Chui Tak Kei’s (1912 – 2007)
ancestral home was Xinhui in Guangdong Province. He first attended the St. Joseph’s Seminary in Macao, later studied pharmacy in Guangzhou and then graduated from the Guangdong Zhongde Architectural Engineering School. He worked in the construction industry and devoted himself to charity. Chui rose to fame as a respectable entrepreneur, community leader and philanthropist at home and abroad.
As a child, Chui studied drawing and diligently devoted himself to painting. After developing close ties with the famous calligraphers and painters who stayed in Macao during the War of Resistance against Japan, Chui developed his ink art style, excelling in the depictions of orchids and bamboo. He was a known disciple of Situ Qi.
Chui was also a prominent figure in Macao’s business and legal communities, serving as the President of the Tung Sin Tong Charitable Society of Macao, Vice President of the Macao Chamber of Commerce, Legislator and Vice President of the Macao Legislative Assembly, and a committee member and Vice President of the Macao Municipal Council. He was also a member and standing committee member of the first to seventh Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a member of the Drafting Committee for the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region, and the Director of the Consultative Committee for the Basic Law of the Macao SAR. He received a Medal of Cultural Merit from the Portuguese Macao Government in 1984. The Macao SAR Government awarded him the Decoration of Honour – Gold Lotus – in 2001 and the Macao SAR’s highest decoration – the Grand Lotus – in 2006.
Today, the Yu Un Chinese Calligraphers and Painters Association of Macao, which Chui founded in 1953, is still in operation. The association is undoubtedly his most impressive and enduring contribution to Macao’s artistic heritage. Chui passed away in Macao in 2007.