Elizabeth "Liza" Wang Ming-chun GBS SBS (born 28 August 1947), is a Hong Kong

diva Diva (, ) is the Latin word for a goddess. Diva is a name from Roman mythology, and is associated with the nouns divus, diva, which means god, goddess, and the adjective divinius, which means divine or heavenly. It has often been used to refer t ...

, actress and MC. She is a personality in Chinese-speaking communities. She has been nicknamed "The Big Sister" in the Hong Kong entertainment circle.Xinhuanet.
Xinhuanet
". ''Fans jam-pack Liza Wang's free concert.'' Retrieved on 10 March 2008. Wang was a delegate in the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...

from 1988 to 1997, and she is a member of the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...

.Cityu.edu.hk
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Entertainment career

Liza Wang was born on 28 August 1947 in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, She moved to Hong Kong from Shanghai in autumn 1956 and signed up for Rediffusion Hong Kong's first Artist Academy class in 1967. From thousands of applicants, the 20-year-old Liza was one of the nine that were picked to attend acting classes. She was also the first to graduate from the academy.

Television

Her career has spanned four decades, since 1967. She began working for Rediffusion Television Limited (later renamed

Asia Television Asia Television Limited (, also known as ATV) is a digital media and broadcasting company in Hong Kong. Established as the first television service in Hong Kong as Rediffusion Television () on 29 May 1957, it shifted to terrestrial televis ...

and now defunct) until she joined

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB; zh, t=電視廣播有限公司) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong. The company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Canton ...

in 1971. She was one of the members of the all-girl music group Four Golden Flowers. Wang initially made her mark in the entertainment industry in drama series. Her work in front of the camera was followed by that behind the scenes on television productions. In 2005, she received the Best Actress award during TVB's 38th Anniversary. She received this award the second time for her role in '' Wars of In-laws''. Wang received her first Best Actress award for her drama series '' The Awakening Story'' in 2001. She celebrated her 40th anniversary in the entertainment industry in 2007.

Singing career

In parallel with her acting career Wang had a successful singing career, based on albums for her television series, consisting of TV theme songs. She has sung

cantopop Cantopop (a contraction of "Cantonese pop music") is a genre of pop music sung in Cantonese. Cantopop is also used to refer to the cultural context of its production and consumption. The genre began in the 1970s and became associated with Hon ...

as well as

mandopop Mandopop or Mandapop refers to Mandarin popular music. The genre has its origin in the jazz-influenced popular music of 1930s Shanghai known as Shidaiqu; later influences came from Japanese enka, Hong Kong's Cantopop, Taiwan's Hokkien pop ...

. She performed duets with singer

Adam Cheng Adam Cheng Siu-chau (born 24 February 1947; formerly known as Cheng Chong-sai and Wong Ho-chung) is a Hong Kong Television Broadcasts Limited, TVB actor and Cantopop singer. Career Cheng started his career in the 1970s, where he gained a reput ...

. She continues to perform TV theme songs such as "東方之珠" for musical series like the 2006 Glittering Days.

Cantonese opera

She experimented with stage musicals before becoming a

Cantonese opera Cantonese opera is one of the major categories in Chinese opera, originating in southern China's Guangdong Province. It is popular in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau and among Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. Like all versions of ...

actress. It was within the Cantonese opera community that Wang met her longtime partner, Law Kar-ying. In 2005 the Sunbeam Theatre in

North Point North Point is a mixed-use urban area in the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern District of Hong Kong. Located in the northeastern part of Hong Kong Island, the area is named after a cape between Causeway Bay and Tsat Tsz Mui that projects ...

, Hong Kong's only regular venue for Cantonese Opera performances, was planned to close following a change of ownership. Wang decided to negotiate with the new owner, who then promised to extend the contract with the Cantonese Opera groups. Wang then criticized the Government for its lack of support for Cantonese Opera, and the Government promised to adopt Wang's request. Wang was Chairman of the Chinese Artist Association of Hong Kong (香港八和會館) from 1992 to 1997, then again from 2005 to 2009. In 2007 Wang was awarded the Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award. She was later awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the

City University of Hong Kong The City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) is a public research university in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and formally established as the City University of Hong Kong in 1994 ...

. In February 2009 Wang fought for the development rights to restore the

North Kowloon Magistracy The North Kowloon Magistracy (, before Handover of Hong Kong, 1 July 1997) is a historic building and former Magistrates' court (Hong Kong), Magistrate's Court located at No. 292, Tai Po Road, Shek Kip Mei, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The building ...

building (北九龍裁判法院) in

Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po () is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui ...

.The Standard HK.
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.

Retrieved on 13 March 2009.'' The building was originally proposed to be a new Cantonese opera training and performance center. Hong Kong's government granted the bid to the US Savannah College of Art and Design. Wang was upset over the loss, and said the government was only paying lip service to causes such as Cantonese opera. The magistracy building is to be turned into a school specializing in creative and

digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, an ...

Political career

Pan-democrat home return permits request

Since the 1997

handover of Hong Kong The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony, which began in 1841. Hong Kong was established as a specia ...

