89 Facts About Carrie Lam

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is a Hong Kong retired politician who served as the 4th Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022.

Carrie Lam previously served as Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong from 2012 to 2017, Secretary for Development from 2007 and 2012, Director General of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London from 2004 to 2006, and Director of Social Welfare from 2000 to 2004.

Carrie Lam became a key official in 2007 when she was appointed Secretary for Development.

Carrie Lam became Chief Secretary for Administration under the Leung Chun-ying administration in 2012.

From 2013 to 2015 Carrie Lam headed the Task Force on Constitutional Development for the 2014 Hong Kong electoral reform and held talks with student and opposition leaders during the widespread protests.

Carrie Lam's administration has seen controversies, including the trial and imprisonment of democracy activists, the disqualification of several pro-democracy candidates, as well as the criminalisation of the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party.

Carrie Lam's government was criticised for raising the qualification age for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance and for its handling of the cross-harbour tunnel toll plan, among other policies.

In mid-2019, Carrie Lam's government pushed for a controversial amendment to the extradition law which received widespread domestic and international opposition.

Carrie Lam stood firmly against the other demands including an independent inquiry into police conduct and universal suffrage for Legislative Council and Chief Executive elections.

Carrie Lam's popularity dropped to a historic low with the pro-Beijing camp suffering the worst landslide defeat in history in the November 2019 District Council election.

On 3 April 2022, Carrie Lam announced that she would not seek a second term as Chief Executive, giving her wish to devote more time with her family as an explanation.

Carrie Lam was succeeded on 1 July 2022 by John Lee.

Carrie Lam's father was from Shanghai and worked on ships.

Carrie Lam was born and grew up in a tenement house on 229 Lockhart Road, Wan Chai, where she finished her primary and secondary education at St Francis' Canossian College, a Catholic girls' school in the neighbourhood, where she was head prefect.

Carrie Lam co-organised exchange trips to Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Carrie Lam eventually graduated as a bachelor of social sciences in 1980.

Carrie Lam joined the Administrative Service in 1980 after she graduated from the University of Hong Kong.

Carrie Lam served in various bureaus and departments, spending about seven years in the Finance Bureau which involved budgetary planning and expenditure control.

In 2000, Carrie Lam was promoted to the position of Director of the Social Welfare Department during a period of high unemployment and severe fiscal deficits in Hong Kong.

Carrie Lam tightened the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme, making it available only to people who had lived in Hong Kong for more than seven years, excluding new immigrants.

In November 2003, Carrie Lam was appointed Permanent Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands and chairman of the Town Planning Board.

Carrie Lam was appointed Director-General of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London in September 2004.

On 8 March 2006, Carrie Lam returned to Hong Kong to take up the position as Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs.

Carrie Lam was involved in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics Equestrian Events and the West Kowloon Cultural District plan.

On 1 July 2007, Carrie Lam left the civil service when she was appointed Secretary for Development by Chief Executive Donald Tsang, becoming one of the principal officials.

Carrie Lam firmly repeated the government's position that it was not an option to retain the pier and she would "not give the people false hope".

Carrie Lam's handling of the pier conflict earned her a reputation as a "tough fighter" by the then Chief Secretary for Administration Rafael Hui.

Carrie Lam put forward a new Urban Renewal Strategy to lower the threshold for compulsory sale for redevelopment from 90 percent to 80 percent in 2010.

Carrie Lam was criticised for letting him get away with it.

In 2007, Carrie Lam wrote to the Heung Yee Kuk's then-chairman, Lau Wong-fat, reassuring him that villagers suspected of illegally transferring their ding rights would not be criminally prosecuted.

In 2012, Carrie Lam led the Development Bureau in cracking down unauthorised building works largely found in the indigenous villages in the New Territories, though SCMP noted that Carrie Lam had turned a blind eye towards the issue in 2010.

The Heung Yee Kuk staged protests against Carrie Lam and accused her of "robbing villagers of their fundamental rights".

Carrie Lam called to end the "Small House Policy" in 2012, which has been subject to abuse amidst a land crunch.

