Mainland music scholarship pupil says financial hardship prompted her to perform in HK

The wife and son of a prominent Chinese musician illegally hired the artist's struggling mainland students for concerts in the SAR to help them make ends meet in expensive Hong Kong, a court heard yesterday.

Wong Hae, 27 - the son of 'the King of Erhu' Wong Kwok-tong, who heads the Chinese music department of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts - allegedly employed three mainland students without work permits for performances between January 1998 and May 1999.

Wong Hae, music director of the Hong Kong Performing Arts Ensemble, allegedly arranged the part-time jobs for Gao Sijia, Han Ying and Chen Dongxiao with the help of his mother, Li Yuen-yung, 57. Eastern Court heard Li is a teacher of Chinese acoustics at the academy.

The students were in the SAR to study on scholarship after being nominated by Wong Kwok-tong. The musician had selected the mainland students himself for their musical talent, the court was told.

Ms Chen, 21, a music student from Hubei majoring in the traditional erhu stringed instrument at the academy, said Wong Hae asked her to stage evening performances at a Chinese restaurant at the Renaissance Harbour View Hotel and at the Cultural Centre after she told Li about her financial woes.

'My scholarship was not enough to pay off the study fee. I told Ms Li my family [in Hubei] was so-so money-wise; that it was costly living and studying in Hong Kong. I asked her to let me know in case of any performance opportunity,' said Ms Chen, who was testifying under immunity from prosecution.