How Cantonese opera legend Pak Suet-sin, LGBT icon and Yam Kim-fai’s lifelong acting partner, pushed gender norms to make Chinese movie history
Founder of the Sin Fung Ming Opera Troupe and daughter of Pak Kui-wing, Pak Seut-sin made romance in its most platonic form nonthreatening through her on-screen relationship with Yam Kim-fai, in an era where the terms 'homosexuality' and 'lesbianism' barely existed
Pak Suet-sin (白雪仙) is a renowned Cantonese opera diva who strove to improve and enhance the art form and nurture young talents to ensure the continuity of Cantonese opera.
Together with Yam Kim-fai (任劍輝), her lifelong collaborator, they staged a diversity of well-known operas in their bid to make Cantonese operatic art more accessible.
We take a look at her legendary life, flashing back to her career heyday spanning from the 1940s to 1960s.
Her father was one of the ‘Four Kings of Cantonese Opera’
Pak was born Chan Shuk-leung in 1926 in Shunde, Guangdong, while her father, Pak Kui-wing was one of the “Four Kings of Cantonese Opera”. Her whole family moved to Hong Kong during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945).
Later when Pak turned 13, she told her parents that she wanted to be a Cantonese opera singer. Although her father didn't want her daughter to follow in his footsteps, he finally agreed when Pak showed her insistence and enthusiasm for the artistry.
Pak then began her apprenticeship under Sit Gok-sin (薛覺先), one of the grandmasters in the Cantonese theatre tradition, and started using the stage name Pak Suet-sin.
She was the co-founder of Sin Fung Ming Opera Troupe