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A public memorial ceremony for the late Hong Kong entertainer Lydia Sum will be held early next month in Hong Kong, but her body will be taken to Vancouver next week to lie next to her parents, according to Hong Kong media reports.
The actress, singer and television show host, nicknamed 'Happy Nut' for her signature laugh, died on Tuesday morning aged 62 after a two-year battle with cancer.
Her daughter, aspiring singer Joyce Cheng Yan-yee, 20, spoke publicly for the first time on Wednesday since her mother's passing. While calm at the beginning of the nine-minute press conference, Ms Cheng burst into tears as she talked, The Standard newspaper reported on Thursday.
She said her mother had been very strong and courageous in the long fight against her illness. 'Don't be sad,' she said at a press conference in Hong Kong. 'She was suffering. She is now in a more peaceful place.'
At the press conference to give her moral support were her mother's close friends - Amy Cheung, wife of late director Chang Cheh, and Florence Chan Suk Fan and her son Chan Ka Ho - as well as Sum's sister Viola Chiang and brother-in-law Chiang Jia Ling.
Florence Chan said Sum turned down many requests from friends to visit her in hospital because she did not want them to see her in her ailing condition.
'She believed she would go home one day,' said Chan. 'She wanted to wait until she was in better spirits. But don't worry or feel sorry for not being able to see her in her last moments - she would have wanted all of you to be happy when you think of her.'
The Standard said Sum's body will be transported next week to Vancouver where a private funeral will take place. The burial will be at Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks and Mortuaries.
Video clips of the funeral will be shown at the Hong Kong Coliseum memorial service to be held on March 2.
Television Broadcasts, where Sum worked for almost 40 years, will broadcast the ceremony live, according to The Standard.
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