Liu Ping Yuen

Biography

Liu Ping Yuen was born in Hong Kong in 1946 to a Hakka family from Baoan County who came to settle in Tin Sam Village in 1929.He grew up in a poor peasant family, looking after cattle and farming for his neighbours. During childhood, Liu Ping Yuen studied at Tin Sam Primary School and Che Kung Temple Chi Hong Free School. He subsequently dropped out after completing Primary 4 in 1958 and went to the urban area of Kowloon to make his living. He began work as an apprentice in a Sham Shui Po squatter factory. The following year, he became a garage apprentice and five years later was promoted to master level. Liu Ping Yuen joined the catering industry in 1967, eventually working as a kitchen helper in a number of tea houses and restaurants for several decades. While employed in the eateries he obtained a taxi driving licence. Starting from the mid 1970s, he took part-time jobs in various industries to supplement his income. Specific examples of fields in which he worked included machinery, engineering, construction and transportation. In the late 1980s, Liu Ping Yuen obtained a private car driving licence, serving as a chauffeur for a rich family. In recent years, he ran an eatery. Having left his village to make his living in the city when aged just 13, Liu Ping Yuen wound up living in various districts such as Sham Shui Po, Mong Kok, Kowloon City and Tsuen Wan. For around ten of these years he lived at Yuk Shing Building in Mong Kok, before returning to settle in Tin Sam Tsuen when he reached middle age.