Hong Kong lantern maker crafts his own legacy with father as ‘apprentice’
Hui Ka-hung did not inherit his craft from his father but works with him, drawing encouragement and life lessons to keep a tough business going
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The Hong Kong family preserving the dying art of handmade paper lanterns
Amid a jumble of fabrics and paper in loud colours, bamboo splints, scissors and axes in a Hong Kong workshop, artisans are busy making giant mooncakes, rabbits and dragons for the Mid-Autumn Lantern Carnival display in Victoria Park.
Hui Ka-hung, the 47-year-old helping to curate this year’s festive spectacle, is the founder of Hung C Lau, meaning the House of the Valiant Lion in Chinese, which specialises in making traditional lanterns.
Unlike other traditional family businesses, Hung C Lau was not passed down by the older generation of the Hui family. Instead, his 80-year-old father only joined him two decades ago as an “apprentice” to learn traditional Chinese papercraft after retirement.
“Many have misunderstood, thinking that I inherited the business from my father and that he is the old master of the craft. In fact, he was in the fruit wholesale business before he retired in his sixties,” Hui said.
“He only joined because he saw how hard I had to work to stay afloat and I couldn’t afford to hire any staff back then, so he started helping out. It’s actually great because, as it turns out, it keeps his body and mind active.”
The younger Hui became involved in papercraft from a young age, from patching up old lion dance costumes at six, to making his own at 11. He tried selling his creations to different shops and ended up being an apprentice in the trade.