Zhu Weide

Walter Chu Wai Tak (born 26 July 1931), nicknamed "Chu Wong", is a Hong Kong entertainer, cultural historian, and hiking enthusiast. He was one of the first ten employees of Television Broadcasts Limited, working as a presenter and news anchor for early programmes including Dawn Elegance, Journeys North and South, Sports World, New Women’s Profile, Urban Leisure, and Culture Plaza. He also acted in numerous TV dramas.

Background

Chu was born in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, and moved to Hong Kong in the 1950s. He graduated from Grantham College of Education in 1953 and taught at Jardine’s Lookout Government Primary School and Cheung Chau Government Secondary School, instructing English and music. He is noted for his research on Hong Kong culture and history and has discovered historical sites such as the Fat Tau Chau customs post. He joined RTV Sound and Vision in 1964 on the recommendation of actress Pauline Wong, and in 1967 became one of TVB’s first ten staff, hosting news and a variety of talk, travel, sports, and cultural programmes. He emigrated briefly to Canada in the 1990s before returning to Hong Kong.

In 2014, he received TVB’s Professional Actor Award at the 2014 TVB Anniversary Awards. In 2019, his long‑running Culture Plaza was discontinued. In July 2020, after 53 years with TVB, he left the station.

In March 2023, false reports of his death circulated online; his wife clarified that he is alive and living in a care home after being diagnosed with cognitive impairment.

Selected TV Dramas (TVB)

2003

• The Gold Medal Investigator as Ling Foo‑Sun

2005

• Grandpa Can’t Save Love as Mr. Che
• Fatal Affairs as Mr. Miu
• Healing Hands III as Uncle

2006

• Legal Mavericks as Judge
• Forensic Heroes as Chief Forensic Chemist (ep. 6)
• Always Ready as Dr. Law
• Phoenix Quartet as Mr. Chow (ep. 26)
• Men’s World as Guest (ep. 21)
• Circus of Life as Antique Shop Owner

… (additional credits omitted for brevity) …

Programme Hosting

RTV Sound and Vision

• Hong Kong Anecdotes (1965–1967)

TVB

• Evening News (1967–1980)
• Enjoy Yourself Tonight (“Up and Down Through the Ages” segment) (1967)
• Dawn Elegance (1968–1969)
• Arts and Spring Stories (1968)
• Fun Family (1968–1970)
• Happy Together (1969)
• Kowloon Trails (1970)
• Family Fun (1972)
• Journeys North and South (1979)
• Sports World (1980–1984)
• New Women’s Profile and Urban Leisure (1984–2011)
• Culture Plaza (1995–2019)
• Various travel specials including Taiwan and Palau features

Publications

• 1979 Hong Kong Country Parks (private)
• Rivers and Mountains (1982)
• Travel Anecdotes (1983)
• Wander the Four Seas (1985)
• New Travel Fun (1986)
• Hong Kong Anecdotes series (1988)
• Many other travel and cultural titles through 2017

Newspaper Columns

• 1963 as “Fu Lamshi” in Sing Tao Daily
• 1966 in Hong Kong TV Biweekly
• 1979 in Hong Kong TV’s Rivers and Mountains
• Various columns through the 1980s

Advertising

• 2012: Wo Tin Health Patch

External links

• Instagram
• List of Walter Chu’s publications – Hong Kong Footprints
• Archived TVB artiste profile
• YouTube: “Shan Shui Chuan Qi Talk of the Past” narration by Walter Chu
• Archive: Hong Kong’s Shangri‑La by Walter Chu