, the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

have banned 8 of the 25 Hong Kong pan-democrat legislative councilors. They are barred from the mainland except for tours organized by the government. On 6 March 2008 Wang began publicizing the need to grant 24

Home Return Permit The Mainland Travel Permit for Hong Kong and Macao Residents (colloquially referred to as the Home Return Permit or Home Visit Permit) is a travel document issued by the Exit and Entry Administration of the People's Republic of China. This ...

to the pro-democracy lawmakers.The standard HK.
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". ''TV star hopes home visits can turn democrats into patriots'' Retrieved on 10 March 2008

Government Committee

On Apr 29, 2020, The Hong Kong SAR announced the appointments to the Cantonese Opera Advisory Committee which aims to promote the development of Cantonese opera, facilitating the transmission of this world intangible cultural heritage item, for the period from May 1, 2020, to April 30, 2022. Wang is one of the members.

2008 Beijing Olympics

Wang mentioned that it was good timing to invite the democrats to enter mainland China in time for the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. The Pro-Beijing party

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) is a pro-Beijing political party registered since 1992 in Hong Kong. Chaired by Gary Chan and holding 19 Legislative Council seats, it is currently the largest party ...

member Tam Yiu Chung responded that the Olympics was not a good reason for changing what the central government used to do. Her concerns baffled her colleagues in the

. Democrat member Albert Ho said the issue of a home visit permit was such a rightful thing. It has never been mentioned by any politician but a performer. He appreciates Wang's efforts. Wang is a member, but not a standing committee member of the CPPCC.

Community work

As a mainstay at the

television network, Wang has gained almost legendary status for her efforts not merely as an entertainer but also as a philanthropist with a heart for social works and for improving lives in rural

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and other areas. Within Hong Kong, she has also been an MC hosting TVB

telethon A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other cause. Most telethons feature heavy solicitatio ...

s for Tung Wah Group of Hospitals and many other charities. Wang, being a two-time cancer survivor (first

thyroid The thyroid, or thyroid gland, is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans, it is a butterfly-shaped gland located in the neck below the Adam's apple. It consists of two connected lobes. The lower two thirds of the lobes are connected by ...

then breast cancer), decided to be an executive committee member of the Hong Kong Anti-Cancer Society. A series of informative radio talk shows on

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service of Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...

was also hosted where medical specialists were invited to discuss the many types of cancer. She has helped raise charities, awareness and funding for cancer patients. Recently a free concert was given at

Tin Shui Wai Tin Shui Wai New Town is a new towns in Hong Kong, satellite town in the northwestern New Territories of Hong Kong. Originally a ' () fish pond area, it was developed in 1980s in Hong Kong, the 1980s as the second New towns of Hong Kong, new tow ...

for 4,500 residents; the concert was filled to capacity and hundreds were turned away. The crowd prevented guest performers like

Miriam Yeung Miriam Yeung Chin-wah (born 3 February 1974) is a Hong Kong singer and actress. As of 2020, she has released more than 35 albums and has starred in more than 40 films. In 2012, Yeung won the Award for Best Actress at the 32nd Hong Kong Film Awar ...

and Denise Ho from arriving on time. Denise Ho ascribed the audience overflow to Wang's popularity.

Personal life

Liza Wang was married to businessman Lau Cheong Wah from 1971 to 1983 and they remain good friends. In the late 1980s, she met Law Kar-ying, openly acknowledged as her partner for over twenty years, and whom she married on 2 May 2009 in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

. Being a native

Shanghainese The Shanghainese language, also known as the Shanghai dialect, or Hu language, is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the central districts of the city of Shanghai and its surrounding areas. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan langua ...

, Wang speaks fluent Shanghainese and has always identified as a Shanghainese.

The nickname of "Wang Ah-Tag" owing to social media usage

In recent years, Liza Wang has increased her usage in social media. However, upon uploading the photos with others, she has been handwriting the names of others on the photos. These handwritings have been occasionally described as "Wang Ah-Tag".

Filmography

Television series

Films

* 1969 ''Singing Darlings'' * 1980 ''Miss Not Home'' * 197i ''The Sausage Chase'' * 1979 ''Full Moon Scimitar'' * 2015 ''ATM'' Liza Wang at chinesemov.com
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Awards

Honors

Silver Bauhinia Star The Silver Bauhinia Star (, SBS) is the second rank of the Order of the Bauhinia Star under the honours system of Hong Kong, awarded to people who have taken a leading part in public affairs or voluntary work over a long period. The award was ...

(2004) * TVB Best Actress (2001, 2005) * RTHK Gold Needle Award (2005) * Mont Blanc de la Culture International Award (2007)

References

External links

Official Liza Wang web-siteOfficial Liza Wang Forum
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Top 10 Chinese Golden Songs Award {{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Liza 1947 births Delegates to the 7th National People's Congress Delegates to the 8th National People's Congress Hong Kong film actresses Members of the 10th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Members of the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Members of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Hong Kong television actresses Hong Kong television presenters Hong Kong women television presenters Living people People's Republic of China politicians from Shanghai Singers from Shanghai TVB veteran actors Hong Kong Cantonese opera actresses Members of the Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 20th-century Hong Kong actresses 21st-century Hong Kong actresses Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 1998–2000 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2000–2005 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2007–2012 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2012–2017 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2017–2021 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2021–2026 Actresses from Shanghai 20th-century Hong Kong women singers 21st-century Hong Kong women singers Recipients of the Silver Bauhinia Star Chinese film actresses Chinese television actresses 20th-century Chinese actresses 21st-century Chinese actresses Hong Kong idols