22 Facts About Barbara Yung

Barbara Yung Mei-ling was a famous Hong Kong actress during the early 1980s.

Barbara Yung was born in Hong Kong on 7 May 1959 to a civil service family as an only child.

Barbara Yung's childhood was relatively uneventful until the death of her father when she was aged 7.

At 15, Barbara Yung left Hong Kong for England in late 1974 to join her mother who had migrated to the United Kingdom.

Barbara Yung continued with her GCE O levels at a secondary school in Cambridge.

Barbara Yung spent 4 years at this school and graduated with a bachelor's degree.

Barbara Yung returned to Hong Kong and joined the Miss Hong Kong pageant in 1982, in which she was awarded 8th place.

Barbara Yung made her acting debut in 1982, in a Cantonese wuxia series named Sup Sam Mui known as The Legend of the Unknowns set in the Qing dynasty, co-starring Kent Tong and Simon Yam in which Yung played a Manchu princess, Princess Sheung.

Barbara Yung was found unconscious due to gas inhalation in her apartment on Broadcast Drive, Kowloon on the morning of 14 May 1985.

Barbara Yung then thought that no one was home and left.

Barbara Yung knocked on Yung's door again but no one answered.

Barbara Yung then climbed up the outside wall of the apartment building to her second-floor apartment and pried open her front window.

Barbara Yung entered Yung's apartment and discovered her unconscious and sprawled on the living room floor.

Barbara Yung was rushed to the nearby Baptist Hospital in Kowloon where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Barbara Yung sounded very optimistic about her future in her radio interviews on 14 March 1985 and two weeks before her death.

Barbara Yung's remaining scenes were assigned to fellow actress Maggie Cheung.

Barbara Yung's funeral was a big event and was attended by throngs of fans and many prominent Hong Kong celebrities.

Barbara Yung's remains were placed in the World Funeral Parlor, Hung Hom, Kowloon for fans and friends to pay their final respect.

Barbara Yung had a Catholic funeral as the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong did not believe her suicide was intentional or willful.

Barbara Yung was cremated in Hong Kong on 19 May 1985 and her ashes were brought back and laid to rest at the Cambridge City Cemetery in Cambridge, England.

The death of Barbara Yung aroused society's attention to the mental health of artists leading to the establishment of the Hong Kong Artistes Christian Fellowship at the behest of Cheung Ming Ming, one of the last persons Yung reached out to prior to her death.

The golden lettering on a dark background is common to several gravestones in the area, but Barbara Yung's stone is distinctive in that it is heart-shaped and includes black-and-white photographs of both individuals.