Carrie Lam's popularity started to shrink as Chief Secretary as the Moral and National Education controversy sparked in the first months of the Leung administration, which saw Lam's popularity rating dipped two percentage points from 64 percent to 62 percent.

In December 2016, Carrie Lam was under fire when she announced a deal with Beijing for the plans for a Hong Kong Palace Museum as the chair of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority without any public consultation and transparency during the decision-making process.

Carrie Lam was criticised for appointing architect Rocco Yim Sen-kee to start a HK$4.5 million feasibility study for building the museum and exhibition centre complex behind closed doors months before the authority board chose the architect as its design consultant.

Carrie Lam linked the backlash to her announcement that she would "reconsider" running in the 2017 Chief Executive election after incumbent Leung Chun-ying said he would not seek a second term.

Carrie Lam previously said that she would retire in the English countryside with her family after her term ended in 2017.

Carrie Lam formally announced her plan to enter the 2017 Chief Executive election after resigning as Chief Secretary on 12 January 2017, ending her 36-year government career.

Carrie Lam set out what she described as an eight-point "achievable new vision" with a call to play to "strengths with determination and confidence".

Carrie Lam revealed a campaign team, which included council of chairpersons and senior advisers consisting of heavyweights including senior pro-Beijing politicians and tycoons.

Carrie Lam dominated in the pro-Beijing business and political sectors, winning three-quarters of the votes in the business sector, but failed to receive any nomination from the pro-democracy camp.

On 26 March 2017, Carrie Lam was elected Chief Executive with 777 votes in the 1,194-member Election Committee, 197 more votes than she got in the nomination period.

Carrie Lam is the first female leader of Hong Kong, the first candidate to be elected without leading in the polls and the first leader to have graduated from the University of Hong Kong.

Carrie Lam pledged to "heal the social divide" and "unite our society to move forward" in her victory speech.

Carrie Lam received the appointment from Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on 11 April 2017.

Carrie Lam was sworn in by General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and President Xi Jinping, on 1 July 2017, the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Special Administrative Region, becoming the first female Chief Executive.

In July 2017 weeks after Carrie Lam sworn in, four pro-democracy legislators Leung Kwok-hung, Yiu Chung-yim, Nathan Law and Lau Siu-lai who were legally challenged for their oath-taking manners by the then Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen were disqualified by the court.

Carrie Lam pledged she would not target more pro-democrats in oath-taking controversy.

Carrie Lam refused to make any comment, only stating that the Immigration Department was not obliged to explain individual cases.

In January 2018, Carrie Lam slammed the Hong Kong Bar Association for its criticism on the "co-location arrangement" which would allow customs officers from Mainland China to set up checkpoints and exercise jurisdiction inside the West Kowloon station.

Carrie Lam entering the venue side by side with Xi and ahead of Macau Chief Executive Fernando Chui and First Vice Premier Han Zheng.

In October 2018, Carrie Lam launched a development plan in her second policy address which suggested the construction of artificial islands with a total area of about 1,700 hectares through massive land reclamation near Kau Yi Chau and Hei Ling Chau of the eastern waters of Lantau Island.

Carrie Lam defended Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng who was strongly criticised for not following the conventional procedure of seeking external legal advice in the UGL case.

Carrie Lam said Cheng had made a professional call and that she hoped the UGL saga, which had been a point of contention for four years, could finally end.

In January 2019, the Carrie Lam administration announced that the age threshold for elderly Comprehensive Social Security Assistance would jump from 60 to 65, starting in February.

Carrie Lam faced opposition from both the pro-Beijing and pro-democracy legislators, in which she responded that it was the Legislative Council who approved the change in the CSSA scheme, as part of the 2018 Budget.

Carrie Lam's remarks attracted backlashes from the legislators as well as the public.

The Carrie Lam government made an U-turn by suspending the controversial plan to impose a HK$200 penalty on Hong Kong's senior citizens claiming welfare payments without joining a job programme.

In mid-2019, the Carrie Lam government introduced a bill to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance.

Carrie Lam insisted that she would proceed with the bill and that the Legislative Councillors must still pass new extradition laws before their summer break.

