Bo Wah Paper Craft
Most people think paper craft shops only sell candles and burnt offerings
such as paper rolled-ingots. However in 1949 when Au-Yeung Wai Kin (or
Uncle Kin), the boss of Bo Wah, arrived in Hong Kong and entered the paper
craft trade, he learned to make paper effigies, including festive dance-lion
heads and golden dragons. His apprenticeship was completed in three years
and he started Bo Wah Paper Craft. In the 1950s and 1960s, Bo Wah enjoyed
booming business, but nowadays there are seldom any orders, due to the
competitive low prices of mainland imports.
While many paper craft shops closed, Uncle Kin’s second son Au-Yeung Ping
Chi used a new technique to succeed his father’s business. Ping Chi would
turn to making paper effigies for “modern” things. For example, someone
asked for a custom-made paper craft – a bowl of “Hot-and-Sour Noodles”,
and Ping Chi delivered a real-to-life creation, of noodles with bean-sprouts
and chicken-wings. The chicken-wings were made by casting. Ping Chi paid
serious attention to the burnt votive offerings, which convey remembrance
from the living world to the departed.
Uncle Kin said, “That bowl of noodles costs several hundred bucks; it must
be the most expensive hot-and-sour noodles in the world! But the customers
were very satisfied and smiled when they saw their order filled.” It is quite a
change, from golden-dragons or dance-lions to hot-and-sour noodles. Ping
Chi is perhaps not a true successor to Uncle Kin’s skills, but from the father’s
tone, the senior seemed to find comfort from Ping Chi’s innovation, turning a
new page for the declining industry of paper craft.
