Veteran Hong Kong actor, film director and producer Patrick Tse Yin has died at the age of 89, with his son, pop star Nicholas Tse Ting-fung, asking friends and fans not to be sad, but to “keep his forever charming and smiling image in our hearts”. There will be no wake and no ceremonies. His body would be transported straight to the crematorium from the hospital.
Well known to fans of Chinese movies, Tse Yin has been charming two generations of movie fans for decades. I’ve watched him from our black and white TV at home to the big screen. While his son Nicholas Tse is definitely more successful as both an actor and a singer, Patrick Tse remains a legend that no one can match. For he was not just an actor but an iconic figure who helped the see various stages in Hong Kong’s development over the decades. Every time the late Patrick Tse appeared in public, even in advanced years, he would refuse to grow old, dressing flamboyantly, wearing a ponytail and tinted glasses.
While Patrick Tse was undeniably talented, he was also very fortunate to be at the right place and the right time. Born in Guangzhou in 1936, his father operated a moneylending service. The Japanese invasion in the late 1930s and the subsequent civil war in China forced the Tse family to move to Hong Kong. While in secondary school, he bagged so many infringements that he was expelled. Destined to be a low wage worker, his fate took a sudden turn when his dashing good looks caught the eye of director Chun Kim 秦剑. It was Chum Kim who introduced Patrick Tse to the movie industry. He immediately stood out and it’s not just because he was younger and more handsome. He also stood out as a boisterous character among the standard image of stoicism and piety among the male actors. Audiences were beginning to get tired of the consistently wholesome image and preachy themes. A breakthrough was needed and Patrick Tse fitted well into the new formula. Following a trend set by the likes of James Bond, Hong Kong women during the 1960s were tired of wholesome characters and preachy themes. They wanted naughty tales and naughty boys. Patrick Tse fitted the role of the playboy perfectly. They made him bare his torso and get touchy with actresses, planting the seeds of fantasy in the minds of the female audience.
Not surprisingly, Patrick Tse became a lover both onscreen and offscreen. The Taiwanese film industry was burgeoning along with Taiwan’s economy. A rising star Zhen Zhen was in Hong Kong to promote her movie when she met Patrick Tse. After Zhen Zhen returned to Taiwan, Patrick Tse called her regularly from Hong Kong. They finally had a chance to work together when Patrick got a role in a Taiwanese movie. The 24-year-old Zhen Zhen fell in love with the charming Patrick Tse who was 11 years her senior. The couple soon got married.
Zhen Zhen returned to Taiwan when sore loser Liu Jia Chang emerged out of nowhere, claiming that he and Zhen Zhen already had a relationship before she met Patrick Tse. Amid all the rumours and harassment, Patrick wanted a divorce. Zhen Zhen agreed. She married Liu Jia Chang and he married Deborah Lee. One man turned out to be a winner and other turned out to be a loser. Liu Jia Chang tried making patriotic movies in Taiwan. When that failed, he went over to the mainland to get artistic grants from the PRC government.
Patrick Tse was forever cast as a playboy and in many ways, he was Hong Kong’s James Bond, with his sportscars, his lavish lifestyle, his flamboyant dressing and his ways with women. After his second marriage, he moved away from the silver screen and found his second wind on TV. Again, he was on a winning streak unlike pathetic Liu Jia Chang whom Zhen Zhen later divorced.
Without Hong Kong being a British colony, Patrick couldn’t have had a scintillating 60-year career. Like the gambling guru that he portrayed on TV, he was extremely fortunate to have been winning games and overcoming challenges throughout his career. His family’s departure from the mainland to Hong Kong was a gamble. Dropping out of school and going into acting was a gamble and Hong Kong’s rise as an economic powerhouse gave him plenty of opportunity to milk the industry for all it was worth. He could not have been so successful in the more wholesome and restrictive Chinese societies in Taiwan, Singapore and the PRC. He had likened himself to an unstoppable locomotive, always going forward and always staying on track.
Patrick actually got even more flamboyant in later years. While some made fun of his plastic surgery, most in Hong Kong were not judgmental. It would have been different in other Chinese societies. He happened to be in the right Chinese society. In 1996, Tse divorced Deborah Lee. In 2005, Tse began a relationship with Coco Ma, a Shanghai native who was 49 years his junior. Tse and Ma broke up in late 2017 and he had his son gave her HKD20 million as a settlement for the split, although both of them still remained as close friends.
After migrating to Canada, Patrick Tse moved back to Hong Kong. After a bout of pneumonia, he passed away on 20th July 2026. Patrick Tse’s life history is also a history of Hong Kong. There will not be another Patrick Tse just as the Hong Kong that nurtured him and dozens of stars like him no longer exists.
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