How an unhappy cartoonist became one of Hong Kong's leading artists
Unhappy cartoonist Yim Yee-king transformed himself into Ah Chung, one of Hong Kong's leading artists, writes Mabel Sieh
In a painting on display in the atrium of Sunshine City Plaza in Ma On Shan, three generations of a family sit happily together. The Chinese caption reads: "Because of him, there is you. Because of you, there is me. Thank you for your love." This and other paintings are the work of local artist Yim Yee-king, otherwise known as Ah Chung.
"The culture of family life has changed over time. In the olden days, fathers were strict authority figures and sometimes unreasonable, and children were expected to be submissive," the 81-year-old says.
I believe all experiences, including bad ones, happen for a reason
Yim is a self-taught comic artist known for his simple, freestyle illustrations in watercolour and ink, and his inspiring messages about nature and life, relationships among family and friends, and living in peace and harmony. His own family spans four generations, including his 106-year-old mother, a son and a daughter, and several grandchildren, Yim is not a strict father, he says.
"I treat my children and grandchildren as friends. I see them as human beings who are entitled to enjoy the same rights and freedom that I do."
Like his paintings, he adopts a simple, almost Zen-like approach to relationships. "Every person is a 'universe' - a unique individual with his or her own thoughts and feelings. When two people, or worlds, come together, it is like Mars crashing into the earth. Conflicts will appear. It is inevitable," he says with a laugh. "If we can see and respect each other's universe and stop expecting others to be like us, there will be harmony. It needs a lot of tolerance from both parties and also a bit of luck."
Yim has never taken happiness for granted, and has experienced many unpredictable twists and turns in his life. Born in Guangzhou, he lived through the hardships of the second world war. After the war, he settled in Hong Kong with his family, where poverty prevented him from studying beyond Form One. As a teenager, he had to take any work he could find, while sharing a cramped Sham Shui Po flat with his four siblings and mother.
"There wasn't any space to move at all. I always dreamed of finding a job in a factory that provided a room with a bed and a desk." After taking several odd jobs, he finally landed a stable job delivering newspapers to subscribers' homes. This was the job that would change his life.
