He's an intriguing man who can turn a bird into a rabbit before vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Call it conjuration or simply the art of deception, veteran Hong Kong magician Albert Tam has been entertaining and astonishing tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong for more than 20 years. His skills are so respected that he has been appointed to supervise the running of the 2009 World Magic Convention in Beijing where hundreds of internationally acclaimed magicians will congregate to show off their best tricks, give lectures and market their props and inventions.

The event is staged every three years by the World Congress of Magic Art and Tam, responsible for organizing the 2003 convention in Hong Kong, says it's the first time a magic festival of such importance has been staged on the mainland.

His job will be to advise the Magic Association of China and "help ensure it's a world-class show."

Tam has been working with the relatively fledgling mainland magicians for the past 10 years, performing and acting as a director, producer and consultant at shows in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities.

Because of his close connections with the International Brotherhood of Magicians and the Society of American Magicians, he played an important role in helping the Magic Association of China become a member of the two influential bodies.

On his first encounter with magicians at China's first National Magic Competition in 1996, he recalls the standard of their performances as "very poor," having been isolated from the international magic scene for so many years.

"The professionals were all paid by the government because not many could afford to spend money on the art," he says.

"But the situation is slowly changing with people earning more now and China being exposed to the magic world outside."

Known as "Mr Magic" on stage, Tam wears long hair, mustache and often performs in a black costume. Whether his act involves levitating a woman, cutting her in half or producing a handful of $100 bills from a burst of fire, Tam is always the serious magician.

Once off-stage, he is relaxed and loquacious, willing to reveal all about himself - except the secret of even the simplest trick.

"People often ask me, `How'd you do that? I usually reply, `Very well, don't you think? or simply, `By magic,"' he says. Tam truly believes the universal appeal of magic would immediately be shattered if magicians' secrets were revealed.

Surprisingly, the conjuror admits he hated magic when he was a young boy, blaming his aversion on his father's obsession with the practise.

"Almost every Sunday my father would take all the family to the homes of other magicians," he says. "I would play with their children while our fathers talked magic the whole day. From a young age I knew, for example, how a dove was made to appear. So magic held no interest because there was no mystery for me.

"Perhaps what I hated most was the infighting among the magicians of that era. The petty jealousies and accusations of stolen material turned me off. I preferred photography and drama as hobbies."

It was not until he was 17, while watching a television program, that he fell in love with magic.

"I was completely knocked out by a world champion magician named Richard Ross who performed the classic Chinese `linking rings' trick. The way he handled the three metal rings was so smooth and graceful it was as if he had made them come to life. It was like a ballet dance."

Determined to learn Ross' presentation, Tam secretly took three linking rings from his father's magic cabinet and started to research.

"Fortunately the TV program was repeated three times that month. I took notes, read my father's magic books and taught myself the routine. When I showed my father that I had learned, it drove him crazy. He refused to believe that I had seen it on TV and researched it in his library," he says with a chuckle.

As he became more skillful and dexterous in other tricks, Tam landed himself a job in a toy shop with a magic counter where he worked as a demonstrator. With the money he earned, he bought magic props and started performing in the streets and open-air shows sponsored by the then Urban Council of Hong Kong.

Luck came in 1979 when an entertainment agent approached him and arranged work performing in a hotel in Japan. There he met Murakami Shoyoh, Tokyo's most famous magic teacher.

"He taught me so much about the art and was a huge influence on my stage style and persona," he says.

After his job contract expired, Tam used the contacts he had made to gain more work in Japan, learned to speak the language and continued his classes with Shoyoh.

Since becoming a full-time magician in 1982, Tam has become president of the Magicians Association of Hong Kong and attended numerous conventions in North America, Europe and Asia.

When he is out of town, vice- president Simon Ma takes charge of tricks.

Ma, who has been a professional for more than 20 years, says the number of amateur and part-time magicians has been growing steadily since the association was established in 1990.

He says many young people want to learn a trick or two to boost their self- confidence while others prefer to use magic as an ice-breaker in business or impress their dates on a Saturday night.

"The downside is that many of the newcomers are engaged in cutthroat competition with the professionals by charging much lower fees," Ma says.

"Fortunately there is a strong demand for magicians of a higher standard in China so a number of our veterans are being contracted to entertain at corporate functions by foreign companies with offices there. Why? Because our entertainers are more creative than their counterparts."

The Magicians Association of Hong Kong also organizes functions for rehabilitation centers, hospitals and the underprivileged.