Anthony Wong Criticizes Tony Hung’s Mandarin
Anthony Wong (黃秋生) voiced out some criticism of the 2015 StarHub TVB Awards, which aired in Hong Kong on Sunday, November 1. The TVB awards ceremony, which celebrates the TVB programs that had aired in Singapore in 2015, temporarily took over the time slot of Lord of Shanghai <梟雄> when it broadcasted on Sunday, prompting Anthony’s attention.
The Lord of Shanghai star said he was quite surprised and impressed with some of the singing performances on the show, but was taken aback when he heard a certain male artiste speaking very bad Mandarin.
Anthony wrote on his Facebook, “That kid not only has a bad voice, he also has bad Mandarin, but of course, that won’t affect his popularity. Làmā (辣媽) became lǎma (喇嘛). At least hire a teacher to touch up his Mandarin.”
As Anthony did not mention the name of the artiste, this led to speculation that he may be talking about Ruco Chan (陳展鵬) or Tony Hung (洪永城), both actors who have spoke rather poor Mandarin that night.
In regards to this news, Ruco Chan replied, “I never said those words.” Tony Hung, however, said, “It seems like he’s talking about me, but I will not respond!”
The press contacted Anthony by phone, asking him to clarify. Anthony said, “I really don’t remember that guy’s name, but his Mandarin is really not good. He wanted to call [the two presenters] ‘hot mama’ (辣媽), but it became ‘lama’ (喇嘛) instead. I was shocked. Those two women also looked shocked. Mandarin is a language that we must know how to use in this industry, especially if you want to dig gold in the Mainland. You cannot be lazy about it! Find a teacher!”
The reporters then suggested that maybe the artiste is too busy to hire a language teacher, but Anthony retorted, “Then I’ll tell the director that I haven’t memorized the script because I was too busy! Or the chef didn’t cook because he was too busy! The athlete didn’t go to practice because he had no time! How is this possible? This is part of your job! But whatever. This won’t affect his popularity. Just say I am an old man who likes to complain and grumble a lot! Make sure to write down I said that!”
Source: On.cc
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
Yes Anthony, you are an old man who complains and grumbles . LOL. I detect you are also a bitter old man who has no respect or patience for the younger artistes.
@abc123a He is not wrong though.
what is wrong with this old man? is he upset just because his time slot was taken over?
This grumpy old man just wants to throw his weight around now that his drama is airing. He can give his opinions when asked for but there’s no need to be rude or condescending. The Starhub awards show was actually almost 100% in Cantonese with only a smattering of Mandarin spoken like, maybe a couple of words or sentences here and there, and from that, Anthony saw it fit to nit pick. Says a lot about his respect for others. By all means dish out advice since he’s a senior but sarcasm or nit picking is not appreciated.
Yeah, his talking about Tony I watched that part. I’m not sure if mandarin is taught in Hong Kong but sometimes their pronounciation might be slightly affected as they do not speak it frequently. If it is not taught in Hong Kong then it is understandable, I believe that Tony did not need to learn mandarin and hence it might be unfamiliar to him. 人之常情？
Honestly. I appreciated the fact that Tony went out of his way to speak some mandarin for the fans in Singapore who speak mandarin. He respected the occasion and the venue even though he knew it wasn’t perfect. As far as I’m concerned… Should Anthony be saying this if he was personally looked down on for being a halfie when he first came to the industry? I wonder how he felt and if he really put himself into Tony’s shoes.
@ceejay He was in.. the mummy part 2? Can’t remember whether he spoke mandarin or english but it was competent.
So he was right. Tony knew he was winning. If he respected the fans he will make more effort. But there must be soome consideration for the fact that Tony may be overwhelmed that night.
That being said, HK artistes have been getting away from speaking terrible mandarin. So I feel anthony was right.
My bigger surprise is Anthony watches these kind of shows??
Anthony is right. And since you know you are winning, doesnt hurt to prepare a speech and if in another language, make an effort to speak better.
Ruco’s mandarin is ok. I wonder what Anthony thinks of Louis Koo’s mandarin which from my memory is worst of the worst and he doesn’t even try…
@funnlim although anthony is right i think its not nessesary to criticise a newby on this way,he could also tell him just between them two if he see him. if the person that speak bad mandarin was liza wang would he criticise her like this? show some respect not just for old ppl but also ppl younger than you. oh and talking about dig gold in china,yes anthony is qualfied to dig gold in china but isnt he boycotted by the chinese audience for some reason?
@funnlim Even worse than Alan Tam’s Mandarin? Impossible.
He needs to leave Tony alone. I feel like he just hates everyone from the CPT cast
@lavender16 is it because he didn’t get the role of 张保仔? Maybe he thinks he is more convincing as one.
@janet72
Haha, now it all makes sense why he bashed that show since the beginning. This new show of his isn’t even interesting. I was bored after the first 20 minutes and I stopped watching.
@lavender16 i didn’t even watch it at all…because I never liked Anthony wong.
he doesn’t have a likeable face.
at least tony is goofy but can still take comical roles.
