Phan Wait Hong, a Peking Opera Performer, was born in 1912.
An old actor Zhang Sheng Lin taught her how to sing Peking Opera when she was
young.
Her mother passed away when she was about 12 years old.
It was difficult to make a living in China at that time.
Two years later, she was invited by a troupe to sing in Singapore.
Her brother then accompanied her to Singapore and
she began her singing career at the Southern Hotel.
Peking Opera was mainly in the form of singing in those days.
Later the troupe also performed at major teahouses in Chinatown.
In 1932, the troupe was invited to stage at the New World Amusement
Park. From then on, she started to perform the various roles of
the popular classic plays.
Phan Wait Hong was the winner of The Cultural Medallion (Theatre/Chinese Opera) in 1992.
It is a Singapore cultural award conferred to those who have achieved
artistic excellence in dance, theatre, literature, music,
photography, art and film.
Phan Wait Hong was invited to perform at the Peking Opera
Festival in Chang Sha, China in May 2004. She had the rehearsal in
Singapore a month ahead of the Festival.
The pictures below were taken showing how she make up
to be Tang Ming Huang (AD 685-762), an emperor (AD 712-755)
of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907).
