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Raquel Carvalho

Sai Kung’s Main Street has been quieter over the past month, absent the persistent rhythm of Mak Sing-yin’s hammer.
Mak, a tinsmith known as the tin man, died on June 24 at the age of 99, taking with him his knowledge of the art of shaping the metal.
Wiry and with an unflagging energy, Mak spent his days over 81 years turning plain sheets of tin into cake pans, watering cans, letter boxes and buckets.
Watch: The trade of a lifetime: Hong Kong's 99-year-old tinsmith

Located in a narrow alley of Sai Kung’s Old Town, his shop, named Wo Cheong Hou, opened everyday from 9.30am to 4.30pm. Residents and tourists alike would stop to watch Mak, as he shaped and punched holes in tin sheets.
The tin man was a neighbourhood institution. And his trade has no descendents.
“Even my children never learned this. They couldn’t make a living from it,” Mak told the Sunday Morning Post last November. “Why would I teach it to someone? It would be a burden.”
One of his grandsons, who also lived in Sai Kung, said at the time he regretted not having had the chance to learn his grandfather’s craft. “I asked him many times to teach me,” recalled Mak Mau-hei, 26, an air conditioner technician. “But he always said that with this kind of job [where] we couldn’t make money.”
Born in the Shunde district of Guangdong province, Mak was about 18 when he followed the path of relatives, who roamed south to escape the Japanese occupation. He learned to craft tin for three years in Kowloon before moving to Sai Kung in the early 1950s with his wife and firstborn son.
DON'T MISS: Last of his kind? At 99, Sai Kung's 'tin man' shows no sign of stopping
“If you asked me what I made … I’d say I made everything,” Mak said. “The world was different then. I made spittoons, basins and I helped to build barns.”
He remained at the No 14 Sai Kung Main Street, in the same three-storey building where his five children grew up and his 13 grandchildren ran around. Over the years, he saw Sai Kung change, but his shop always looked about the same, with pliers, scissors and hammers scattered around.

He was particularly proud of a photo hung on his wall, which portrayed him shaking hands with the late British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in 1994.
Mak was mourned by members of the local community, who placed flowers outside his shop and burned a candle and incense to pay their respects.
Mak would have turned 100 in September. His shop – as he always said it would – remained opened as long as he could hold his hammer. 
 
Six home-grown Hong Kong trades at risk of dying out


'Last' Hong Kong tinsmith dies at 99, taking knowledge of his trade with him

Mak Sing-yin shaped tin for 81 years, but refused to teach his trade to his descendants, saying they could make little money at it. Photo: Edward Wong

Mak cherished photos of his 1994 meeting with former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Mak died on June 24 at the age of 99, taking with him his knowledge of the art of shaping the metal. Photo: Edward Wong