I think Anthony is just making a mountain out of a molehill. I speak mandarin but I didn’t catch that Tony was using the wrong intonation. I knew that he was saying or trying to say “Hot mama” in Mandarin and it sounded just fine to me. It’s also insulting to Tony that Anthony never bothered to find out his name and merely referred to him as “that guy” (or whatever equivalent word he used in the Chinese reports). Respect goes both ways Anthony.
Anthony is a bitter old man……If HK artists feel the need to speak Mandarin, they will learn. If they are making enough money without speaking it, like Louis Koo, then they won’t. Mandarin may be the official Chinese language in Singapore, but in HK, it’s Cantonese.
Think Anthony is at the age and status that he can ignore what other people think and say about him. That’s why he anounced every thought that he had when he can. Lol.
To me, he doesnt seems like a bitter old man. More like he is frustrated of the new generation. His generation really had a hard time before they can get lead roles, and much much worse for female celebs.
@dramadrama That is called being rude condescending arrogant and basically thinking too highly of himself. You don’t see bigger stars around his age eg Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Chow Yun Fatt shooting their mouths off in such an arrogant manner do you? Anyway this kind of loud ungentlemanly behaviour is his trademark. I’m not even surprised.
Mandarin is not a language used in HK…so it is understood that the accent will be different…but it takes courage to speak. Respect is to be earned…who does Anthony think he is?
@isay Tony and Fatt Gir have an image to keep. They are known as Mr nice guy. As for Anthony, he got into a lot of issues for not keeping his mouth shut. Not saying that he is right, just that this is his attitude. And based on his age now, he don’t care a heck for people’s comments.
Just that though he is rude here, but the things that babbled from his non-filtered mouth can’t be denied of truth too.
@dramadrama I get yr point but however you try to justify it, Anthony’s just a j-erk who’s too big for his boots. I’m trying my best to see what a great actor he is but sadly his LOS can hardly sustain my interest long enough. I stopped at ep 1, picked it up again and switched off mid way thru ep 2. If i remember correctly, he used to act in a lot of B-grade movies when he was younger so I always get the impression that he can portray a psychopath really well cos he doesn’t need to act it, he already looks it. Perhaps he’s good in this type of roles as gangster, psycho etc but he’s not what I will call versatile. What a pompous fella.
@isay It’s not surprising that he speaks this way. Anthony’s known to be a arrogant and conceited person, not care about offending others. He would only respect certain people who he gets along with. You can tell what kind of person he is by who he hangs out with. He’s close friends with that loud mouth thug Wong yuk man.
Really can’t stand this guy. Arrogant and talks way too much! Always criticizing other people. He should reflect on himself to see why he’s such a bitter person!
Okay, so while I do love Anthony Wong, this is going way too far. He is a great actor but a really arrogant one too. When he criticized Grace, I get it, it was just on the constructive criticism side. However, now he is just being straight out rude to Tony. Good thing I don’t have a dream to be in the Chinese Industry or my Mandarin would be criticized by Anthony, lol!
No matter how much i like watching Anthony and respect him as an artist he did go a lil over board on how Tony speak in mando but how is this news??!!!
@sherla1019 probably just here so we can bash on Anthony’s behavior more lol
Anthony is a lonely bitter old man with too much time on his hand. I think he needs a new boy friend badly. LOL!!
That said, however, he does have a point in that Tony Hung should have stick to canto instead of embarrassing himself like that. It is the unfortunate byproduct of most HK’ers operating in their provincial dialectical world.
You guys can say Anthony Wong is bitter all you want but he’s definitely not wrong about that Tony guy.
Seriously he shouldn’t embarrass himself like that on television. I understand not mastering a language but then don’t try to half ass it in a professional setting that’s being broadcasted and such!
When I first look at the picture above of tony hung I thought he’s bosco Wong at first.
@asian2015 lol it was probably the hairstyle
As much as I agree that his mandarin is not so great, I do not think that Tony should be criticized for that. Honestly, all that matters is if he tried. When KPOP stars visit Hong Kong, they too try to speak Cantonese, but obviously it doesn’t sound perfect. You wouldn’t expect JPOP stars visiting China to speak perfect Mandarin or Chinese actors visiting HK to speak perfect Cantonese, right?
No problem with any foreign artists tries to speak the local fan’s dialect. They should be praised.
Shu Qi has been acting forever and she never attempts to speak better Cantonese. Its as if she wants that as her trademark or something. Anthony wouldn’t dare comment on her.
@mike ITA with you. At least he tried to speak in Mandarin tho he wasn’t required to.
The awards program was a ‘closed door’ event…Tony is allowed to speak in Cantonese, but he tried to speak in mandarin which should be commended. I am a Singaporean but I dare not say my spoken mandarin is fantastic.
There is really no need to criticize Tony.
Anthony Wong needs to clam up.
I guess why he spoke Mandarin was because the two presenter might not understand Cantonese. So thumbs up for Tony’s bravery, although his Mandarin wasn’t fantastic. However, I felt that Anthony really put in effort to speak dialect in the new drama and it is really commendable. Maybe it’s some kind of old teaching where elders like to provoke the self esteem of the younger ones, in hopes they would feel hurt and improve. Something like 激將法. Although not everyone works well under this method, as some people improve better under encouragement.
Cocky old man, always making headlines to show he is still popular but actually he is sliding downhill in the movie world:)