Although Hongkong actor Alex Man, whom Singaporeans know best from classic Mediacorp drama The Golden Pillow, has kept a low profile for many years, it’s clear that many of his juniors in showbiz still look up to him.

In 2016, the 63-year-old Golden Horse Award winner announced his retirement and the fact that he’s battling diabetes.

But he has slowly been making his comeback, with his role in 2019’s I’m Livin’ It (yup, that’s the one with Aaron Kwok) earning him a Best Supporting Actor nod at last year’s Hongkong Film Awards.

Recently, Alex attended the filming commencement ceremony for his new movie Chuang Ye Da Ying Jia (literally “Entrepreneurship Winner”) in Dongguan, China, where a rather unexpected event took place between him and one of his co-stars.

While Alex was just sitting in a chair, TVB actor Lam King Kong, 50, suddenly knelt down in front of him, offered him a cup of tea, and requested to be his apprentice.

To symbolise the acceptance of his new disciple, Alex took a sip of the tea before pouring the rest on King Kong’s head, as the onlookers around them applauded.

He also gave King Kong a stack of 10,000 yuan (about S$2,000), as well as the new name of “Lin Ben” to represent the meaning of “going forward courageously”.

“If TVB doesn’t support you, I will support you!” Alex declared.

Alex has a pretty solid history of taking on successful mentees, namely Stephen Chow, Gordon Lam, and Philip Keung, all of whom have gone on to thrive in the showbiz industry.

Now that he has taken King Kong under his wing, many netizens believe that the younger star may finally be able to move on from being stuck with supporting roles, although there were also naysayers who scoffed at him, saying, “He’s becoming someone's disciple at the age of 50?”

Photos: IMDb, 筷说鱼乐/Weibo, Lam King Kong/Weibo, Oscar Li/Weibo