Compiled by CHOW HOW BAN, RAGANANTHINI VETHASALAM AND R. ARAVINTHAN
MARTIAL arts star Jackie Chan has shared fond memories of renowned food critic and film producer Chua Lam, who died last week, calling him his “half master”, China Press reported.
Chan recalled his younger days making films in Europe with fellow Hong Kong actors Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. He shared on his Weibo account that Chua Lam was their mentor.
“What he taught us at that time was very fresh and inspirational as we were very young,” Chan wrote. “He took us along to have fun together and taught us about wine, antiques and collection. He also imparted filmmaking knowledge to us. He was Chua Lam.”
Chan added that Chua Lam taught him how to appreciate life and live it to the fullest. He was among the who’s who of Hong Kong’s A-listers who paid tribute to Chua, who died at the age of 83 on June 25.
A BBC report on his death called him the “cultural icon in the Chinese-speaking world”.
Top Hong Kong image consultant Tina Liu recounted the days where she worked with Chua, James Wong and Ni Kuang in a popular 1980s show called Celebrity Talk Show.
(Chua, Cantopop lyricist James Wong, and novelists Ni Kuang and Louis Cha Leung-yung were regarded as the Four Great Talents of Hong Kong. All have passed on now.)
Liu said she had once gifted Chua her own tea egg product which the food critic exclaimed “tasted so good!” on his social media. She said she was so happy to read his positive review.
“I loathe to say goodbye to Mr Chua Lam as it’s like a big part of my life was cut off. Hong Kong will never be able to produce such an interesting and unique personality again. Bye bye, Mr Chua. You will be dearly missed!” she said.
(The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
