Hong Kong - Once a movie queen, always a movie queen. Lin Ching-hsia celebrated her 60th birthday in a pink gown and a tiara, holding court at a party attended by other beautiful people at The Peninsula Hong Kong on Monday.
Flowers formed a backdrop at the event planned by the former actress' stepdaughter, Claudine Ying, who is in the early education business and whom Lin raised after she married billionaire Michael Ying, said Ming Pao Daily News.
Celebrity couple Carina Lau and Tony Leung Chiu Wai were among the guests who arrived at about 7pm - empty-handed. Leung said: "Sister Ching-hsia said no gifts, so we've come to congratulate her."
Former actress Cherie Chung attended the gathering, as well as casino heiress Pansy Ho, singer-turned-jeweller Cally Kwong, movie producer Nansun Shi, Mandopop legend Liu Chia-chang, actor Ti Lung and his wife, former actress Tao Ming-min.
Lin greeted her guests in a green gown, then changed into something more regal for the party proper, said Ming Pao.
The former actress, who has turned her hand to writing, is publishing a second book, Cloud To Cloud, which includes reminiscences of her late friends Teresa Teng and Leslie Cheung. Lin shared some parts of her book with her guests on Monday, said Ming Pao.
Twenty years after she married Ying and quit acting, she remains a highly visible presence in Hong Kong gossip pages. Besides Claudine - Ying's daughter with his former wife, fashion designer Flora Cheong-Leen - Lin has raised two girls of her own.
There has been tabloid talk of cracks in Lin's marriage, and newspapers said they did not see her husband arrive at the party. But Claudine later posted a photo of the couple at the banquet, raising their flutes of bubbly and flanked by their three daughters.
Today, Lin shared her thoughts on reaching her 60th birthday on Weibo, along with a photo of herself in a red gown at the party. She said she felt "complete". "I have all of you, friends who care about me; I have three well-behaved daughters; I have a good husband; they're always supporting and tolerating me silently," she wrote.
She said Cloud To Cloud was her birthday present to fans, a "significant" book in which she shares what she "sees, hears and thinks".
