‘It’s been too long!’ Former actor Zhang Shuifa reunites with Tang Miaoling in livestream

Former TV actor Zhang Shuifa appeared in a sales livestream with local celebs Tang Miaoling and Terence Cao yesterday (July 3) to the surprise of netizens.

The 57-year-old, who debuted in 1988 with Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), now known as Mediacorp, was best known for his performance in dramas such as Teahouse in Chinatown (1988) and Sweet Dreams (1990).

Introducing himself and reminiscing with netizens who were excited to see him, Shuifa, who drove to Singapore from Malacca that day, said: “I was with Singapore television for eight years and returned to Malaysia for two years and later went to China for six years. Because my mum was seriously ill at the time, I retired. When she died, I returned [to the entertainment industry].”

The last drama that Shuifa appeared in was reportedly Malaysian drama My Sensei Nyonya (2018), where he plays head of the Yao household Yao Sihai.

Netizens who saw the livestream commented that he seemed like he never aged a day at all.

“Zhang Shuifa, I grew up watching your dramas. I am older now but why do you still look so youthful?” one of them wrote.

Miaoling, 55, also made a social media post after the livestream with a selfie taken together with Shuifa.

“It’s been too long! We haven’t seen each other for decades! I am very happy to do a livestream with Shuifa for the first time today. The first drama that Terence and I participated in after graduating from SBC’s 9th actor training class was with him in Sweet Dreams. I also acted as his younger sister in the drama The Woman I Marry later,” she wrote.

In a report by The New Paper in 1989, Shuifa, who was born and raised in Malacca, shared that his father died when he was 15 years old and he worked as a part-time tour guide to support his mother and sister.

Although he was in the best science class in school and dreamt of going to university then, his studies were affected as he was working and he eventually lost interest in school after his mother told him he had “no chance to further [his] studies”.

He set up a tour company with his friends later and sold insurance on the side, but when the business closed in 1987, he looked for work in Singapore and signed up for the SBC actor training class because he saw “no future” in other jobs.

While undergoing training, Shuifa had to borrow money from his friends as he wasn’t paid. He shared that one of his friends provided him with free lodging in a flat in Bukit Batok and he ate instant noodles for most of his meals then.