According to family announcements, Tung Chee-hwa, the former vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the first chief executive of Hong Kong after the handover of power, passed away at the age of 89.
Many Hong Kong media quoted a statement from the family saying that Tung Chee-hwa "passed away peacefully at the Hong Kong Sanatorium and Hospital at 22:00 Hong Kong time (14:00 GMT) on September 8, surrounded by his relatives." A statement from Tung Chee-hwa's office described him as "upright, caring about his family and country, and dedicated to his work."
The Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed in 1985, and the transfer of Hong Kong sovereignty from the United Kingdom to China on July 1, 1997 became a foregone conclusion. But until the then General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Jiang Zemin, came to shake hands with him at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, triggering rumors of "appointing the chief executive," probably no one in the public would have thought that Tung would be related to the ruling team after the handover of Hong Kong.
On the day of the handover of sovereignty, Tung Chee-hwa, who had inherited his father's business for 15 years, gave up his identity as a shipping tycoon, put on the cloak of a politician he had never worn before, and officially became the first chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. However, in the end, due to an epidemic and a failed national security legislation, Tung Chee-hwa sadly resigned.
Tung Chee-hwa's ancestral home is Dinghai County, Ningbo, Zhejiang (now Dinghai District, Zhoushan, Zhejiang). He was born in Shanghai in 1937. He is the first of five brothers and sisters. His father, Dong Haoyun, is known as the "Ship King", and his mother, Gu Lizhen, is the daughter of Ningbo shipping tycoon Gu Zongrui.
In December 1948, at the end of the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, Dong Haoyun and his family moved from Shanghai to Hong Kong. Tung Ho-wan, who had close ties with the Nationalist Government, sent his eldest son Tung Chee-hwa to Chung Hwa Middle School, a well-known pro-communist school. Later, Tung Chee-hwa's Secretary for Justice in the first SAR government, Leung Aishi, was an alumnus.
In the summer of 1954, Tung Chee-hwa enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Maritime Engineering at the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. He graduated in 1960 and then went to work and study in the American business community under his father's instructions.
In 1969, Tung Chee Hwa returned to work at the Hong Kong head office, and soon encountered a fire on the "Offshore University". His father, Tung Ho-wan, spent a huge sum of money to buy this old cruise ship, hoping to use it to run schools. However, it capsized in "the largest fire in Hong Kong's history" on January 9, 1972. Tung Chee-hwa, who presided over the renovation, escaped in time.
In the early morning of April 15, 1982, Dong Haoyun died of a heart attack at the age of 70. In his later years, Tung Ho Wan was still determined to expand his fleet. However, the two world oil crises in the 1970s caused the shipping industry to decline, resulting in Tung Group and Orient Overseas, which is listed in Hong Kong, owing billions of Hong Kong dollars. Tung Chee Hwa and his younger brother Tung Jiancheng were saddled with a family business heavily in debt.
Tung Chee Hwa's attempt to seek emergency funding from Taiwan failed. On September 2, 1986, the well-known "pro-communist businessman" Fok Ying-tung injected US$120 million to help OOCL tide over the difficulties. However, as a result, Hong Kong public opinion has long discussed whether Fok Ying-tung provided assistance on behalf of the Chinese Communist regime.
Although he had no political experience, Tung Chee Hwa was invited by Chris Patten, the last Governor of Hong Kong, to join the Executive Council in March 1992 and became a senior member of the British Hong Kong government. This laid the groundwork for him to become the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong.
On January 26, 1996, the "Inaugural Meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the National People's Congress of China" was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. In front of reporters and cameras, then Chinese President Jiang Zemin recognized Tung Chee-hwa from many preparatory committee members and took the initiative to shake hands with him. The rumor that Tung Chee-hwa was "hand-picked" to be the chief executive of Hong Kong spread like wildfire.
On December 11, 1996, the "Selection Committee for the First Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region" (Selection Committee) selected by the Preparatory Committee voted. Tung Chee-hwa received 320 votes from 398 members and was overwhelmingly elected as the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR.
In the early morning of July 1, 1997, shortly after the handover ceremony of Hong Kong's sovereignty, Tung Chee-hwa was formally sworn in in front of then Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng.
After Tung Chee-hwa was elected, he said the mantra "Hong Kong is good, the country is good; the country is good, Hong Kong is better" on many occasions.
Shortly after the establishment of the SAR, Tung Chee-hwa delivered his first policy address to the Provisional Legislative Council on October 8, proposing the goal of achieving 70% of residents' home ownership within ten years, launching the "85,000 Housing Plan" to ensure the construction of at least 85,000 residential units every year, and the "Tenants Purchase" plan to sell 250,000 rental public housing units, etc. However, the Asian financial crisis had already broken out at that time, significantly increasing the supply in the real estate market and impacting private housing prices, causing public dissatisfaction, and the "85,000" policy was quietly shelved.
In July 2002, he was re-elected as Chief Executive without any competition. In February 2003, the SAR government announced the National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill formulated in accordance with Article 23 of the Basic Law. Democrats and their supporters generally believed that the provisions were vague and harsh and seriously threatened freedom of speech, press freedom and other fields. At almost the same time, the SARS coronavirus epidemic broke out, killing 299 people. Hong Kong citizens were dissatisfied with the SAR government's failure to control the epidemic in a timely manner and were dissatisfied with the "Article 23 legislation", which triggered a large-scale protest on July 1. 500,000 people chanted slogans such as "Tung Chee-hwa steps down" along the way.
On March 10, 2005, Tung Chee-hwa confirmed that he had submitted a "resignation report" to Beijing, making the rumors of stepping down come true. When meeting reporters at the Government Headquarters, Tung Chee-hwa said: "I am nearly 68 years old this year, and time is not forgiving. My health is even more affected by long-term work of 16 to 18 hours a day."
On January 17, 2023, the list of members of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was announced. Tung Chee-hwa's name did not appear among them, which means that Tung Chee-hwa, who was 85 years old and had not been seen for a long time, resigned as vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and withdrew from the ranks of national leaders. On September 8, 2026, Tung Chee-hwa passed away.
