43 Facts About Chung Sze-yuen

An-engineer-turned-politician, Chung Sze-yuen was appointed to various public positions by the colonial government including the chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries in the 1960s before he was an Unofficial Member of the Legislative and Executive Councils.

Chung Sze-yuen was born in British-ruled Hong Kong on 3 November 1917 with a family root of Fatshan, Guangdong.

Chung Sze-yuen was the eldest son of his father's third wife and the fifth of his eight sons.

Chung Sze-yuen attended the Anglo-Chinese schools including St Paul's College and was a member of the St John's Ambulance and lifesaver of the Royal Life Saving Society as a youth.

Chung Sze-yuen went on obtained admission to the University of Hong Kong.

Chung Sze-yuen was hired by the Kowloon Whampoa Shipyard as an assistant engineer working in the machine shops at a monthly salary of 200 Hong Kong dollars.

Chung Sze-yuen was asked to set up another machine factory and became its general manager and lectured as a part-time associate professor at the Chiang Kai-shek University.

Chung Sze-yuen was in charge of designing a tea factory for the National Tea Corporation for export to Russia.

Chung Sze-yuen worked as a chief engineer for his friend's family business of World Light Manufactory before he further his study in the United Kingdom in the late summer of 1948.

Chung Sze-yuen received a doctoral degree in Engineering Science from the University of Sheffield in 1951.

Chung Sze-yuen published an article on deep drawing of sheet metal which won the Whitworth Prize of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in London in 1952.

Chung Sze-yuen worked as a research officer for the GKN after graduation but he decided to return to Hong Kong at the end of 1951.

Chung Sze-yuen reassumed his position at the World Light Manufactory as its chief engineer and later deputy general manager.

Chung Sze-yuen was appointed to be the working party of establishing an industrial association by Governor Robert Black in 1958, which later became the Federation of Hong Kong Industries in 1960.

In 1966 when Sir Chau Sik-nin became chairman of the newly founded Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Chung Sze-yuen succeeded Chau to be the chairman of the Federation.

Chung Sze-yuen was appointed to be a provisional member of the Legislative Council by Governor Sir David Trench in April 1965, as well as member of the Trade and Industry Advisory Board, Hong Kong Telephone Advisory Committee, Hong Kong Aviation Advisory Board, Hong Kong Government Radiation Board, Working Committee on Productivity and a Justice of the Peace.

In 1968, Chung Sze-yuen became the permanent member of the Legislative Council and was appointed to the Executive Council by Governor Sir Murray MacLehose in 1972.

In 1974 Chung Sze-yuen became the Senior Member of the Legislative Council.

In 1978, Chung Sze-yuen resigned from the Legislative Council to devote more time in the Executive Council.

Chung Sze-yuen became the Senior Member, the highest representative position in the government and the "leader of the Hong Kong community".

In September 1982, the Unofficial Members of the Executive and Legislative Councils headed by Chung Sze-yuen sent a five-member delegation to London with Roger Lobo, Li Fook-wo, Lydia Dunn and Chan Kam-chuen to meet with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher over the 1997 issue to suggest the status quo of British administration in Hong Kong.

Chung Sze-yuen met with Thatcher and urged the British government to trust the Executive Council after The Observer revealed the Beijing position on Hong Kong in which the Executive Council was not notified after her Beijing visit in December 1982.

The Unofficial Members of the Executive Council sent two missions to London to voice their opinions to the British government in July and October 1983, in which in the second mission Chung Sze-yuen was told by Thatcher that a compromise had to be reached.

In June 1984, Chung Sze-yuen headed a three-member delegation, including Lydia Dunn and Lee Quo-wei, to meet with Deng Xiaoping in Beijing.

Chung Sze-yuen voiced the concerns of the Hong Kong people regarding Hong Kong's future and the potential exodus of professionals, talent and capital, which would result in an economic recession.

Chung Sze-yuen expressed concerns over China's policy on Hong Kong after 1997.

However, Chung Sze-yuen maintained close ties with Xu Jiatun in the ensuing years on the issues of the implementation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and democratic development in Hong Kong.

On 1 September 1988, Chung Sze-yuen stepped down from the Executive Council and retired from politics.

Chung Sze-yuen was chairman of the Hong Kong Japan Business Cooperation Committee from 1983 to 1988 and the Hong Kong US Economic Cooperation Committee from 1984 1988.

Chung Sze-yuen was involved in the establishment of three local universities, as the founding chairman of the Council of the Hong Kong Polytechnic in 1972 and was responsible for the establishment of the City Polytechnic in 1984.

Chung Sze-yuen oversaw the establishment of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 1991 as the chairman of the planning committee and became its pro-chancellor.

Chung Sze-yuen advised his protege, Senior Member of the Legislative Council Allen Lee, and Steven Poon, to abandon any pretense of being above politics and form a proper political party with its belief, vision, discipline and platform to counter the emergence of the populist United Democrats of Hong Kong following the first Legislative Council election in 1991.

Chung Sze-yuen was appointed chairman of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority and was closely involved with its establishment in 1991.

In 1992, Chung Sze-yuen accepted the Beijing government's invitation to be a Hong Kong Affairs Advisor to give advice to the Beijing government on various matters in Hong Kong.

Chung Sze-yuen went on become one of the 400-member Selection Committee that was responsible for electing the Provisional Legislative Council and the first Chief Executive.

On 24 January 1997, Chief Executive-elect Tung Chee-hwa announced the membership of the first SAR Executive Council, in which Chung Sze-yuen became the convenor of the non-official members of the Executive Council.

Chung Sze-yuen received the Grand Bauhinia Medal on 1 July 1997, the first day of the new Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Chung Sze-yuen served in the council for two more years and retired from all official capacities on 30 June 1999.

In 2001, he published a memoir, Hong Kong's Journey to Reunification: Memoirs of Sze-yuen Chung which covered his life, career and extensive involvement in the Sino-British negotiations in the 1980s.

Chung Sze-yuen was a keen volleyball player and played for his school, the St Paul's College.

Chung Sze-yuen was the vice-captain of the Hong Kong team in the Shanghai national volleyball tournament in 1948.

Chung Sze-yuen married Cheung Yung-hing in 1942 and had two daughters and one son.

Chung Sze-yuen died on 14 November 2018, shortly after his 101st birthday.