(Readers of this post who do not know who Lydia Shum was may like to visit this site to get an idea of the person this post writes about: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lydia_Shum )
What’s the life expantacy of a Hong Kong female? The CIA World Factbook says it’s 84.6 (as at 2007) (source: http://www.indexmundi.com/hong_kong/life_expectancy_at_birth.html). Although the life expectancy for a person born in 1945 would be a few years shorter than 84.6 (the writer of this post could not find the exact figure), I would still be inclined to consider that Lydia Shum, who was born on 21 July 1945 and passed away on 19 Feb 2008 at the age of 62, lived a life much too short to deserve God’s early summon to leave this world.
However, for a person who began her career in Hong Kong’s entertainment industry at the age of 15 (in 1960), Lydia Shum made her continuous presence to the people of Hong Kong for a period of 47 years, i.e. almost half a century. And who in the world (not to say Hong Kong) has been able to stay active in the entertainment business in its history for a period longer than Shum did? What is more, what Lydia Shum did for the people of Hong Kong and for those in the wider Chinese community throughout the world, is that throughout her performer career she brought laughters to her audience. Laughters do not necessary imply happiness. The writer of this post buys into the Buddhist notion that life is suffering, and that happiness in life is unachieveable for people who lead only a mundane life. However, this should not prevent one from living a life of laughters, albeit admist suffering. Indeed, the fact that life is suffering makes laughters and fun all the more valuable for ordinary people like the writer of this post. Thus the loss of performer Lydia Shum is saddening, Read the rest of this entry »
