Ma Si Tsang

Biography

Ma Si Tsang was a Chinese Cantonese opera performer, born on April 2, 1900, in Shunde County, Guangdong Province. He grew up in a family that ran a tea business in Guangzhou, and after the business failed in 1907, his family moved to Wuhan where he received classical Chinese literary education and calligraphy training. Following the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, he returned to Guangzhou and developed an interest in theatre, joining an opera training school in Guangzhou and beginning his professional career under a stage name. In 1917, he traveled to Singapore and worked with several opera troupes, studying under the famous actor Liang Yuan Heng, and began using his real name Ma Si Tsang. He returned to Hong Kong in 1923 and joined the Ren Shou Nian troupe as a principal comic actor, developing a unique singing style known as "Ma Qiang" or "Beggar's Voice." He became famous for his role in "The Sorrowful Phoenix and the Lamenting Oriole" where he portrayed the chivalrous beggar Yu Xia Hun. He married the famous actress Hung Sin Nui in 1944, and his son Ma Ding Sheng became a well-known military and political commentator. Ma Si Tsang passed away on April 21, 1964, after a prolific career in advancing the art of Cantonese opera.