Early life and education Chung King-fai was born in Thailand, to a family of Chinese expatriates, with ancestral roots in
Taishan, Guangdong. His great-grandfather was a dockyard merchant. His mother, surnamed Cheung, was from
Shanghai. though his academic performance was average. In 1958, he went to the United States and entered
Oklahoma Baptist University directly into the second semester of the third year in Speech and Drama, with a minor in English. Chung was later admitted to the
Yale School of Drama for a three-year Master of Fine Arts programme, Invited by Dr. Maurice J. Anderson, then founding vice-president of
Hong Kong Baptist College, he served as an assistant lecturer in English Language and Literature for three years, during which he taught drama. It was the first time for drama courses to be taught in the tertiary education in Hong Kong. He also founded the College Dramatic Society there. While teaching at Hong Kong Baptist College, Chung also worked part-time as a scriptwriter and director at Rediffusion Television (now
Asia Television), Hong Kong’s first cable television network. In the same year, senior
TVB executive Steve Huang Shih-chiu sent him a formal invitation through
Yao Ke. Chung continued teaching at Hong Kong Baptist College for another year and officially joined TVB in June 1967. Following
Robert Chua's transfer in November 1973, Chung temporarily held both roles of general programme manager and production manager. In August 1975, Rediffusion Television reached an agreement with Chung for him to join immediately after his contract ended with TVB. TVB reassigned him to assistant general manager. In February 1976, Chung was appointed director of Chinese programming at Rediffusion Television, also the role of assistant general manager from December 1976. In August 1977, he became deputy general manager. In February 1982, Chung initially planned to resign to pursue personal interests and to establish his own company, but was ultimately persuaded to stay and take over the responsibilities of Lee Sil-hong. He eventually stepped down on 1 March 1983. Beginning in 1983, he took part in preparations for the establishment of the
Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, the first tertiary institution of its kind in the territory. When the Academy officially opened in 1985, he became the founding Dean of the School of Drama. During his tenure, he developed a comprehensive degree programme covering acting, playwriting and directing, and incorporated a substantial body of Western drama into the curriculum as core material. In 2012, Chung King-fai authorised the publication of his biography "Self-disciplined, pragmatic, humble, harmonious - Chung King-fai" (ISBN 9789881588616). Written by Hong Tsz-ling, the book "documents the origins of Chung King-fai's inextricable bond to the art of drama from 1937 to the present." After undergoing surgery for
colorectal cancer in 2016, Chung gradually withdrew from public appearances following his work on
Finding Her Voice to focus on recovery. In 2017, Chung stepped down as president of the Hong Kong Federation of Drama Societies after 33 years of service since its founding. In subsequent years, his health declined noticeably, with reduced mobility eventually needing the use of a wheelchair. ==Works==