HONG KONG – Former screen goddess Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia has been conferred an honorary doctorate by The University of Hong Kong (HKU), fulfilling her late mother’s dream.
Lin wrote on social media that receiving the Doctor of Social Sciences (Honoris Causa) with six other distinguished individuals at a congregation on Monday was beyond her dreams.
Others receiving the award included Nobel prize-winning physicist Yang Chen-ning, who was unable to attend the ceremony and was conferred in absentia.
“My mother failed to complete her studies when she was young due to war and other factors,” Lin wrote on Weibo on Tuesday. “This was the biggest regret in her life, so she has a special affection for the doctorate.”
The former actress, who is Taiwanese, added: “I believe she must feel very pleased in heaven now that her daughter has received the doctorate.”
She said the recognition would make her strive to do more meaningful things for society.
Lin was described in the citation for the honour as “a film legend who has reinvented herself, and become a successful prose writer with a distinctive voice and style”.
The 68-year-old rose to stardom at the age of 19 with her debut film Outside The Window (1973), which also starred Taiwanese actor Chin Han, and was based on the 1963 romance novel of the same name by Taiwanese novelist Chiung Yao.
Lin went on to act in several melodramas in the 1970s and early 1980s before starring in films of other genres. These include war drama Red Dust, for which she won Best Actress at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards in 1990; spy thriller Peking Opera Blues (1986); as well as martial arts classics like Zu: Warriors From The Magic Mountain (1983) and Swordsman II (1992), with the latter starring Lin as the androgynous pugilist Dongfang Bubai.
She retired from acting after marrying Hong Kong businessman Michael Ying in 1994. The couple have two daughters aged 21 and 27.
Lin took up writing about 15 years ago and has since written four books. Her latest, Ching Hsia Sketches, was published in 2022.
