YAM Kim-fai of YPT
An actress born a genius, she never preached any formal Canto-opera rules and theories. Once on-stage she would immediately become the character, so vivid and radiant…

Brief Biography
YAM Kim-fai (1913 – 1989.11.29) born in Nanhai County, Guangdong Province, she was apprenticed to her aunt SIU Giu-tin for Canto-opera at the age of 13. At first she performed on roof-stages above Daxin Department Store and Sincere Department Store in Guangzhou. Before long she was promoted from insignificant roles to second Siu-mou (Young Military), and learned from WONG Leoi-haap various traditional routines. As WONG Leoi-haap adopted the MAA Si-zang style, some take the view that YAM Kim-fai first followed the MAA style and then changed to the GWAI Ming-yoeng style. In Foshan, she as male lead formed a troupe with female lead LEI Joek-laan. She formed other all-female troupes “Mui-faa Jing” and “Geng-faa Jim-jing”, collaborating with female leads TAAM Laan-hing, SIN Jing-nung, COI Wai-wai, SIU Fei-hung, etc. During WWII, she worked with PUN Jing-fan, NGAN Gim-jing, Baak Lung-zyu in Guangzhou Bay, marking her first appearance in a mixed-gender troupe. She then returned to Macau, cooperated with HO Fu-lin and then Soeng-hoi Mui. Later she formed San Sing Troupe with CAN Jim-nung, LENG Ci-baak, AU-JOENG Gim and PAK Suet-sin, which turned out to be a long-lasting brand.
 
After the war, she joined several troupes. In 1956, she formed Sin Fung Ming Troupe with PAK Suet-sin, LOENG Sing-bo, LENG Ci-baak, etc. with TONG Tik-sang’s blessing. The troupe staged such classics as “Peony Pavilion”, “Floral Princess”, “Purple Hairpin”, “Reincarnation” etc, a brilliant chapter in the history of Canto-opera.
 
Apart from stage performances, YAM Kim-fai also acted in numerous movies. The last one is “Emperor LI” in 1964. She nurtured young actresses “Chor-fungs”, literally “young phoenixes”, together with PAK Suet-sin, passing on the torch for Canto-opera with strenuous efforts.
 
She passed away on 29 November, 1989 from illness. The unprecedented volume of eulogies in newspapers is evidence of the depth and breadth of her impact.
 
Extract from “Memories of Sin Fung Ming in Full Blossom”, 1995, Joint Publishing

Let it Be
Tribute to YAM Kim-fai (2004)
Director: Rex NG
Photographer: KWAN Pun-leung

In 2004, 15 years after the death of Ms. YAM Kim-fai (1913-1989), a short film was produced in her memory as commissioned by Hong Kong Film Archive. Fragrant Death‧Let it be appeared at that time as tribute to this experimental, natural and spontaneous great talent. Please forgive us for being too procedure-driven.


Floral Princess 65th Anniversary
a series of 9 events
Floral Princess | Professional Edition
ArenA | Write on, as THE tribute to YAM-PAK-TONG
Floral Princess | Theatre Student Edition
Floral Princess | Theatrical Concert Student Edition
Floral Princess | Recital Student Edition
Call Loud Yeah! | Black Box Theatre Festival
Seoi-bo-long Video Festival
A Collection of Coeng-ping Images 65
Raining Petals: An Orchestral Re-imagining