The tin man of Sai Kung, Mak Sing-yin, has died just short of his 100th birthday.
Mr Mak had lived in the same building on Main Street near the temple where he had his tin shop for decades. There his five children grew up and 13 grand-children ran around, until recently. Now the shop called Wo Cheong Hou is closed.
Mr Mak was a Sai Kung tourist attraction, banging away at tin, fashioning it into pans, cans, boxes and buckets. In earlier days he did spittoons too but the market for that had dried up. He was born in Fo Shan, moving south to escape the Japanese at 18 years of age. In the 1950s he shifted to Sai Kung with his wife and first son, opening up in the tin business. His wife died three years ago and he had lived alone, looked after by a maid. His 100th birthday would have been next month.
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