Ice-cream Stall at the Open Air Market of Kuching.
I met the Artist, Shui Chang Xing, who drew the doors of the ice-ream stall in Kuching's heritage Open Air Market. The stall owner introduced him to me, and see to it that he may be able to draw for me and others.
This Open Air Market of Kuching is a history heritage of the White Raja and British Colonial in Borneo.
The cartoon characters on this ice-cream stall were copied from comic strips that has been popular among the overseas chinese for the last 50 years.
My school days were also the prime popular time of the comic. In those day every Chinese in my town knows Old Master Q老夫子. Now the young generation like my children they have their own popular cartoon and comic characters.
Who possibly would draw such cartoon again? I wondered and took several snap shoots of the cartoon when I visited the Open Air Market on 24 March 2013.
The Ice-cream stall was closed at that time in Sunday. So the cartoons on the door panels fully in view. Perphep I spend lengthily of time standing in front looking at the cartoon while all other just simply walk passed by, the lady of the stall beside notices me showing interest of the drawing. And later she possibly had told the ice cream shop the next day.
So when I came back to Open Air Market 2 days later on 26 March 2013 for another cup of Soya bean drink, the middle age ice cream stall owner walked over and asked me in Chinese "That day you were taking photographs?". The surprised asking made me thought he might be unhappy I took photo of his stall the other day. But very soon I realized he was glade some one shown interest on his shop art and that he is keen for me to meet the person who draw the cartoon.
The ice-cream stall owner said to me that the artist can draw for me for a small fee. I can feel that he and the several stall owners in this Open Air Market are keen to help this poor artist to build up his career. By accepting him to draw for them and seeking opportunity to introduce him to other potential employers.
| “Old Master Q老夫子comics primarily focuses on humor, it also reflects changing social trends, particularly from the 1960s to the 1980s. The comics would sometimes feature societal problems in urban life, such as poverty, petty thefts and secret societies. It also poked fun at fashion, contemporary art and rock music. The comic strips sometimes also bemoan the decline of ethical or moral values in modern day living. One can spot characters displaying acts of selfishness or misery, although the comics occasionally display good values like filial piety. The language barrier, mostly between the Chinese language and the English language, was not overlooked, either. This is seen in some comic strips showing difficulty in communication between old master Q and foreigners, especially Westerners.” |
許昌興
Old Master Q 老夫子 is a popular Chinese cartoon first appeared in newspapers in Hong Kong in 1962. The serialized comic is still in publication today.
The comic features the now well-known characters such as :
1- Old Master Q老夫子
2- Big Potato大番薯
3- Mr. Chin 秦先生
In the comic books, Old Master Q 老夫子, Big Potato 大番薯 and Mr. Chin 秦先生 are close friends.
The comic is copyrighted by WangZ Inc, a company established by Joseph Wong Chak (Alfonso Wong's eldest son) in Taipei, Taiwan.
Alfonso Wong, the father of Joseph Wong Chak, started the comic of Old Master Q in Hong Kong in 1962 and the popularity continuous grown into today multi millions business with the Wong family holding the copy right of the cartoon character Old Master Q 老夫子.
Alfonso Wong claimed he created the character.
But in around 2001, some cartoonists in China began to reveal their discovery from historical collection that the idea of Old Master Q was actually created by Peng Di (朋弟) in the late 1930s and not Alfonso Wong.
They found Old Master Q 老夫子 cartoons were first appeared in the newspapers in Beijing and Tianjin in the 1930 and popular in that area till 1950. In the 1950, because of political and cultural upheaval, Peng Di (朋弟) stopped drawing his invented cartoons. He lived as a desperate cartoonist and die in 1980s in China.
That forgotten Old Master Q 老夫子 first created by Peng Di in 1930 resembled the new Old Master Q 老夫子 of 1962 which is today being copyright by Media Ltd. In Taiwan.
The character by Peng Di wore similar clothing and had a matching personality to Old Master Q.
A writer from Tianjin published a book in 2001 containing samples of work by Peng Di, which displayed the resemblance between Peng Di and Alfonso Wong's works.
朋弟的“老夫子”與王澤的“老夫子” : http://tieba.baidu.com/p/986679506
WangZ Inc. in Taiwan has denied all plagiarism accusations but several professional cartoonists in China insist that Peng Di's ideas were stolen by Alfonso Wong (the father) and copy righted by Joseph Wong (the son).
This denying made things worse and attracted heated criticism in from cartoonist.
When you come visit this heritage Open Air Market in Kuching City, try this unique ice-cream of the stall. But if you want to see these heritage cartoon characters, you may have to come on Sunday when the stall closed to show their doors panels decorated with these cartoons of the last century.
