As the Year of the Tiger is fast approaching, Mr Kong Man-ying, an experienced tutor of the Hong Kong Police Painting and Calligraphy Club (HKPPCC), shared his skills with Commissioner Siu Chak-yee to write Chinese calligraphy for the lai see packets of the Force.

Over the years, many officers have learnt calligraphy from HKPPCC tutors. Among the students were senior officers of the Force, such as former Deputy Commissioner Yam Tat-wing. Mr Kong also shared his calligraphy skills with former Commissioner Lo Wai-chung.

Each year before the Chinese New Year, HKPPCC tutors and students would be busy writing spring couplets and New Year paintings for citizens. Mr Kong said, “Writing the Chinese characters of each of the 12 Chinese zodiac animals requires complex skills. Taking the Year of the Tiger as an example, it is complicated to express the form and the magnificence of the tiger in the character. As for the Chinese character ‘ox’, though it has only four strokes, it is the most challenging of all and requires a lot of skills.”

This year, the Police Public Relations Branch raised the idea to seek the assistance from HKPPCC. Commissioner Siu Chak-yee is the first Commissioner to write calligraphy for the Force’s lai see packets. After listening to the suggestion of Mr Kong, the Commissioner decided to write the Chinese character “Fook” which means good fortune to express his wish to send blessings to Force members.

Mr Kong said, “I taught the Commissioner to write the Chinese character in the calligraphic style of the renowned calligrapher Wang Xizhi. Although the Commissioner has never had any formal training in Chinese calligraphy, his third piece of work was already quite remarkable. I really admire his spirit to try out new things.”

Please click the following link to watch CP’s video：（https://www.police.gov.hk/ppp_en/03_police_message/cny2022.html）.