With her signature dark-rimmed glasses and wig, Lydia Sum Tin-ha – better known as Lydia Shum, dubbed the “Happy Fruit” of Hong Kong and the late mother of the popular singer Joyce Cheng – is inevitably one of the names that needs mentioning.

The Shanghai-born actress’ career took off in 1967 when the popular variety show Enjoy Yourself Tonight (EYT) on TVB Jade was first aired. Later, in 1973, Shum played a “Shanghai woman” who ironed clothes in a dilapidated tenement in the famous Cantonese film The House of 72 Tenants. It topped the movie box office that year, surpassing Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon.

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Whenever the phrase “Shanghai woman” is heard, the first association people make now is with the rapid-fire chatterbox, Shum.

Sadly, “Happy Fruit” left us in 2008 at the age of 62.

2. The Hui brothers

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The mid-1970s brought transformation to Hong Kong cinema as it underwent a significant linguistic shift. The Cantonese dialect made a comeback, as opposed to the Mandarin that had predominated at the cinema during much of the 1960s and early 1970s, giving local idioms, culture and humour their time in the sun.

The House of 72 Tenants was the first spark in the Cantonese cinema resurgence, but it was the Hui brothers – actor-director-screenwriter Michael Hui, actor Ricky Hui and actor-singer Sam Hui – who deserve the most credit for raising the bar of Cantonese humour of the period.

Their movies – such as Games Gamblers Play (1974), The Last Message (1975), The Private Eyes (1976), The Contract (1978) and Security Unlimited (1981) – were all the highest-grossing films of those years, helping to solidify the Hui brothers’ place at the top of Hong Kong’s entertainment world. Thanks go in particular to Michael Hui, who broke new ground by satirising the cash-mad Hong Kong society of the time. His portrayal of the archetypal ne’er-do-well and his reflection of life among the grass roots of society reached deep into people’s hearts.

Besides those, action comedy series Aces Go Places (six parodies of Bond films) also appeared in the early 1980s. The first five films all featured the iconic roles “King Kong” and “Baldy”, played by Sam Hui and Maka, who became household names of the era.

3. Ng Man-tat

It takes two to tango. Some swear that Stephen Chow’s films wouldn’t have been so successful without his trusty sidekick, Ng Man-tat.

From then on, the duo co-starred in numerous popular movies such as Fight Back to School (1991), Justice, My Foot! (1992), Hail the Judge (1994), King of Comedy (1999) and Shaolin Soccer (2001), in the highest-grossing films of their respective years.

Although Ng was the supporting actor for most of the time in his career – he won the best supporting actor award at the 10th Hong Kong Film Awards for his role in A Moment of Romance – nobody would deny his performances were often irreplaceable.

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Ng died of liver cancer on February 27, 2021 at the age of 69.

4. Sandra Ng

With over a hundred films to her credit, including several collaborations with the Stephen Chow, Ng has been crowned “Queen of Comedy” by many.

Her most remarkable role was the devoted housewife Ching in the comic romance All’s Well, Ends Well (1992). The character was so iconic that some of her lines in the film have become internet memes today.

Another big role came in the early 2000s with Kam, an underdog and prostitute in the movie series Golden Chicken, for which she won best actress at the 2003 Golden Horde Awards.

In more recent years, Ng has starred in various mainland China movies such as Monster Hunt (2015) and Jian Bing Man (2015). Her career has also expanded into producing and directing, proving she is an artist of many hats.

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Hopefully her latest Lunar New Year comedy, this year’s Chilli Laugh Story, co-starring Gigi Leung, Ronald Cheng and Edan Lui, will bring the city as much cheer as her films have in the past.

5. Ronald Cheng

Though starting his career as a singer, Ronald Cheng – backing vocalist to Canto crooner Alan Tam when he was young – is now regarded as part of Hong Kong’s comedy heritage thanks to his various impressive film roles.

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In the following years, Cheng’s hilarious sense of humour brought him leading roles in comedy films such as Dragon Loaded 2003 (2003), Himalaya Singh (2005) and Dragon Reloaded (2005). But director Pang Ho-cheung’s Vulgaria (2012) took Cheng to the next level, his role of Brother Tyrannosaurus winning him best supporting actor at the 32nd Hong Kong Film Awards.

Before we go, we must mention a few other notables who’ve brought us years of cheer – not least Eric Tsang, Alfred Cheung, Dayo Wong and Wong Cho-lam. Without these names, Hong Kong comedy would not have shone as it has through the decades.