State funeral honours Hong Kong’s first post-colonial leader Tung Chee-hwa

Selected by Beijing successful 1996, Tung Chee-hwa’s tenure shaped post-handover Hong Kong during a turbulent governmental era.

Hong Kong has fixed a authorities ceremonial to Tung Chee-hwa, its archetypal post-colonial leader, lone the 3rd clip the metropolis has granted specified an honour since Britain returned it to Chinese regularisation successful 1997.

Senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials bid farewell to Tung astatine the Hong Kong Funeral Home successful North Point connected Sunday, a time aft a nationalist vigil that drew dozens of governmental and concern figures.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 3China’s enactment for Iran shows its limits arsenic US ramps up unit connected Tehran
• list 2 of 3Hong Kong tribunal rules Dow Jones tried to halt writer taking national role
• list 3 of 3Hong Kong tribunal hands stiff jailhouse sentences to Tiananmen vigil activists

Tung, Hong Kong’s archetypal main executive, died connected September 8 astatine the property of 89.

Members of the nationalist could wage their respects by signing condolence books astatine 3 assemblage halls until Sunday noon.

The ceremonial committee, made up of 87 members, was chaired by Shi Taifeng, a elder Chinese Communist Party Politburo subordinate and vice president of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the apical governmental advisory body, underlining the level of authoritative backing from Beijing.

Shi attended the ceremonial alongside Xia Baolong, Beijing’s apical authoritative for Hong Kong and Macau affairs; existent main enforcement John Lee; erstwhile main executives Leung Chun-ying, Carrie Lam and Donald Tsang; and different governmental and concern figures, reported government-funded Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK).

Lee and Leung were among the pallbearers who carried Tung’s coffin, draped successful China’s nationalist flag, from the hallway to a hearse, which headed to Cape Collinson Crematorium.

A shipping tycoon with small governmental experience, Tung was selected successful 1996 by a Beijing-appointed committee to go Hong Kong’s archetypal person aft the 1997 handover from Britain.

Tung led the metropolis done the 1997 Asian fiscal situation and the 2003 SARS outbreak, and wide protests that twelvemonth forced him to shelve projected nationalist information legislation.

He was re-elected unopposed successful 2002 but resigned successful 2005, midway done his 2nd term, citing mediocre health, successful a determination wide seen arsenic driven by Beijing’s nonaccomplishment of assurance successful him.

He went connected to service arsenic a vice president of the CPPCC until 2023.

Two concern leaders, industrialist Ann Tse-kai and tycoon Henry Fok, who some served arsenic vice chairs of the CPPCC, were fixed authorities funerals successful 2000 and 2006, respectively.

Chinese authorities media described Tung arsenic a “renowned patriot”, portion his successor, Tsang, called him “an easy-going, gentle and refined antheral with a broad-minded outlook and far-reaching vision”.

Critics recalled his tenure arsenic marked by governance struggles and nationalist discontent that ne'er afloat recovered aft the fiscal crisis.