Hong Kong actor Fui-On Shing, 54, died of nasopharyngeal carcinoma at 23:45 Thursday evening, five years after being diagnosed with the disease.

Shing reportedly spent his last minutes with his family and friends in Hong Kong Baptist Hospital, where several close friends in the entertainment industry, including Alan Tam, Eric Tsang, and Nick Cheung, also accompanied him, according to sina.com.

In 2004, Shing was diagnosed with terminal stage nasopharyngeal and told he had only four months to live.

But with his optimistic character, Shing prolonged his life by four years and seemingly created a miracle.

Two years ago, he even shot two more films, namely "The Detective" and "Crazy Money & Funny Men."

Shing, well-known among many Chinese born in the 1970s and 1980s, started his show biz career 31 years ago and often played the roles of gang leaders as he was usually described as a tall, muscular man.

He was mainly known for supporting roles and had only held one leading role in his entire career in the movie "The Blue Jean Monster."

Shing performed in more than 350 films and 600 soap operas episodes.

(CRI August 28, 2009)