Xiaosi Talks about Chung Wai Ming and the Influence of Radio Drama

Clip2-Broadcasting and Traditional Culture

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Much of my early knowledge and entertainment came from Radio Hong Kong. I was in primary school in the late 1940s; that was the formative part of my life. There wasn’t much entertainment available then, so that the programmes on Radio Hong Kong opened up a wide horizon for us. For example, story-telling. I was very much affected by the performance of several artists such as old Mr Fang Rong. His stories, such as “Jigong the Living Buddha” and “The Seven Knights Errant” usually ended with “The moral consequence is…” We should not look down on what might appear to be clichés, because they had a major impact on our growing up. As we heard this repeatedly, we became aware of the ideas of karma, or moral cause and effect, and the moral consequences of our actions. The other was Chen Gong who narrated the stories of the “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” and “The Water Margin”. He was steeped in Chinese learning, and as we listened to him, our knowledge of Chinese culture, history and literature also increased. If we listened attentively, we could remember one or two historical characters in an hour or a couple of historical facts. Day by day, our knowledge grew. Historical stories, Chinese cultural tradition and all kinds of poetic works were not necessarily learnt only at school. Radio in fact provided both entertainment and learning.

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