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| May 2000 No male monopoly By Chan Siu Sin RELATED ARTICLE: Article from the same
section: People who do stunts are usually men, but there are stuntwomen in Hong Kong. Miss Yeung Ching Ching, 35, is the only female action director in the SAR. She has been an actress for 21 years, a stand-in since 1986 and an action director since 1989, specializing in wushu in ancient dramas. Wushu is a martial art like kung fu. Her mentor is Mr. Ching Siu Tung, who is also well-known in the profession. “I like working in the industry and I love challenges. Since I had to learn wushu in my childhood, I knew I would be a stuntwoman,” she said. As the only female action director and one of the few stuntwomen in Hong Kong, she said her male counterparts treat her well. Said she: “Comparatively, they treat me better because I am a female. “For acts with greater difficulties like rolling down stairs or falling from high places, they usually let the male stand-ins do the job for us. “You know, the pelvis of a female is easily hurt if women falls from a high place. This can lead to sterility.” Sometimes she is passed over for some acts. This is not because of favours given by male counterparts, but because of the weaker power of women. Although there are limitations, stuntwomen serve a lot of functions that their male counterparts cannot. For example, besides acting as a stand-in for numerous actresses and guiding them how to perform difficult actions, she also helps them don protective clothing and pads for their own stunts. Yeung said the danger involved have scared many women, and even men, away from the career. In addition, marriage, pregnancy and career changes have made the number of stuntwomen drop to only one or two in Hong Kong. But Yeung still chooses to stay. Explained she: “I am independent and my family supports me. “Danger is not my main concern as long as I can take good care of myself and prevent myself from getting injured again.” Since Yeung has been injured before, she stresses safety when she teaches others. “Performing simple acts always turns out to be the easiest way of getting injured. We should never be reckless.” However, in the past 2 years, for the sake of training the younger generation and for her health, she has seldom worked as a stand-in. Rather, she puts her time teaching wushu at the Junior Stuntmen’s Training Class, where she specializes in nan quan and swords-woman-ship. |
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