1. Donald Tsang continued to serve in the Hong Kong SAR government after 1997 and gained his reputation internationally for his intervention in Hong Kong's stock market in defending the Hong Kong dollar's peg to the US dollar during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Donald Tsang became the Chief Secretary for Administration in 2001 and ran for the Chief Executive in 2005 after incumbent Tung Chee-hwa resigned.
Donald Tsang served the remaining term of Tung and was re-elected in 2007.
Donald Tsang served a full five-year term until he stepped down in 2012.
Donald Tsang carried out a five-year policy blueprint and ten large-scale infrastructure projects during his term.
Donald Tsang's popularity began to decline after the introduction of the Political Appointments System which was marked by controversies and scandals.
Donald Tsang was charged by the Independent Commission Against Corruption and was found guilty of one count of misconduct in public office in February 2017 and was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment, becoming the highest officeholder in Hong Kong history to be convicted and imprisoned.
Donald Tsang's name was later cleared when the Court of Final Appeal unanimously quashed his conviction and sentence in June 2019, on the ground that the trial judge had misdirected the jury.
Donald Tsang was born in Hong Kong on 7 October 1944 to a Hong Kong police officer.
Donald Tsang spent his childhood living in the Hollywood Road Police Married Quarters in Central, Hong Kong.
Donald Tsang joined the Civil Service as an Executive Officer in January 1967 and held many positions dealing with local administration, finance, trade and policies relating to the return of Hong Kong to China.
In 1977, Donald Tsang was attached to the Asian Development Bank in Manila for a year and worked on water supply and railway development projects in the Philippines and Bangladesh.
Donald Tsang was sent by the government to complete a master's degree in public administration from the John F Kennedy School of Government of the Harvard University in 1981.
Donald Tsang was responsible for implementing the Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed in 1984 to decide the Hong Kong's sovereignty to be transferred to China in 1997, and the promotion of the British Nationality Selection Scheme as Deputy Secretary of the General Duties Branch between 1985 and 1989.
In September 1995, Donald Tsang was appointed Financial Secretary, becoming the first Chinese to hold the position in 150 years of colonial history.
Donald Tsang went on to become the first Financial Secretary in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on 1 July 1997.
Donald Tsang approved a raise in civil servants' salaries at the beginning of the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
Donald Tsang was known for his role in defending the Hong Kong dollar's peg to the US dollar during the 1997 Asian financial crisis in 1998 from attacks by hedge funds led by George Soros who he dubbed "crocodiles".
In 2001, Donald Tsang succeeded Anson Chan who retired citing personal reasons to be the Chief Secretary for Administration, the second-ranking position in the government.
Donald Tsang found his major task as Chief Secretary was to implement Tung's order to launch a "Team Clean Campaign" to clean up the city in May 2003 after the SARS outbreak.
Donald Tsang remained topping in popularity polls among all the officials in Hong Kong as Chief Secretary.
Tung's resignation was approved by the central government the next day and Donald Tsang took over becoming the acting Chief Executive.
Donald Tsang was elected unopposed by the 800-member Election Committee on 16 June 2005 and was formally appointed by the central government as the Chief Executive on 21 June 2005.
Donald Tsang developed a warm relationship with the pan-democrats during the early months of his first term.
Donald Tsang appointed some members from the pan-democracy camp to the government positions, including Lau Sai-leung to the Central Policy Unit which drew the criticism from the traditional Beijing-loyalists.
On 30 August 2005, Donald Tsang announced that the Guangdong Provincial Government invited all 60 members from the legislative council to visit Guangdong between 25 and 26 September 2005.
Donald Tsang angered democrats, who voted down his proposals, when he referred to them as "horrid animals".
In mid-2006 Donald Tsang launched the "Action Blue Sky Campaign" and outlined a comprehensive plan to tackle air pollution in Hong Kong and in collaboration with the neighbouring Guangdong.
