Tsin Ting (; 1934 – 20 October 2022) was a Taiwanese singer and dubbing artist, sometimes known as the

Marni Nixon Margaret Nixon McEathron (February 22, 1930 – July 24, 2016), known professionally as Marni Nixon, was an American soprano and ghost singer for featured actresses in musical films. She is now recognized as the singing voice of leading ac ...

Hong Kong cinema The cinema of Hong Kong ( zh, t=香港電影) is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China and the cinema of Taiwan. As a former British colony, Hong Kong had a greater degree of po ...

Biography

Tsin Ting was born in

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. She arrived in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

in 1949 with her brother after China came under communist rule. Left to fend for herself after her brother left for

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, she sang in nightclubs to earn some money. In 1953, she recorded a Cantonese song, "One Day When We Were Young", on one side of a 78 but refused to do the other after finding her command of the language not up to par. In 1954, she auditioned for EMI Pathé when they were recruiting new talent but was told by composer

Yao Min Yao Min (, born 姚民 ''Yáo Mín''; November 1917 – 30 March 1967) was a Chinese popular music songwriter and singer and brother of Yao Lee. He was arguably one of the most prolific songwriters of the shidaiqu era in 1930s and 1940s Shanghai t ...

who auditioned her that her vocals lacked power and energy. She was offered instead, a part in the chorus. In 1956, she was signed on as a solo artist after Miriam Wang, the chief executive, took notice of her. Her first record was two songs from the Shaw & Sons film ''Narcissus'', where she dubbed for actress Shih Ying. Her self-taught ability to read music was an added bonus as this saved valuable studio time. Film studios soon began using her to dub their musical films. During a recording session, director

Li Han-hsiang Richard Li Han-hsiang (; 7 March 1926 in Huludao, Jinxi, Liaoning – 17 December 1996 in Beijing) was a Chinese film director. Li directed more than 70 films in his career beginning in the 1950s and lasting till the 1990s. His ''The Enchanting ...

(Li Hanxiang) heard her singing at the studio, dubbing a song for actress Yu Suqiu in the Shaw movie ''Lady in Distress'' (1957). Impressed with her voice, he had her dub for film star

Lin Dai Linda Lin Dai (; 26 December 1934 – 17 July 1964), born Ching Yuetyue (程月如), was a Chinese actress of Hong Kong films made in Mandarin during the 1950s–60s. She was a star actress of the Shaw Brothers Studio. She was the daughter of ...

in his next film '' Diau Charn''. The film was a great success all over Southeast Asia and won several Asian Film Festival awards. Thereafter, when Li went on to film ''

The Kingdom and the Beauty ''The Kingdom and the Beauty'' () is a 1959 Hong Kong musical-drama film directed by Li Han-hsiang. The film was set in Imperial China, directed by a Hong Kong based-Mainland Chinese director and produced by the famed Hong Kong Shaw Brothers fil ...

'', Tsin Ting was roped in to dub for Lin Dai once again. Tsin Ting dubbed many of

Shaw Brothers Shaw Brothers (HK) Ltd. () was the largest film production company in Hong Kong, and operated from 1925 to 2011. In 1925, three Shaw brothers— Runje, Runme, and Runde—founded Tianyi Film Company (also called "Unique") in Shangh ...

Huangmei Opera Huangmei or Huangmei tone ( or , pinyin: or ) originated as a form of rural folk song and dance that has been in existence for the last 200 years and possibly longer. Huangmei opera is one of the most famous and mainstream opera in China (others ...

movies from the 1950s to the 1960s. The most notable was ''

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'' (1963), where she sang for lead actress

Betty Loh Ti Betty Loh Ti (July 24, 1937 – December 27, 1968), also known as Le Di or Loh Tih, was a Hong Kong actress originally from Shanghai. Known as the "Classic Beauty", she was one of the most celebrated actresses of Hong Kong cinema. She is most fa ...

(Lè Dì 樂蒂) in the role of Zhu Yingtai. The pathos and emotional impact of her singing, along with Loh Ti's excellent acting, moved viewers to tears. She left Shaw Studio as a contract singer in 1970 but continued recording albums on EMI in the 1970s, Wing Hung in the 1980s, and Polygram in the 1990s. In 2000, Tsin Ting made a remarkable career resurgence with soldout concerts at the

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with Liu Yun,

Tsui Ping Tsui Ping (, born 1938) was a Mandopop singer active from 1950 to 1971. She was called the "queen of expressive feelings" () and the "Goldfish Beauty" (). Career Tsui Ping's family originates from Jiangsu, China, but she was born in Harbin in ...

and

Wu Yingyin Wu Yingyin (born Wu Jianqiu ; 23 June 1922 – 17 December 2009), also romanized as Woo Ing-ing, was a Chinese singer. She came to prominence in the 1940s and became known as one of the seven great singing stars of the era. She continued to re ...

; she repeated the feat two years later with Liu, Wu and Billie Tam. In 2006, she was the guest singer at a Donald Cheung concert singing a famous

Bai Guang Bai Guang (27 June 1921 – 27 August 1999), also credited as Pai Kwong, Bai Kwong and Bai Kwang, was a Chinese actress and singer. By the 1940s, she became one of the Seven great singing stars. Biography Bai Guang was born Shi Yongfen () in 1921 ...

classic and then duetting with Donald. This is available on DVD. Tsin Ting died on 20 October 2022, at the age of 88.

Selected filmography

Shaw Brothers (Hong Kong) Limited Huangmei Opera Movies * '' Diau Charn'' – 1958 * ''The Kingdom and the Beauty'' – 1959 * ''Return of the Phoenix'' -1962 * ''The Story of Sue San'' – 1962 * ''The Adulteress'' – 1962 * ''

'' – 1963 * ''Three Sinners'' – 1962 * ''The Amorous Lotus Pan'' – 1963 * ''The Comedy of Mismatches'' – 1963 * ''The Female Prince'' – 1963 * ''The Butterfly Chalice'' – 1963 * ''A Maid From Heaven'' – 1963 * ''The Lotus Lamp'' – 1963 * ''Beyond the Great Wall'' – 1964 * '' The Mermaid'' – 1964 * ''The West Chamber'' – 1964 * ''The Midnight Murder'' -1964 * ''The Perfumed Arrow'' – 1966 * ''The Pearl Phoenix'' – 1967 * ''Forever and Ever'' – 1968 * ''The Mirror and the Lichee'' – 1968 * ''The Three Smiles'' – 1969 Contemporary Movies * ''The Magic Touch'' * ''The Shepherd Girl'' * ''Till the End of Time'' * '' Song of Tomorrow'' * ''Pink Tears'' * ''4 Sisters'' * ''Poison Rose'' * ''Swan Song'' * ''Angel With the Iron Fists'' * ''Hong Kong Nocturne'' * ''Hong Kong Rhapsody'' * ''The Dancing Millionairess'' * ''Songfest'' * ''My Dreamboat'' * ''Moonlight Serenade'' * ''Susanna'' * ''The Warlord and the Actress'' * ''The Millionaire Chase'' * ''The Blue & Black''

References

External Links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ting, Tsin 1934 births 2022 deaths Musicians from Sichuan Pathé Records (Hong Kong) artists Taiwanese women singers