How Hong Kong actress Carman Lee found fame in Condor Heroes on TV, then gave it all up
biweekly series profiling major Hong Kong pop culture figures of recent decades.
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Few actresses embody the cultural zeitgeist of 1990s Hong Kong quite like Carman Lee Yeuk-tung.
Her portrayal of Little Dragon Maiden, or Xiaolongnü, in the 1995 TVB drama series The Condor Heroes 95 defined a generation's ideal of femininity in the wuxia fantasy world created by martial arts novelist
Louis Cha Leung-yung , better known as Jin Yong.
Her portrayal of the ethereal, sword-wielding nun who possesses qualities of loyalty and independence and an unbreakable spirit despite personal trauma was lauded by the author himself as the embodiment of the character he created. Now, 30 years later, she is still regarded by many as the best casting of a Cha heroine.
Carman Lee and Louis Koo in a still from The Condor Heroes 95, the show that launched her to stardom. Photo: Online
Born Lee Wai-han in Hong Kong, the seventh of 10 children, Lee was raised in Kowloon's Ngau Tau Kok Upper Estate and later in Sha Tin, where she attended Kiangsu-Chekiang College (Shatin).
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