'I don't know who Francis Ng is': Son of Hong Kong star 'cut ties' in online joke, gets admonished by dad

Hong Kong actor Francis Ng's son Feynman has "cut ties" with him — as a joke.

This "family dispute" began when the 62-year-old star criticised Hong Kong actor Jacky Heung's performance in a recent episode of Chinese acting variety show Memories Beyond Horizon.

In the episode, Jacky, 39, played Manchu prince Dorgon in a short skit from Chinese court drama Xiaozhuang Epic (2003). Taiwanese actor Ma Jingtao played the same character in the original series, which shot him to fame.

Francis, one of the mentors on the show, judged Jacky's performance, commenting that he should be more aware of his character's mannerisms and as a prince and general, Dorgon shouldn't be adhering to what others want him to do so easily.

Jacky replied Dorgon was drunk at the time, to which Francis responded that if Jacky was defensive, he would always remain in his current state.

Netizens reacted to the slightly tense situation, commenting that Francis was brave to criticise Jacky openly, as the latter comes from a reputable family in Hong Kong.

He is the son of Charles Heung, an actor-turned-film producer and presenter. The 75-year-old is also the founder of Win's Entertainment and China Star Entertainment Group and helped to kickstart the careers of many Chinese superstars including Chow Yun Fat, Andy Lau, Stephen Chow and Jet Li.

Charles also allegedly had ties with one of Hong Kong's largest and most powerful triads Sun Yee On, as his father was the founder.

In one of the comments, a netizen wrote in jest that Jacky must be thinking of a threat to Francis: "Don't forget, Feynman is still studying in Hong Kong."

Joining in the joke, the 15-year-old, whom Francis shares with his Singaporean former actress wife Ong Lay Pheng, made a Weibo post on April 8.

He wrote: "Just to introduce myself again, my name is Wang Jingwei and I don't know who Francis Ng and Feynman Ng are. I have also never watched Memories Beyond Horizon before. I have never been to school and am illiterate and working in a vinyl record store. This message was written from a speech-to-text function."

Accompanying the post are three photos: the "threat" written by a netizen, a photo of Hong Kong actor Gallen Lo with the caption "It's inevitable your father would be sad", and a funeral portrait of Francis' character from the movie Infernal Affairs II (2003).

Jacky also commented on Feynman's post, asking if he was interested in acting and that he enjoyed his humour. He also wanted to befriend Feynman and added he actually respects Francis a lot.

The teen replied with amusement: "Hi Jacky, I don't know if I want to be an actor, but I know I want to be alive. Can you ask my father not to hit me? I am okay with getting to know each other. P.S. I also respect your father a lot."

Feynman's cheeky post, which has since been deleted, made the Weibo hot search list on April 9 and Francis responded in a post on that same day.

He wrote: "My son Feynman appeared on Weibo again recently and was on the hot search list. Of course when children joke, everyone would just laugh and get over it.

"But as a parent, I feel that there is a teachable moment here, which is to not use Weibo to increase your presence and not live to win other people's attention, because that would be a sad existence."

Netizens commented under his post, sharing that they understand Feynman is a humorous and likeable child, and hope that Francis wouldn't be too harsh on him.

One wrote: "Education being education, don't hit Feynman. But if you are really going to beat him, remember to do a livestream for us."

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yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com

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