Lee Sing-man

Lee Sing-man (born ~1944), commonly known as "Uncle Man", is a paper-tearing artist in Hong Kong.

He was once a volunteer in Kowloon Walled City Park, creating his works there, before he was invited to demonstrate in Tsim Sha Tsui and became commonly known.

Biography

Early life and education Lee Sing-Man was born in 1944 To gain admission to secondary school, he was required to pass an entrance exam, which he failed five times before succeeding on his sixth attempt. Right after graduating from secondary school, he studied business administration for a year before changing his focus to Chinese literature. Eventually, he ended his undergraduate studies due to objections from his family, and he began to work.

At first, he worked at his cousin's watch company. He then worked as a quality control checker in a garment factory, followed by a debt collector in a stationery wholesale company, then a delivery courier.

Soon he resigned from his job as a delivery courier due to increasing demand for his paper-tearing lessons, performances, and voluntary work, and started to concentrate on promoting paper-tearing art.

1983-1999: paper-tearing

On the Lunar New Year's Eve of 1983, Uncle Man created his first paper-tearing work. It was composed of the two Chinese characters "Dai Kat" (大吉), which means an expectation of a great fortune. Remarkably, he made it out of boredom with no one teaching him. Although the artwork was appreciated by his relatives, he did not have a great affection towards paper-tearing at that moment. He usually uses recycled paper for his artwork in the hopes of protecting the environment and making paper-tearing popularized. For instance, he teaches children to use table mats from fast food shops to make paper-tearing works; therefore, children can make artwork without wasting paper.

2000-Present In 2000, Uncle Man moved to Kowloon city after his retirement.

Personal life He was once married and had a daughter, but got divorced and he never saw them again.

In 2000, he began devoting his life to volunteering at the Kowloon Walled City Park. Besides introducing paper-tearing art in the place, he also wanted to promote the park by introducing its history to tourists, entertaining people and himself by piping, and helping the tourists take photos in the park. He was able to demonstrate paper-tearing in front of the presidents and the first ladies of Romania and Latvia. He had exhibitions of paper-tearing works in Yuen Long between 28 January 2008 and 24 February 2008, and between January 18, 2012 and February 6, 2012 in Wan Chai. He shared his work in workshops on October 13, 2012 in Jockey Club Inclusive Arts Program 2011-12 Annual Exhibition and Community Showcase. Besides promoting his paper-works, he was also able to introduce the history facts of the Kowloon Walled City among different tourists every day.