40 Facts About Elsie Tu

Elsie Tu, known as Elsie Elliott in her earlier life, was a British-born Hong Kong social activist, elected member of the Urban Council of Hong Kong from 1963 to 1995, and member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1988 to 1995.

Elsie Tu became known for her strong antipathy towards colonialism and corruption, as well as for her work for the underprivileged.

Elsie Tu took the main role in the 1966 Kowloon riots when she opposed the Star Ferry fare increase which later turned into riots and faced accusations of inciting the disorder.

Elsie Tu fought for gay rights, better housing, welfare services, playgrounds, bus routes, hawker licences and innumerable other issues and her campaigning is credited with leading to the establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption in 1974.

Elsie Tu died in Hong Kong on 8 December 2015, at the age of 102.

Elsie Tu lived in an illegal apartment in a squatter community in Wong Tai Sin area, known as Kai Tak New Village.

Elsie Tu soon learned about corruption because squatters had to pay triad gangs protection money.

Elsie Tu left the Plymouth Brethren when she stood up in the assembly in Hong Kong in 1955.

Elsie Tu returned to Hong Kong alone to carry on her education work.

Elsie Tu divorced her husband and lived for a time in a kitchen in a Kowloon Walled City tenement.

Elsie Tu met her colleague, Andrew Tu Hsueh-kwei in the school, who became her husband 30 years later.

Elsie Tu's letter was quoted during debate in the UK Parliament.

Elsie Tu later left the club and ran as an independent in the re-election in 1967.

Elsie Tu was the spokeswoman for the United Nations Association of Hong Kong, which advocated self-government in the colony in the 1960s.

Elsie Tu invited some Members of Parliament to visit Hong Kong and joined the delegations of elected Urban Councillors to London in 1979 to discuss the proposed constitutional changes for Hong Kong.

Elsie Tu was especially opposed to the corruption then endemic in many areas of Hong Kong life and the influence of the triads.

Elsie Tu's popularity grew as did her reputation as fighter for the underprivileged and outspoken critic of British colonial rule.

Elsie Tu called for a review of the policy once she was elected to the Urban Council in 1963 and helped the homeless and filed complaints to the government officials.

Elsie Tu strove for the institution of hawking control measures to combat these ills.

Elsie Tu reported these minibus rackets and allegations of police corruption to Peter Fitzroy Godber, the Chief Superintendent of the Traffic Department, Governor Murray MacLehose, the Traffic Commissioner of Traffic Department, Colonial Secretary, and G A Harknett, the Director of Operations of ICAC in various letters.

Elsie Tu helped Mak Pui-yuen who was believed to have been victimised for having reported corruption to Police Inspectors J Peter Law and Peter Fitzroy Godber about a minibus racket in 1970.

Elsie Tu urged the government to decriminalise homosexuality, as had been done in the United Kingdom in 1967, but was told that the locals would object.

Elsie Tu appealed directly to Governor MacLehose, who supported gay rights, but he echoed the same sentiment that the community would oppose decriminalisation.

Elsie Tu remained the most popular legislator for most of her tenure.

Elsie Tu opposed the last Governor Chris Patten's electoral reform, questioning the British refusal to give Hong Kong democracy for decades but then advancing such reforms only in the final years of its "disgraceful colonial era" in which Hong Kong "never had any democracy to destroy".

Elsie Tu remained, as one Hong Kong commentator put it, "the pro-Beijing camp's only worthy, authentic, popular hero".

Elsie Tu died from pneumonia-related complications at the Kwun Tong United Christian Hospital on 8 December 2015, aged 102.

Elsie Tu was gassed in the trenches and suffered as a result for the rest of his life.

Elsie Tu had a hatred of war and compassion for all people.

Elsie Tu's family discussed about the hypocrisy of religions, about Marxism and the rights of workers and about sports.

Elsie Tu's left-leaning world-view influenced by her father made Tu decided that "I could at least be good and useful in life" in her youth.

Elsie Tu married William Elliott who was eight years her junior, and worked in the Plymouth Brethren missionary group in 1946.

Elsie Tu went with her husband to China in 1947, but became increasingly disillusioned with her husband's fundamentalism and their church.

Elsie Tu described the period as "the lowest point in [her] life" and thought of committing suicide.

Elsie Tu returned to Hong Kong alone and later divorced him in 1964.

In 1985,30 years after the two teachers met, they finally got married when Elsie Tu was 71 and Andrew was 63.

Colonial Hong Kong in the Eyes of Elsie Tu was published in 2003 and Shouting at the Mountain: A Hong Kong Story of Love and Commitment, cowritten with Andrew Tu, tells of the couple's lives dedicated to society.

Elsie Tu completed the publication of her husband Andrew's autobiography of his childhood in Inner Mongolia, Camel Bells in the Windy Desert.

Elsie Tu was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1977 for her work against corruption.

Elsie Tu received a honorary doctoral degree in Social Science from the University of Hong Kong in 1988 and both honorary doctoral degrees in Laws from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and in Social Science from the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong in 1994.