Nina Paw Hee-ching dedicated the best years of her life to ATV. Not
once during a glittering 33-year career did the award-winning actress
seriously think of leaving the television station she regarded as
family.
The veteran star - affectionately called Paw Jie or Sister Paw, by
people in the entertainment industry because of the elder sister and
mother figures she has played for much of her career - had never stepped
outside ATV until she switched to Ricky Wong Wai-kay's Hong Kong
Television Network in late 2012.
This was the point at which she felt there was nothing more she could
do with the struggling station as it no longer produced its own dramas.
Needless to say, Paw could not help but feel sad when the government
decided last Wednesday not to renew ATV's licence because of the lack of
a sustainable business plan.
"I contributed my best time of my life to ATV … The television
station has given out lots of positive energy. ATV staff have been
discriminated against but have always worked hard," she told Commercial
Radio two days after the announcement.
When mainland investor Wong Ching took over ATV in 2010, he claimed
he would transform it into the "CNN of Asia". Resources were put mostly
into news and talk shows, while the production of drama series was cut
drastically.
"I just hosted infotainment shows. It was not the artistic life for
an actress and should not be an artiste's major job," Paw sighed. "I
found myself useless there."
The reason for her departure may have foretold ATV's fate - when a
television station stops making its own productions, there's nothing
left to keep its business afloat, not to mention retaining its talent.
Paw - born in 1949 to well-known actor Bao Fong and actress Liu Su -
should still have ample opportunities to fly high in her acting career.
Her brother, Peter Pau Tak-hei, is also in the family business and won
an Oscar for best cinematography in 2001 for
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
But something more important than fame and honours has guided Paw during her long career.
Although better known for her television roles, Paw started out on
the silver screen. Under the influence of her parents, who both had
left-wing political leanings, Paw joined the Great Wall Film Production
in 1968. In her 10 years with the company, she was mostly known for her
leading role in the
White Haired Witch in 1980, which co-starred Henry Fong Ping, who later became her husband.
Yet while she jumped back and forth between cinema and television and
moved in glamorous circles, Paw was never seduced by the dazzling
temptations of show business. In all these years, she strictly followed
her personal philosophy of leading a simple life with gratitude -
something that might be echoed by many ATV staff members.
"Veterans in ATV developed a mentality of not pursuing too much fame
and wealth. As we were always at the nadir, we learned how to cope with
anything," Paw says.
The "treasure of ATV" recalls the 1980s, when late tycoon Deacon Chiu
Te-ken was in charge, as the most glorious time during her years at the
station.
"Chiu was the only owner who could produce the most with the least
money. ATV created most TV dramas and nurtured most talent at that
time."
ATV was the place where the "Lion Rock Spirit" was truly realised as
the station allowed staff a free hand to flex their artistic muscles -
if they could handle the workload. "As long as you worked hard, you
would have good returns," Paw says.
Staff enjoyed working at ATV despite the punishing routine.
"Three people might take up the workload of six … Staff might earn three months' money by working one month of overtime."
The great heyday of drama production was the 1980s, and Paw began to make a name in the classic ATV drama
Fatherland in 1980 and many more later, mostly playing caring mothers.
In real life, Paw is also a mother who places family above all else.
When she was invited to join TVB in the '80s, Paw chose to stay at ATV
as she could spend more time taking care of her only daughter, who was
born in 1982. As Paw was mostly hosting women's infotainment shows at
the time, the regular work schedule - 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday -
gave her sufficient space to take care of the family.
She attributes her family values to her parents. These values also extended to the strong bonding at ATV.
In the late '80s when late Lai Sun Group founder Lim Por-yen took
over the station, numerous producers and artists switched to TVB. Paw
once considered following a senior producer and jumping ship.
"But I love ATV too much … Senior management changed but frontline
staff were still the same. I was too fond of the brotherhood and
sisterhood," she laughs.
Lau Shek-yin, another ATV icon, describes Paw as a compassionate lady in both family and work.
"As both of us lived on Hong Kong Island, she always offered me a
ride after work," says Lau, who began working with Paw on a cooking show
in the early '90s.
Deeply influenced by her late father, Paw learned to be a modest
actress by not putting wealth first. "My mother often told me if Father
worked for somewhere else with better pay, our family would surely be
torn apart."
Paw's father's teaching, and her childhood environment, allowed Paw
to expertly play the roles of grass-roots women. She remembers what it
was like as a child - six people, her parents, grandmother, elder sister
and younger brother, crammed in a tiny flat in Kowloon City.
"I had to go to the market to buy food, cook and wash clothes … Even
now I still enjoy washing dishes and don't let my domestic workers do
it."
It is that down-to-earth and approachable image she often portrayed
as a poor mother in so many television dramas and films that appeals to
audiences.
"Please do not ask me to act like the rich; I'm not able to handle
it. People whose noses are always high cannot understand the feelings of
the suppressed people."
Her sympathy for the underprivileged finally paid off when her role as a grass-roots widow in
The Way We Are earned her four best actress awards in different film contests, including the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2009.
The film portrayed the self-help spirit that bound ordinary residents
in Tin Shui Wai, the border town known as the city of sadness because
of its many cases of domestic violence and tragedies.
Paw may have won plenty of plaudits for her work, but the trophies at
her home have not made her complacent. "I just put them aside and don't
look at them … Who cares how many awards you have after all?"
Even now, she still strives to polish her already sophisticated
acting skills by reading novels and watching movies. But the only thing
she cares about at the moment, she says, is how the fate of the hundreds
of ATV employees will unfold.
