Master carpenter passes on the skills of a lifetime to Hong Kong's next generation
Founders of the Ching Chun Warehouse help octogenarian Lung Man-chuen bridge the generation gap and teach youngsters his trade
The two founders of a non-profit group have teamed up with a veteran carpenter to pass on the octogenarian’s decades-long craftsmanship to the next generation.
With a maximum of seven students in each of four classes and courses lasting for months, applicants must wait for at least a year for a place.
Those lucky enough to have secured a place in Lung Man-chuen’s carpentry class enter the warehouse in Fung Yi Street, To Kwa Wan, one of 13 parallel streets facing redevelopment opposite the historic slaughterhouse-turned Cattle Depot Artist Village.
The apprentices, many in their 20s and more than half of them women, pick up their tools and start polishing the surface of a stool or work pieces of wood into shape.
“Here, they will learn how to be an independent carpenter. At the beginning [of the course], we take them to Sheung Shui to give them an idea how to pick the right piece of wood,” says the 34-year-old, who also helped set up the non-profit Hong Kong House of Stories at the iconic Blue House in Wan Chai.
