When tea is served at Lee Siu-man’s flat in Kennedy Town it comes in fine porcelain cups and saucers with beautifully hand-painted peach blossom on the sides. It’s Lee’s work from half a century ago.
Around the walls are Chinese traditional portrait paintings – also painted on porcelain and fired in a furnace to bring out the colours.
Then artist Lee, 85, brings out his scrolls showing off his fine calligraphy done in the style of the Qin dynasty – uniform, neat. Then there are his scroll paintings of old characters, travellers in robes, though he admits that these days it’s easier to paint lychee and birds. “Characters take much more concentration,” he says.
Lee, a diabetic for more than 40 years, regularly goes to Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai for treatment. “I have gradually formed a group of patients there and every Friday I teach calligraphy.”
Lee hosts a regular class of 20 and has watched them refine their skills and gain a sense of achievement.
“And while they are concentrating on the calligraphy and the motions of the brush, they are not having negative thoughts about their health,” he says. “I think it does help them to relax. The patients become increasingly satisfied with the process and gradually achieve more.”