" I like to try everything and if you ask me how much time I spend on my handcrafts in a year, I'll tell you that I do it every day," Ling Ling said with a smile as she looked at the table full of hand-dyed floral fabrics and flower-patterned handkerchiefs.  

 

Descendant of the Wing Seng Tong, wife of Wong Kwong Cheong, chairman of the conservation group, mother of three, member of the Village Aunties' Studio and Clay Being, Ling Ling has another role to play, that of owner of Ching's World Shop. Now in its 32nd year, the shop has taken up almost half of Ling Ling's life. There was a time when her two daughters would come in to help, but now she runs the shop herself. If you ask Ling Ling if she would ever give up her job to do what she loves, she'll tell you that she does what she loves most and has never thought of stopping.

 

The busiest time for crafting

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Because of her job, Ling Ling used to follow the market demand for handmade products, which were not necessarily her favourites, and she did not always take the lead in the market. Now that she no longer teaches, many people know how to do their shopping and learn online, meanwhile she has to take care of her family life, her shop is not as busy as it used to be, so she can spend more time exploring handcrafts. During the epidemic, she couldn't go to work for days and stayed at home, not knowing what the future held for her. Ling Ling took up crocheting, making coasters and pot holders, and found it a relaxing way to release her emotions without having to think about them. "Sometimes the feeling of longing to do handcrafts is like that of computer game lovers. When they can't sleep in the middle of the night, they keep playing the computer games and don't want to stop. I feel the same way when I do handcrafts, for example, I will undo a badly made hook, and if I suddenly realise something in the middle of the night, I can't wait to get up and try a new method to continue".

 

Some people may wonder if there is a difference in satisfaction between decorating in the village and doing business in a shop. After all, the nature of the two is different. From a material point of view, shop sales can bring in income! Although she does it for fun, there are more business considerations in promoting handmade items on "Ching's World" - balancing income and expenses, market needs, etc. She has to work out the best way to sell her products according to the variety of items available and market demand. She has to make samples to boost sales according to the types of products and customers' preferences, and it gives her great satisfaction when the samples can attract customers to pay for them. She says, "I don't know why I do it, but I'm happy!"

 

However, there are no commercial considerations when making handcrafts in the village, and the main concern is to make them suitable for the village environment. "As long as I have an idea, I can try it out here and there is so much room for development. I'm free to do what I want. Not coming from a wealthy family, she has long been used to being frugal in her early years, enjoying low-cost methods of making crafts and not wasting resources. As she often comes into contact with DIY materials at work, Ling Ling's thoughts of spare toilet paper tubes at home, stirring sticks from takeaway hot drinks and dried paper clay are transformed into creative inspiration. Because of the good relationship between the villagers and their mutual support, Ling is able to give free rein to her creativity. "For example, during the Mid-Autumn Festival one year, we needed a lot of discarded plastic spoons to make lanterns, so Lo Ming Kee collected a big box of them for us. I was full of ideas, but I couldn't put them all together properly, so the annual event helped me set a goal and gave me the impetus to do what I had always wanted to do. Each workshop is also an opportunity for us to educate ourselves, to understand the needs of the different participants and what we can do to improve our craftsmanship and teaching".

 

From one person to a group of friends

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Ling Ling has a lot of ideas in her head, but she often starts something before she finishes it, so she admires Meiyi's persistence and perseverance, and Sally's flower arranging, which she has learnt from experience, has its own style. She has learned a lot from them, including how to appreciate each other. Once, when the group was making sappan wood, it took a long time to boil the dyes, so while they were waiting, they tried to collect plants in the village to use for pounding - a new skill they learned together and added more new ideas for the future workshop," she says. "By observing their work, I gained a deeper understanding of each village aunt. For example, in Sally's arrangement of flowers and plants, there is order in chaos, as she brings together the seemingly chaotic arrangement of different shapes of flowers and leaves in such a smooth and attractive way; while Ah Yu likes to be simple and clear, focusing on the beauty of geometric lines. If you look closely, you will find that we all have different strengths, and I find that as we get to know each other better, we are all different and yet able to blend together," she says. It is this spirit of "learning together and nurturing each other" that has become a strong motivation for the village aunties to create works of art.