Carrie Lam claimed that the bill controversy had been "escalated" by foreign powers, allegedly seizing the opportunity to attack the mainland's legal system and human rights record.

Carrie Lam said she had done nothing against her conscience and would not withdraw the bill.

Carrie Lam said that her government would "listen humbly" and "seriously reflect" on views expressed at the election and would set up an independent review committee to look at cause of social unrest, modelling on Britain's response to the 2011 Tottenham riots, fell short of the protesters' demand on an independent commission of inquiry.

Carrie Lam said she was disappointed by the passage of the Act, and said the Hong Kong freedom had not been eroded.

Also in March 2021, Carrie Lam condemned some medical workers, claiming that they were "smearing" and "spreading fake news, misinformation" about Sinovac.

In early August 2021, Carrie Lam announced that some sectors of workers would have to be vaccinated or otherwise pay for regular testing to continue to work.

In January 2021, Carrie Lam said that district councillors and all 1200 members of the Chief Executive Election Committee should be considered as "public officers" under the national security law, and therefore be required to take an oath to swear loyalty to the government.

In January 2022, Carrie Lam said during the opening of the new legislative sessions under the "patriots only" election, that the government would broaden the crimes under the national security law, without specifying which offences would be included.

The sanction is based on the Hong Kong Autonomy Act and Carrie Lam would be listed in the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.

Carrie Lam stated that she regarded it as an honor to be "unjustifiably sanctioned" by the United States government.

In November 2020, following the expulsion of 4 pro-democracy lawmakers from the Hong Kong Legislative Council, Carrie Lam revealed that it was she who had requested the National People's Congress Standing Committee for help with disqualifying the lawmakers.

In November 2021, Carrie Lam said it was "wrong" to think that Beijing "owes" universal suffrage to Hong Kong.

In 2017, Carrie Lam promised in her election manifesto that she would extend Hong Kong's anti-bribery laws to cover the Chief Executive position.

In February 2021, Carrie Lam stated that Hong Kong would begin to enforce a previously written law that does not recognize dual nationality; those of Chinese descent who were born in Hong Kong or mainland China would be considered Chinese nationals, regardless of their other passports.

In March 2021, after the NPCSC approved changes to only allow "patriots" to serve in the government, Carrie Lam claimed that those with different political beliefs would still be able to run for election, as long as they are patriots and comply with the national security law.

In December 2021, during the first election cycle under the new rule, Carrie Lam dismissed concerns of low voter turnout, stating that low voter turnout "does not mean anything" and could mean citizens are satisfied with the government.

In January 2022, after Citizen News shut down and cited "vague" laws, Carrie Lam claimed there was no direct link with Stand News and Citizen News closing and the national security law's impact on press freedom.

In January 2022, Carrie Lam criticized and summoned the CEO and chair of Cathay Pacific, after a former employee broke home quarantine rules and spread the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Hong Kong.

Carrie Lam changed her earlier opinion and said she would not take responsibility for their actions, and that the individuals would have to take responsibility.

Former official Raymond Young, in a letter to SCMP, revealed that Carrie Lam attended a wedding banquet, hosted by a former trade association vice-president.

In November 2022, Carrie Lam said that her future plans included promoting "One country, two systems" to Taiwan.

In February 2023, Carrie Lam accepted the role of honorary president of the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce in Jiangsu province.

In 1984, Carrie married Hong Kong mathematician Lam Siu-por, whom she met while studying at the University of Cambridge.

Carrie Lam obtained his PhD in Mathematics in 1983, under the supervision of Frank Adams.

Carrie Lam maintained her Catholic faith through her political career; she refused to join the Chinese Communist Party as it would mean renouncing her Catholicism.

In recognition of her "career achievements and contributions to the community", Carrie Lam was awarded the Gold Bauhinia Star and the Grand Bauhinia Medal in 2010 and 2016.

Carrie Lam received an honorary fellowship from the Wolfson College, Cambridge for being "persons of distinction whom the College holds in high standing".

Carrie Lam is in the Press freedom predators list by Reporters Without Borders.