Known for her portly figure, signature dark-rimmed glasses and bouffant hairstyle, she was affectionately known to peers and fans as Fei-fei (Chinese: 肥肥, lit.

Shum debuted in When the Peach Blossoms Bloom, a 1960 Mandarin comedy directed by Griffin Yueh Feng.

[citation needed] While she worked at Shaw Brothers, her popularity grew and she became one of the first stakeholders in the up-and-coming television broadcast station TVB.

[citation needed] By August 1972, she was sufficiently well regarded to be invited to ceremonially ride through the Cross-Harbour Tunnel on its opening day.

TVB General Manager Stephen Chan has said that there was no substitute for Lydia Shum, and that every person who worked with her professionally eventually became well known in Hong Kong.

Her openness to appearing in sport bikinis and ballet costumes despite her size earned her respect in image-conscious Hong Kong.

Kung fu fans will recognize her from her role as Yuen Cheung-Yan's dominating wife in the film Drunken Tai Chi.

Due to the hurried circumstances of their marriage and Shum's proportions being outside standard clothing sizes, there was insufficient time to prepare a wedding gown.

On 1 November 2006, a 24-year-old Indonesian domestic helper, Triyuliarti Yuyun, was convicted of violating the Hospital Authority Ordinance and sentenced to four weeks in jail.

[6] Later, it was confirmed that Yuyun was working for an employee of the local magazine East Week, but she had not been authorised to take photographs of Shum.

Magistrate Colin Mackintosh determined that Yuyun's actions were premeditated and done for financial gain, and that the serious infringement of the patient's privacy warranted a custodial sentence.

On 11 October 2007, Shum collapsed at home with pleural effusion, and was rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QE) for emergency treatment.

On 24 February 2008, escorted by her daughter Joyce, Shum's body was flown on a Cathay Pacific passenger flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

[8] Fei-fei Day was proclaimed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for 1 June 2008 (Shum's Chinese lunar calendar birthday).

Mayor Sam Sullivan proclaimed this memorial day in Vancouver on 26 February 2008, a week after Shum's death.