A never-ending class – Francis Mao’s life on stage

This book is the first autobiography written by Hong Kong veteran stage actor and director Francis Mao. With vivid imagery and frank words, he describes his artistic career and his relationship with drama. He was deeply influenced by his family and loved drama since he was a child. After growing up, he went to the United States to study and obtained a master's degree in drama art from the University of Iowa. During his time working in the United States, he performed in Broadway musicals and served as the artistic director of the Napa Valley Theater Company. At that time, it was a very rare achievement for a Chinese person in the American drama industry. He returned to Hong Kong in 1985 and worked at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, cultivating talents and leading by example. Whether as an actor or director, the works he participated in are well-known in the industry, and even non-drama lovers have heard about these titles. He is a face of the Hong Kong drama industry, both a pioneer leading the forefront and a pillar supporting its foundation. In addition to his colorful drama life, Francis Mao also revealed in the book his understanding of how Chinese traditional and Western drama can be integrated, his views and expectations on how Hong Kong drama can develop and popularize in the future. Readers can learn from it his decades-long love for drama, which is a lesson that never ends.