Scepticism however remained among the expatriate and local population of Hong Kong and, in late November 2006, they ridiculed Donald Tsang for citing the long life expectancy of Hong Kong residents as evidence of Hong Kong's high quality of life relative to other major cities in the East Asian region.
Donald Tsang announced he would seek for the second term on 1 February 2007 with the campaign slogan "I'll get the job done".
Donald Tsang faced challenge from the pan-democrats who backed Civic Party legislator Alan Leong to run against him.
Donald Tsang was elected by the 796-member Election Committee on 25 March 2007 with 649 votes, compared to Leong's 123 votes.
Donald Tsang stressed the importance of "progressive development", a core element of which is the promotion of community development through revitalisation of the built heritage in the city which is to be realised by promoting economic development through infrastructure projects.
The Donald Tsang administration embattled with the conservation movement which reach its peak in the late 2000s, including the protests against the demolitions of the Star Ferry Pier and the Queen's Pier.
Donald Tsang proposed a series of revitalisation projects that would add a new dimension to Central.
In 2008, the Donald Tsang administration introduced the Political Appointments System, by superseding the Principal Officials Accountability System and inserting two layers of politically appointed officials below the secretaries, who are political appointees.
The Donald Tsang administration launched the proposals for electoral reform for the 2012 Chief Executive and Legislative Council elections in November 2009 which largely similar to the 2005 proposals.
Donald Tsang began to campaign via radio interviews, and he and his ministers took to the streets to mobilise support.
Donald Tsang said they were "the first step as well as the last opportunity" to lay the foundation for a chief executive elected by universal suffrage in 2017.
Donald Tsang expressed his fear that "a mood of pessimism and cynicism will take root" if there was no progress this time.
The allegations of preferential allocation of a luxury three-storey penthouse in Shenzhen surfaced after Donald Tsang addressed the press by saying that he and his wife had chosen to live in Shenzhen for a period after his retirement as they wanted to stay away from the limelight.
Donald Tsang was accused for allocating the Shenzhen penthouse owned by Bill Wong Cho-bau to Donald Tsang in exchange for granting of a broadcasting licence to the Wong's Digital Broadcasting Corporation.
Donald Tsang argued that declaration was not necessary and that his lease did not affect the government's decision on granting the broadcasting licence to DBC.
Donald Tsang argued that the lease was at market value.
Donald Tsang was later summoned to answer questions from an open inquiry by the Legislative Council.
Donald Tsang set up an Independent Review Committee for the Prevention and Handling of Potential Conflicts of Interests chaired by former Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal Andrew Li on 26 February 2012 to review the existing frameworks and procedures for preventing and handling of potential conflicts of interests concerning the Chief Executive and other top officials.
Donald Tsang was sentenced to a 20-month imprisonment on 22 February 2017.
On 11 January 2019, Donald Tsang was admitted to hospital for health reasons, a few days ahead of his scheduled release from prison.
Donald Tsang said he would persist in seeking justice and clear his name.
Since Donald Tsang was not convicted for bribery, the elements of "wilfulness" and "seriousness" in the misconduct in public office charge became especially important, and an adequate explanation was not given to the jury.
Donald Tsang had said he and his wife spent almost all their savings on the lawsuit.
Donald Tsang is the eldest of the five sons and one daughter.
Donald Tsang married Selina Pou Siu-mei in 1969 and has two sons, Simon Tsang Hing-yin and Thomas Tsang Hing-shun.
Donald Tsang is a devout Roman Catholic and goes to Mass every morning, though his political viewpoints were bluntly criticised at times by Joseph Cardinal Zen, who was the Bishop of Hong Kong during Donald Tsang's term as Chief Executive.
Donald Tsang is well known for his preference of wearing bow-ties.
Donald Tsang's nickname is widely known among Hong Kong people.
Donald Tsang felt comfortable with a bow-tie Bradley gave him, saying that its design brings fewer hurdles to its wearer than a necktie.
Donald Tsang had a pond built for them in the garden of his official residence, Government House, at a cost of HK$300,000.