Career
Cheng started his career in the 1970s, where he gained a reputation for playing the lead roles in TVB Wuxia drama series based on the works of Louis Cha and Gu Long, such as The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber and Chor Lau Heung. He also performed some of the theme songs of the television series he starred in, such as The Greed of Manitoba and Cold Blood Warm Heart. Cheng is still working on television series with TVB in the present-day and considered to be one of the veteran actors who have maintained their popularity for a long time.
In 1992, TVB released the television series The Greed of Manitoba, based on the central theme of the stock market and explored the schemes and plots used by people to make their fortune in the market.
Cheng played Ting Hai in the series, who made an immense fortune by short selling derivatives and stocks during a bear market. Many people went bankrupt while Ting Hai"s family became richer until they were defeated by their nemesis.
Cheng became popularly associated with the, named after his character in the series. The effect involves a peculiar and unexplained phenomenon, in which global stock markets will fall whenever a new Hong Kong television drama series, starring Cheng, is aired.
