Honorary University Fellows
An excerpt from the Vice-Chancellor's Address delivered at the Honorary University Fellowships Presentation Ceremony on December 10, 1998:
Dr Katie Yang Leung Yin Fong is better known to the wider public as Fong Yim Fun, the stage name under which she won phenomenal fame and a huge following as Cantonese opera singer and movie star from the early 1940s to her retirement from show business in 1958. Mrs Yang took Cantonese opera lessons after school despite the prejudices then existing against female performers. After her stage debut at the age of 13 she never looked back but went from success to success, winning the title of leading “Opera Rose” in Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Vietnam. At the age of 19 she established the Begonia Operatic Troupe in Hong Kong and five years later was crowned the Queen of Cantonese Opera, receiving a trophy from her many fans. Her career in films was equally successful. From 1950, when she started starring in movies until her retirement, she starred in 150 films and was selected the Most Popular Movie Star.
The community and the region have not only benefited from the gifts of Dr Yang’s marvelous voice and thespian ability, but also from her philanthropic and charitable activities. From an early age Dr Yang has been aware of the plight of the needy and the unfortunate and has worked zealously to help them, often by making use of her own talents to raise funds for charity. With Dr Maria Lee she established the “Kwan Fong Charitable Foundation”, serving as Co-Chairwoman and President. This Foundation became the vehicle for an astonishing number of good works. Just to cite one example – a charity Cantonese Opera performance at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre to raise funds for the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine Foundation and the Kwan Fong Charitable Foundation raised an incredible $26.4 million in two nights. Last year our University benefited directly from her largesse: she produced a set of memorial laser discs and a book album, “The Life and Art of Fong Yim Fun” and performed in a Cantonese Operatic Gala. All the proceeds were contributed to the Music Departments of the Hong Kong University, Chinese University, Baptist University and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts for research into, and the development of, Chinese traditional music.