 

A closer look at Pokfulam village

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When asked to describe Pokfulam Village in terms of colours and smells, Lingling immediately thinks of the smell of the earth, the blue of the sky and the colours of nature's green grass. She grew up in Taiwan, living in a village house with a garden outside. She came to Hong Kong when she was six years old and moved to a village house soon after, growing up in an environment where she had many opportunities to get in touch with nature and find many resources in the environment. The most common sound in Pokfulam village is the sound of birds. Ling Ling used to get up early in the morning to record the sound of the birds. Their voices are like a chorus, ranging from far to near, from fast to slow, from solo to chorus, indicating that birds live in the village as well as humans! Ling Ling is very good at getting into every detail of life, so whenever there is a programme or activity to be organised in the village, she will always imagine how to incorporate village life into the design, and her creations are very much in keeping with the culture of Pokfulam Village. Like her husband Wong Kwong Cheung, they both have a strong sense of mission for the preservation and development of the village.

 

"The workshops we are designing now have more to do with the history and nature of the village. For example, when we are thinking about the new flower pounding workshop, I would like to take the participants to walk along the long rocky steps next to the grass storage hut, because there are many different kinds of ferns along the way, and ferns are very desirable for flower pounding, so that the participants can not only get to know the natural plants and trees, but also learn about the historical heritage and daily life of the villagers. The 'Village Miniature Bottle' and 'Nature Inspired Dreamcatcher' used in the festival are made from local materials and resources in the forest and village. Autumn seeds, soil from gardens and indigo-dyed cloth made by village aunties are just some of the materials that people can take home as a miniature of Pokfulam village. Bamboo, for example, is very much associated with the culture and customs of the village, so during the Mid-Autumn Festival and Village Festival, we try to incorporate bamboo elements into the design of workshops and venue decorations, as well as working with bamboo art master Ng Kong King to spread the culture of the village.

 

The challenges for artisans

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"Ching's World has always promoted handcrafts under the slogan "Do it yourself, do it with your own hands". Although Ling Ling has never given up and has always insisted on making things by hand over the past 30 years, today's customers are reluctant to learn the craft for fear of failing. They may be reluctant to make something more difficult, and many even buy "ready-made" pieces, which she politely refuses.  "I encourage my customers to do it themselves. Sometimes when I see a customer who probably doesn't know how to make a handmade bag even after she has bought it at home, and there is only one handmade bag left, I feel worried and hope that she won't buy it and leave it to someone else who knows how to make handmade bags," says Ling Ling. In fact, the thoughts of the village aunties echo the sales concept of Ching's World, hoping to find 'soul mates' through their handmade items.

 

Another difficulty for artisans is making choices. In the early days of the Village Aunties' Studio, whenever she and Cheung Gor went hiking and saw an interesting plant, Ling Ling would pack it up and take it home to see if it could be used for dyeing or decoration. As there were so many natural materials in the house, Cheung Gor began to ask her to choose carefully, otherwise there would be no room for anything else. However, Ling Ling had a feeling for every single item and did not know how to choose between them, so she would sometimes sneak them home, leaving Cheung Gor no choice but to pretend not to see them. Ling Ling believes that the most difficult thing about making handcrafts, especially in a city like Hong Kong, is choosing between the many materials available. Recently, Ling Ling was walking with Cheung Gor and wanted to pick up some dried fruits for decoration. When Cheung Gor noticed, he immediately picked up a dried fruit and asked, "Is this useful?"  This time Cheung Gor not only didn't say anything, but worked with Ling Ling. Cheung Gor explained that he had seen a change in Ling Ling over the past few days, from picking up large quantities of materials without thinking, to now knowing how to make choices and use the materials in a planned way, he'd finally seen Ling Ling's progress and therefore showed his support through his actions.

 

"I have found that as a devout Christian, God has shown me a lot of grace. Frankly speaking, my skills and talents and the colours of my life have all been given to me by God, and I hope to influence life with life and share the nature created by God with the public through the handcrafts of the village aunties".