PAUL CHAN

Paul Chan, the younger brother of Lisa Chan, had grown up in Santa Monica. When he was seven years old, he and his parents were driving to visit Lisa at her college, but the car had slipped on the winding mountain road, and both of his parents were killed. Paul was uninjured in the crash, but he had no memory of the accident, and from that day a patch of his hair had turned white. His sister Lisa would have taken much of the responsibility of raising him, but now at the age of 14, he had become a more distant and secretive teenager.

Paul's life story very much resembled the ancient Chinese legend of the Wish Child, a child who had lost his parents at a young age, whose hair had a patch of white, and who had been sold for gold because it was believed that he could grant immortality. Stone, a criminal, thief, and swindler, saw an opportunity to use Paul for his own profit. He convinced Paul to portray the Wish Child, and Paul agreed, believing that Stone was a friend who could be trusted and that their scam was a harmless way to make a lot of money.

Lee Wenying, an elderly Chinese businessman, believed in the legend and sought to possess the Wish Child to gain his own immortality. He paid Dr. Shen Wei, an expert in the legend, to meet Stone and Paul in Chinatown and to determine the legitimacy of their claim. Dr. Shen produced the Rock of Shin Tze, and using sleight of hand, Paul deftly switched the rock for a small block bearing the sign of the Wish Child. This feat was enough to convince Dr. Shen that the Wish Child had indeed returned in modern times.

MacGyver was a friend of Lisa and Paul, and as a favor to Lisa he had offered to pick up Paul from Chinatown. However, when he witnessed the ceremony of the Rock of Shin Tze, he recognized that Paul was in danger from those who hoped to use him. MacGyver tried to warn Paul, but Paul willingly returned to Stone and together they met with Lee Wenying aboard his freighter. There Paul passed the tests that Lee presented to him, including an examination of the story of Paul's childhood, the sign from the Rock of Shin Tze, a handprint left in the stone of a temple wall, and the image of the Child preserved as a gold statue which strongly resembled Paul. Convinced that Paul was the child he sought, Lee locked him in the forward hold of his ship. He had arranged to pay Stone one million dollars in gold for the boy, but he killed Stone instead, and he prepared to sail away with Paul as his prisoner for life.

MacGyver was able to make his way aboard the freighter before it set sail, and he rescued Paul from the hold where he was imprisoned. As they made their escape and ran from the ship, Lee Wenying desperately pursued them until he suffered an apparent and likely fatal heart attack, ending his quest for the Wish Child.

Lisa had been out of town and had believed that Paul was attending a birthday party when MacGyver went to pick him up. When she returned, Paul and MacGyver were enjoying homemade pizza, and neither divulged the secret of Paul's misadventures while she was gone.

Portrayed by: Leon Fan

Cross Reference: Lisa Chan, Chinatown, Ji, Lee Wenying, Rock of Shin Tze, Sammy, Shen Wei, Stone, Wish Child

Episode Reference: The Wish Child