Born in Guangzhou, Lui Shou Kwan moved to Hong Kong in 1948. Having been instructed by his father, Lü Canming, who was also a Chinese painter, Lui Shou Kwan was determined to become an artist, from a young age. Throughout his life, he worked as a ferry inspector for the Hong Kong Yau Ma Tei Ferry Company and spent his downtime as an artist, art educator and critic. While Lui was skilled in employing traditional ink techniques, he was also innovative in creating abstract ink art. He had once professed that the latter was his intended direction of art development, though hints of tradition endured in his works. During the 1960s, with flowing brushstrokes and diffusing ink, Lui created a series of Zen paintings. The Taoist and Buddist symbols such as the lotus and the flame on the paintings encapsulated Lui’s reflection on philosophy and marked the pinnacle of his artistic career. The abstract approach which Lui developed not only enriched the philosophical and spiritual attributes of his paintings, but also granted their perpetual allure and charm.