Tse Sing Nong

Biography

Tse Sing Nong (شيه شينغ نونغ) is a Hong Kong Cantonese opera artist and film actor, originally from Dongguan in Guangdong Province. He was one of the leading male dan (female role) performers in Cantonese opera from the 1920s to the late 1940s, working with major troupes such as Tang Tian Bao (with Bai Yu Tang), Jue Xian Sheng (with Xue Jue Xian), and Ri Yue Xing (with Gui Ming Yang and Zeng San Duo). His famous stage works include Bing Shan Huo Xian, Xuan Gong Yan Shi, Tian Ji Song Zi, Huang Gu Jia He Ren, and Huang Tang Nu Xia. In 1930, he performed with Tang Tian Bao alongside stars like Shen Zhu, Liang Yuan Heng, and Xue Jue Xian in productions of Yu Mei Hua and Chong Jian Gu Su Tai.

In 1932, Tse Sing Nong co-founded "Hua Yi Film Company" in Guangzhou with Tianjin director Jiang Bai Gu, theater manager Xue Zhao Rong, Cantonese opera legend Bai Yu Tang, and songwriter Mai Xiao Xia, serving as manager. The company produced three silent films: Lie Hen, Qian Jin, and Hua Luo Jian Hua Xin, but later went bankrupt due to financial difficulties. He also participated in charity performances in 1932 at the Astor Theatre in Hong Kong to raise funds for poor schools.

During the Pacific War, Tse Sing Nong traveled with fellow Cantonese opera stars Luo Wen Huan, Liang Shao Nan, Huang He Sheng, and Ou Yang Jian to Vietnam and Thailand, performing traditional operas and new plays like Huang Tang Nu Xia. He gained great popularity among Thai audiences due to his long collaboration with Xue Jue Xian. In 1933, Hong Kong newspapers reported that his wife was silent film star Feng Jie Zhen, who appeared in films such as Tie Gu Lan Xin (1931), Dong Fang Shuang Shi An (1934), and Hun Hou De Wen Ti (1934). He was also noted to have performed in Shanghai with the famous dancer Qiu Que, where he sang in female voice while she performed the Booty Dance. After the war, news of him became rare.