[2025.06.28] CHUA LAM PASSED AWAY AT AGE 83

One of Hong Kong's "Four Great Talents" Chua Lam passed away Wednesday.
courtesy of singtao.com

Named one of the four talents of Hong Kong, Chua Lam (Choi Lan) passed away at the age of 83. His relatives handled the funeral in a very low-key manner. Choi Lan's views on life and death have always been free and easy, and his friends also thought that Choi Lan is open- minded and pursued a taste for life. Just like the title of Choi Lan's book "Whatever, I Decided to Live Interestingly: Chua Lam's Chic and Free Life", he lived a chic and comfortable life.

Choi Lan's assistant Yang Ao announced on Weibo yesterday, "Our beloved Mr. Chua Lam passed away peacefully at Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital on June 25th, 2025, accompanied by family and friends. In accordance with Mr. Chua Lam's wishes, to keep from disturbing relatives and friends, there was no ceremony and the cremation was completed smoothly. Thank you everyone for your concern for Mr. Chua."

Choi Lan and Jin Yong (Louis Cha), Ni Kuang (Ngai Hong), James Wong Jim were listed as the "Four Great Talents of Hong Kong", three of whom have passed away. Earlier Choi Lan said in an interview with Vincent Kok Tak Chiu that his old friends have become fewer and fewer, and revealed that he hoped to go unknowingly, "without fear and without pain". He also said that he hoped for his ashes to be scattered at sea after his death.

Choi Lan was an accomplished writer, filmmaker, foodie, and presenter. Born in Singapore in 1941, Choi Lan studied film writing and directing in Japan and then moved to Hong Kong to develop as a production manager for Shaw Brothers Film Company, and more than 10 years later served as vice president of Golden Harvest Film Company, where he supervised a series of Jackie Chan films.

Choi Lan began writing in the 80s of the last century. He has published a number of works, mainly on food and travel. He has also written columns for newspapers, but Choi Lan once said that he was not qualified to be talented, and believed that he had no relationship with the word "talent". From 1989 to 1990, he hosted the ATV talk program CELEBRITY TALK SHOW with James Wong Jim and Ni Kuang (Ngai Hong), which caused a sensation and was renewed to the fourth installment. Since 1997 Choi Lan served as the host of the TVB programs TASTE OF LIFE, MARKET TROTTER, etc. The public deeply loved him for his unique views on food and humorous hosting style. In 2012 he served as the general consultant of the documentary "A Bite of China", and in 2020 he had his personal YouTube channel Chua Lam Colorful World.

In the mid-90s Choi Lan entered the food industry, launching a variety of food products and opening restaurants. After his death yesterday, an article he wrote was also made public. He said that everyone has always called him "foodie", but friends who know him well know that he does not like this name. He was just a person who loved to eat. In order to eat better, he went looking everywhere. With more comparisons, he had a little experience, wrote them into articles, and gradually got everyone's recognition. Later everyone invited him to open food courts and restaurants, his principles were always three words in Cantonese, "cheap, pretty, and authentic."

Upon learning of the bad news about Choi Lan, the well-known writer Shum Sai Shing responded, "On the afternoon of June 27, the writer Ida (Johnny Yip) wrote to my WeChat account from Zhuhai - 'It was rumored within the Prince Cha (Chuen Tik) group that Mr. Choi Lan passed two days ago.' I was skeptical. Later senior media reposted the obituary, and only then did I know that the old friend was really gone. I have known Choi Lan since the 70s of the last century, he was handsome and mischievous. Occasionally he will play tricks on me. One day he took me to Yueh Hua's home at Clearwater Bay for dinner, and he actually mixed several kinds of foreign wine together. He said that it was an aphrodisiac and told me drink it, but I ended up vomiting and drunk. His life was devoted to eating, drinking, and being hospitable. He never cared about money, as long as his friends were happy. Ni Kuang said that he was the most interesting person in the world; Jin Yong said that he was talented, learned and well versed in a variety of subjects. The praise of the two great talents should be true."

Shum Sai Shing pointed out that Choi Lan was admitted to the hospital for surgery because he broke his pelvis at home a few years ago because he saved his beloved wife. Since then his health has deteriorated. He was open-minded by nature and hardly ever angry. He still sent good wine and food to his mouth, left his former residence for the hotel and hired a team to take care of him. Chic and graceful, he treated death as homecoming. Only two days after his death, instead of a mourning period he was cremated quietly. Gone with the wind, he was so free and easy that no ordinary person could match.

Veteran media person Eileen Cha Siu Yan recalled her past with Chua Lam. "On the first day I met elder Choi Lan, he asked me to call him 'Big Brother Choi Lan' with me, and he took me to see the flowery world a big brother would with a little sister. I had two opportunities to work with Big Brother Choi Lan twice in film and television, but I missed them both. When I first joined the industry as a reporter, he invited me to make a film he was producing at Golden Harvest. However it was not made due to schedule problems, and my role later went to Sandy Lam Shan Shan. He, Big Brother Ni Kuang and Wong Jim invited me to be a guest on their ATV talk show CELEBRITY TALK SHOW . Because the invited were Brigitte Lin (Lam Ching Ha), (Cherie) Chung Chor Hung and other great beauties and the content was relatively out of bounds, at that time I was young and didn't dare to agree. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to live up to my part fully and embarrass them. Big Brother Choi Lan said come on, we can drink together. The money for the appearance would be HK$ 10,000, which was a very, very attractive figure at that time."

Cha Siu Yan also said that drinking was a common hobby between her and Choi Lan. "He taught me that 'you don't need to be accompanied by someone to drink, and you don't need to drink with others.' I still keep that in mind. Now when someone says me to drink with them, I would say that you don't need company to drink. If you want to drink, let's drink together."

"There are still a lot of memories of Big Brother Choi Lan, what I want to say is that I was lucky to meet the famous Big Brother Choi Lan when I first debuted. He did not mind me as a newcomer, taught me a lot of life principles and food culture. I learned from him the requirements for taste of living, learned to be open-minded, casual, and reckless, just like him waving his hand and passing, without any ceremony, without any labor, turning into a wisp of light smoke, and starting CELEBRITY TALK SHOW in the sky with his old friend Big Brother Ni Kuang and Uncle Jim."