吳君麗). These plays became famous and they continue to be frequently staged up to the present day. Altogether in 1956, Tong composed 13 plays for the four troupes.

In 1957, he did only seven repertoires, including The Butterfly and Red Pear Blossoms, Mistake at the Flower Festival, The Floral Princess, The Legend of Purple Hairpin, etc. All of these are widely recognised as masterworks of Cantonese opera in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

In 1958, Tong Tik-sang composed 15 new plays for seven troupes, including The Moon Pavilion, The Fairy from the 9^th Heaven, Dream of the West Chamber, Pavilion of a Hundred Flowers, etc. At that time, many Cantonese opera workers faced financial difficulties. Tong published a special article in Wenwei Po (文匯報) on November 13th, appealing to people from all walks of life to be concerned about Cantonese opera and to work together to foster the healthy development of Cantonese Opera.

In the first eight and a half-months of 1959, Tong Tik-sang completed three plays. In the evening of September 14, 1959, Tong attended the premiere of his opera, The Reincarnation of the Red Plum, performed by the Sin Fung Ming Opera Troupe. Just as a ghost appeared in the fourth scene of the play, he suddenly passed out and was whisked off to hospital, where he died the next day. He was just forty-two years old. The genius of his generation of playwrights fell in the blink of an eye; it was an incalculable loss to Cantonese opera, the world of opera, and to worldwide drama!

Striving for Perfection with Unprecedented Achievements

Throughout Tong Tik-sang’s creative career, he has completed more than 440 Cantonese operas. Among his works, more than twenty are recognized as masterpieces. Moreover, 71 of his operas were adapted into movies 84 times, showing how deeply the audiences welcomed his works.

In Tong’s creative journey, he sourced his stories from the traditional repertory, classical drama, Hollywood films, novels, Beijing and other regional opera genres, folk tales, folk narratives and spoken drama. He extensively modified his predecessors’ works into Chinese opera while keeping the best parts of the originals. He notably intensified the conflicts and main forces in the play; seriously laid out the main plot line and details; skilfully constructed the characters according to performers’ dispositions; showing great creativity and originality he selected the music, tunes, words and sentences; repeatedly thinking over and revising his work, always striving for perfection.

Tong Tik-sang’s achievements were unprecedented. He reformed Cantonese opera, changing it from entertainment to fine art: remodelled the scripts, created new themes, paid equal attention to the plot and twists and turns, and enhanced the operatic tunes and music. Tong Tok-sang was cut off in his prime; but left a far-reaching influence on Cantonese opera. By means of this exhibition, we pay respect to Mr. Tong Tik-sang!