小明星

简介

Tang Man-mei was born in 1913 in Sanshui, Guangdong province, and grew up in poverty after her father's early death, living with her mother and receiving two years of traditional education before learning singing to support her family. She was nicknamed "Little Star" (Siu Sing-sing) at age eleven after gaining fame with the song "Jade Tears on Xiao Xiang." In the 1930s, she became one of the "Four Heavenly Kings of the Flat Voice" in Cantonese opera singing, alongside Zhang Yue'er, Xu Liuxian, and Zhang Huifang. She was known for a delicate, emotionally rich vocal style called "Star Voice" (Sing Cheung), which later became a provincial-level intangible cultural heritage item. She performed famous works such as "Autumn Tomb," "Romantic Dream," and "Midnight Voice." During the Sino-Japanese War, she fled to Hong Kong and insisted on singing patriotic songs promoting resistance against aggression. She returned to Guangzhou in 1942 but collapsed on stage while performing "Autumn Tomb" and died the following day at the age of thirty. She appeared in several films including "The Return of the Amorous Swallows," "Deadly Mandarin Ducks," and "Charlie Visits Hell."