Lau Siu-ming

Lau Siu-ming (劉兆銘; 1931-10-13 to 2026-09-02), known across Hong Kong as Ming Sir, was a dancer who helped put the city's modern dance scene on an international map, then reinvented himself as one of Chinese-language cinema's most memorable character actors. Born in British Hong Kong on 1931-10-13, with ancestral roots in Longkou, Heshan, Guangdong, he was about ten when Japanese forces occupied the colony in 1941. SCMP's remembrance describes teenage years spent as a refugee on the mainland before he returned to Hong Kong. A Chinese arts troupe performance at the newly opened Hong Kong City Hall in 1962 left him determined to study dance seriously.

He worked in a ship's cargo hold to reach Europe and won a scholarship to the École Supérieure de Danse de Cannes Rosella Hightower in the early 1960s. Press accounts call him among the first Hong Kong dancers to train formally in Europe and the first Chinese choreographer linked to a French company context. He performed with Brussels' Ballet du XXe Siècle; Rebirth of the Phoenix is cited among his best-known dance works of that decade (HKAPA via SCMP). Returning to Hong Kong in 1967, he taught, choreographed, and opened a school. Students and colleagues began calling him Ming Sir. He became dance master and choreographer for Rediffusion Television and TVB, including work on Happy Tonight, and later taught TVB artiste-training classes that Oriental Daily links to nurturing stars such as Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung Chiu-wai.

Film arrived when Tsui Hark cast him in the director's debut The Butterfly Murders (1979). Through the 1980s and 1990s he became a fixture of Hong Kong fantasy and martial-arts cinema: the androgynous Tree Demon / Lao Lao (tree-demon granny) in Ching Siu-tung's A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) and its sequels, opposite Leslie Cheung and Joey Wong; roles in Swordsman (1990); and appearances in mainstream action including Drunken Master II (1994) with Jackie Chan and Anita Mui. On television he was equally prolific for TVB, notably as Yat Deng (the Southern Emperor / Duan Zhixing) in The Legend of the Condor Heroes (1983) and in dozens of period and contemporary dramas across four decades. In 2006 he earned a Hong Kong Golden Bauhinia Awards Best Supporting Actor nomination for Uncle Ghost in Re-cycle. Stage returned in 2001 with Hong Kong Ballet's White Snake and Hong Kong Dance Company's Blessings of Love, work that contributed to a 2002 Hong Kong Dance Award.

Honours tracked his dual careers: Hong Kong Dance Award (2002); HKAPA Honorary Fellow (2007-06-27); Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the 2009 Hong Kong Arts Development Awards (announced 2010, with Chung King-fai and others); Hong Kong Medal of Honour (2013); and the TVB Anniversary Awards Lifetime Achievement / Thousands of Stars Performing Artist honour (2013-12-16). Mentorship remained central. Sean Lau Ching-wan and Francis Ng visited him regularly; Charmaine Sheh credited his "acting should flow like water" teaching; Tse Kwan-ho later recalled Ming Sir bowing deeply to young drama students at the Academy as a lesson in respect for the stage.

His wife of more than fifty years, Cheung Wai Ling, died of cancer in 2012; a funeral was held 2012-10-31 at Holy Cross Church, Sai Wan Ho. After her death he withdrew, saying he had lost purpose and that she had been his most faithful audience; he adopted a vegetarian diet because food no longer meant the same without her (Standard). He returned selectively, including Bridge of Sighs for ViuTV around 2020 at age 88, then largely left the screen. Late-life health was openly difficult: multiple ailments, wheelchair use, hospital stays around his 93rd birthday, and a last noted public outing in October 2025 at a PRC National Day reception for culture and arts communities.

Fellow veteran Ding Yue confirmed he died about 18:00 on 2026-09-02, aged 94. Cause of death was not publicly specified. Culture Secretary Rosanna Law's statement praised a life devoted to dance and performing arts. Tributes poured from Francis Ng, Roger Kwok Chun-on, Ada Choi, Ko Chi-sum, Cheung Tat-ming, Charmaine Sheh, Anthony Wong, and others. He died the same day as martial-arts star Chen Kuan-tai, a double blow for Hong Kong cinema. What remains is the body of work: a Europe-trained dancer's physical precision inside some of Hong Kong's most durable fantasy images, and a teacher's nickname that outlived any single role.