Donald Liao Poon-huai, CBE, JP is a Taiwanese-born Hong Kong government official and landscape architect.
17 Facts About Donald Liao
1.
2.
Donald Liao took an instrumental role in the expansion of the public housing in Hong Kong in the 1960s and 70s, designing new types of public estates and was Secretary for Housing and chairman of the Hong Kong Housing Authority from 1980 to 1985.
3.
Donald Liao became the Secretary for District Administration from 1985 to 1989.
4.
Donald Liao moved to Hong Kong to learn English after finishing his basic education in Taiwan.
5.
Donald Liao attended the St Joseph's College, Hong Kong and subsequently the University of Hong Kong.
6.
Donald Liao later furthered his study at the King's College of the Durham University after winning a British Council scholarship, where he graduated with a degree in landscape design.
7.
Donald Liao became the first member of the Hong Kong Institute of Landscape Architects.
8.
Donald Liao took a leading role in revolutionising social housing in order the address the overcrowding housing condition.
9.
Donald Liao applied his own design in Wah Fu Estate, the "Twin Tower Block": like Scottish "Z-plan" castles, these each comprised two juxtaposed towers of a hollow, internally galleried plan.
10.
Donald Liao later joined the Hong Kong government to become the Commissioner of Housing in 1968 and a member of the Town Planning Board.
11.
Donald Liao proposed the Home Ownership Scheme, which allowed those who lived in rented public housing to buy their own flats.
12.
Donald Liao became Secretary for Housing and chairman of the Hong Kong Housing Authority from 1980 to 1985.
13.
Donald Liao kept on serving in several senior government posts including the Secretary for District Administration from 1985 until his eventual retirement in 1989.
14.
Donald Liao was a member of the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group.
15.
Donald Liao served on the Council of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange from 1991 to 1995.
16.
Donald Liao married ballet dancer Christine Yuen Ching Me and has three children.
17.
Donald Liao is a member of the Hong Kong Jockey Club.