Lam Ching Ying

First Days Without The Master

Sifu Lam quietly departed from this world, but left a loud confusion behind. His death notice made a splash. His request was to have a low-profile funeral, so his family was not allowed to publicize his death immediately. They had to wait for three days before announcing the sad news, and they had to arrange his funeral two days later. So it was held on the 13th, on a Thursday evening. He didn't leave time for comprehending his death, for crying and mourning, not even for arranging a rich ceremony. His portrait on the altar was enlarged from a press-conference photo...

Grieving family, broken, confused friends, shocked fans, disappointed TV company... and timeless emptiness without him.

I hope that time helped them all to come to terms with the unchangeable. The inner wounds healed and everybody forgave him for what he had caused. I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt anybody!

The dear friend, Sammo was very upset, hurt and even angry at him for facing his illness alone and for not letting his friends to share in his pain. He expressed if he knew earlier, he would have tried his best to help him on his treatment, to introduce doctors to him. Although he couldn't guarantee he would be cured, but anything was worth to try. So he felt Ching Ying was too stubborn, carrying everything by himself.

Dear Sammo, he wasn't the type of man who could bear endless, needless treatments, lying all the time, being sick over and over again in need of others' help, chaining somebody to his bed for days and nights.

Eric Tsang was upset because he hid his illness from him, feeling he wasn't enough of a friend.

That's the point, Eric, you were. More. He didn't want you to worry, or to be sad. I would like to say a grateful thanks to you and Chin Kar-Lok as well, for fighting against the disgusting rumors about Ying's cause of death. The press immediately made up that he was drinking his way to liver cancer. They suddenly forgot that his elder brother died the same way, half a year before him, so this illness is hereditary in his family. Though he liked to drink and that is a fact, he wasn't serious. Nobody never saw him drunk and on the other hand he couldn't have been able to work that hard and punctual as he did being a heavy drinker. Naturally drinking was not his good habit and of course shortened his life.

Wu Ma, his old friend, whom he worked a lot with, met him in November and didn't notice anything wrong, though he found him a lot thinner than he usually was. Ying's Mum was in their company, but because of tradition, she didn't come out of the back. He remembers Ching Ying looking peaceful and spirited.

Dearest Wu Ma, that's what he wanted! You had so many fantastic memories together, so many experiences. Keep those forever, and not the memory of a declining friend!

Little Mang Hoi couldn't stop crying at the whole ceremony, he wasn't able to accept the fact that he would not be his disciple anymore. He cried for his childhood friend. Ah Hoi, he was very happy to be and work with you on The Vampire Expert series. It's a treasure for us to see you two, together.

The TV company, ATV was very surprised at his death, as they met him in September to discuss the details of the third installment of the series. Master Lam agreed and signed, but soon gossips came about his serious illness, and they couldn't get in touch with him. All they could believe in is, that if he had problems, there was no reason for him to agree. After his death the producer declared, that Vampire Expert III will be made anyway, but they have to change the plot somehow and have to decide about the new protagonist. They had taken the advertisers' money, they couldn't just not make it. I know it for certain that he didn't intend to make any trouble. He never caused problem to others in his life, his work was his life, and he loved this role very much. I'm sure he would be very sorry for the financial difficulty he made. But in September he was definitely positive about his victory over his illness. He strongly wanted to stay alive, and work, that's why he signed. It made him fight even harder, he needed this drift.

And what about us, his devoted admirers? We have his movies, great performances from a great actor. We watch them over and over again, always finding something new, surprising in them. We never get tired of him and as long as we watch him, talk about him, think about his performance, he'll be with us.