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LEE HAN MIN REJOICES at the sight of an uprooted tree. It is not for perverse reasons that he jumps for joy; he is an artist in search of roots. But he does not collect any old root;  the fallen tree must be a giant the size of an  angsana or a merbau.  A team is immediately organised to collect the great prize and to cart it to his yard, somewhere in the outskirts of Butterworth. There the prize joins Han Min's mountain of collected roots, weathering in the sun and the rain

For Lee Han Min is a rare artist, and artist who instinctively gleans from a root what contours it was meant for. Armed first with a chain saw and then tools of various sizes amazing shapes are coaxed from the secret lines hidden in the wood. If flow of the grain suggests a phoenix Lee Han Min will work with his chisels to bring the form of the bird into being. As he is without basic art training Han Min is careful to avoid depicting the human figure which he leaves to his master the Taiwan artist Chen Ji Jao, when he visits. But the quality of his work is in no doubt. "I never dreamt of being an artist and I sort of drifted into this art," he says modestly.  The collection of highly polished tables, stands, couches and side tables with strange birds and animals ranging from light to dark brown in colour depending on whether the wood is merbau or angsana is beginning to outgrow his humble home, but Lee is not selling any of his work yet. "May be I shall sell when I haven't enough room here for this collection," he says

There is no hurry to sell for Han Min is already a well known hong sui master travelling often to KL where his services are regularly sought by people with problems like siting the front or back door of a house and so on. The modest Han Min stresses that he learnt everything from the master, Lian Chao Wen, of Taiwan. 

We drink tea at a beautifully shaped merbau table. I put my hot cup on a newspaper to protect the wood but Lee says do not worry, merbau will never stain .