Stinky switch: veteran Hong Kong actor lands new role as Malaysia’s ‘Doctor Durian’ and saves bacon of pungent fruit in the country
- In Hong Kong, actor Liu Wai-hung had the derogatory nickname ‘Ah Chan’, but a move to Malaysia has given him a new, and different, lease of life
- Liu has forged a career tending to diseased durians and is now well-known in his adoptive home for his work with the ‘King of Fruits’
When Liu Wai-hung worked as an actor in Hong Kong, he earned the nickname “Ah Chan”.
Derived from his role as a mainland immigrant in the 1979 TV drama The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, which also featured Hong Kong super star Chow Yun-fat, “Ah Chan” also became a derogatory term for mainland Chinese immigrants who entered Hong Kong in the 1980s and 1990s.
Fast forward and Liu, now 65, goes by a very different moniker - “Doctor Durian”.
The showbiz veteran’s new nickname comes from the spiky, pungent fruit that is popular across Southeast Asia and is often referred to as the “King of Fruits”.
“Doctor Durian” stems from Liu’s organic farming exploits in Malaysia where he has been living since the start of the pandemic.
The retired TVB actor acquired the fruity nickname after a visit to a farm in Malaysia last year during which he discovered that 200 of its 500 durian trees were disease-riddled and dying. The orchard was also suffering financial losses.