Seow Tian Chye, known as Ye Fong (1932 – September 1995), was a Singaporean comedian. He was part of a Singaporean comedy duo, with

Wang Sa Wang Sa (real name Heng Kim Ching) (1924 – 18 January 1998) was a Singaporean comedian. He was part of a pair of Singapore comedy duo, who were akin to the ''Laurel and Hardy of the East''. With Ye Fong, Wang often performed as a duet at the ...

, who were akin to the ''

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...

of the East''.

Early life and education

Ye was born in 1932 at Sungai Way,

Petaling Jaya ) , website = , image_skyline = , image_caption = ''From top, left to right:Skyline of Petaling Jaya, the 1 Utama Mall integrated with Bandar Utama Station, the Kota Darul Ehsan arch, the Petaling J ...

Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 Malaysian states. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. His elder uncle, who was without children, adopted Ye from his parents at the age of 4. With his adoptive father, Ye stayed at

Malacca Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...

, Malaysia and subsequently moved to Singapore. Ye studied at Ying Sin School (應新學校) which was managed by

Ying Fo Fui Kun Ying Fo Fui Kun () is a Hakka clan association in Singapore. Its clan house is located at Telok Ayer Street in the Outram Planning Area, within the Central Area. The Ying Fo Fui Kun clan house building was constructed in 1881-1882. Ying Fo Fui ...

, a

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. He would later transferred to study at Qifa Primary School.

Career

Ye's adoptive father was a

goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Nowadays they mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, goldsmiths have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), pl ...

which influenced Ye to join the same trade. He learned the trade within fifteen months and became a goldsmith. Ye often performed with Wang as a comedy duo at the

New World Amusement Park The New World Amusement Park () was the first of three amusement parks, along with Great World (estd. early 1930s) and Gay World (estd. 1936), that wooed Malaya and Singapore night crowds from the 1920s to the 1960s. New World was a prominen ...

and on television in the 1960s and 1970s. Ye, in his first film role in '' The Crazy Bumpkins'', won the Best Comedy Actor in the 20th

Asia Pacific Film Festival The Asia-Pacific Film Festival (abbreviated APFF) is an annual film festival hosted by the Federation of Motion Picture Producers in Asia-Pacific. The festival was first held in Tokyo, Japan, in 1954. History The festival was first held in Toky ...

in 1974.

Death

Ye died of a heart attack in September 1995. At the

Star Awards 2003 ''Star Awards 2003'' was an awards ceremony part of the annual Star Awards held by MediaCorp Channel 8 on 7 December 2003. The tenth installment of ''Star Awards'' were hosted by Timothy Chao for the sixth consecutive ceremony, along with current ...

, Ye together with Wang, were awarded posthumously the 40th Anniversary Evergreen Achievement Award.

References

Singaporean television personalities 1995 deaths {{Singapore-bio-stub