Hong started her career on the big screen in 1947 in Hong Kong and starred in more than 90 movies.

Dedication to her art

Hong used to work as the center's director and saw to everything personally to develop the center into not only a museum of her achievements but also a school for young professionals, a forum for Cantonese opera troupes all over the world to meet up and exchange ideas on the art's blueprint.

Lian Xingcun, the center's deputy director, says that Hong regarded the center as more important than home.

"She came to the center every day. Her work was her whole life," Lian says.

Lian recalls that every time a Cantonese opera troupe visited Guangzhou and put on a show, Hong would ask the staff to buy a ticket for her with her own money. She would repeatedly tell the staff not to ask for tickets for free from the troupes.

"Hong Xiannu would get onto the stage and perform for fans or show her support for Cantonese opera troupes as long as her health allowed," Lian says.

The gerontic woman was always hale and hearty onstage with her eyes shining behind a pair of tawny glasses under her white hair. However, she needed someone to hold on to when alighting the stage.

"Her biggest hobby in her spare time was Cantonese opera. She often came to the center to sing to live accompaniment by musicians," Lian says.

On weekends, she gave Cantonese opera lessons free of charge to kids, hoping to carry on the national treasure from generation to generation.

The master spared no effort to train young talents in Cantonese opera, according to Yu Yong, president of Guangdong Cantonese Opera Theater.

"Almost all the leading young and middle-aged Cantonese opera actors and actresses in China today are Hong Xiannu's students," Yu says.

Ou Kaiming, general manager of the Guangzhou Cantonese Opera Group and a state first-class artist, is one of Hong's most outstanding students.

He had been working in a local Cantonese opera troupe in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region before he was transferred in 1991 to Guangzhou Red Bean Cantonese Opera Troupe, which was founded by Hong in 1990.

Related:

Life and times of Hong Xiannu