Ann Chiang

Ann Chiang Lai-wan, SBS, JP, (Chinese: 蔣麗芸 was born on 16 May 1955)[1] is the chair of C&L Holdings and a pro-Beijing member of Hong Kong Legislative Council. She is the second daughter of Chiang Chen who is a Hong Kong entrepreneur.

Dr the Honourable Chiang Lai-wan SBS JP
蔣麗芸
Member of the Legislative Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2012
Preceded by	Starry Lee
Constituency	Kowloon West
Personal details
Born	16 May 1955 Hong Kong
Political party	Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (since 2000)
Alma mater	Concordia University (BA) Chinese University of Hong Kong (MA) Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (LD)
Occupation	Legislative Councillor entrepreneur politician
Signature

Ann Chiang
Traditional Chinese	蔣麗芸
Transcriptions Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Jéung Laih wàhn Jyutping Zoeng^2 Lai^6 wan^4

Background

Chiang was a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1993 to 2013.

In 2000, Chiang joined Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) and was appointed as the vice-chairman of the organisation in 2007.[2] In 1981, she received a Bachelor of Arts from Concordia University. Since 2005, she has served as non-executive director in Elec & Eltek International Holdings and chairman of C&L Holdings.[3][4]

Chiang was formerly a member of the Council of the City University of Hong Kong.[5][6]

In 2012, Chiang was elected Member of Legislative Council (Representative for Kowloon West) and retained her seat in 2016.

Controversies

Though the Cantonese language is predominant in Hong Kong, Chiang took her 2016 oath of office in Mandarin Chinese. After the government sought to prevent localist candidates from taking office for not reading their oaths accurately, it was pointed out that Chiang had mispronounced several words in Mandarin, thus calling the validity of her oath into question.[7]

In 2019, amidst the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, Chiang shared a video on her Facebook page alleging that Civil Human Rights Front convener Jimmy Sham had "never mentioned his sexual orientation," urging her supporters to share the video. Following complaints from LGBT activists, a Facebook spokesperson confirmed that the post had been removed for violating the social media platform's Community Standards. Chiang responded, "If you’ve already came out, then face it. Don’t easily complain someone’s attacking you, understood?" Sham stated that Chiang was incorrect as he had publicly identified himself as a member of LGBT activist group Rainbow Action and welcomed Facebook's deletion of the post.[8]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hong Kong experienced a shortage of surgical masks. Chiang publicly advocated steaming masks to sterilise them for re-use by reposting a video from the Chinese broadcaster Guangzhou Broadcasting Network on Facebook demonstrating the practice.[9] Centre for Health Protection controller Wong Ka-hing, a physician, rebuked Chiang's claim, while the centre warned Hong Kongers that surgical masks cannot be reused by steaming, and not to believe messages from "unreliable sources". Fellow legislator Helena Wong called on Chiang to step down as chairman of the Legislative Council's Panel on Health Services. In the face of widespread criticism and ridicule, Chiang stood by her claims, and claimed that medical workers who were infected with SARS in 2003 after re-using face masks would have been fine if they steamed them.[10]

In January 2021, Chiang blamed university representatives for the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests, stating that "Our taxpayers pay so much money every year to send their children to universities. But in the end, it has become a breeding ground for Hong Kong independence," as well as saying "Every president, vice-president, the ones responsible for management - shame on you!"[11]

References

1. Facebook
2. "Chiang, Ann Lai Wan". Webb-site.com. 1 January 2011. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
3. "Ann Wan: Executive Profile & Biography". Bloomberg Businessweek. 28 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
4. "Ms Ann CHIANG Lai Wan – Elec & Eltek". Elec & Eltek. 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
5. Wong Lai Yeuk-lin, Linda. "Honorary Fellow Dr The Hon Chiang Lai-wan" (PDF). City University of Hong Kong (Citation for honorary fellowship). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
6. "2018 Honours List spotlights CityU community". CityU NewsCentre. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
7. Yuen, Chantal (10 November 2016). "Pro-Beijing lawmaker Ann Chiang under fire for Mandarin pronunciation of oath". Hong Kong Free Press.
8. "Lawmaker and anti-bill march activist in row over latter's gay identity". South China Morning Post. 20 July 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
9. "Ann Chiang's steamed re-use mask gets lawmakers boiling". The Hong Kong Standard. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
10. "Ann Chiang, health experts spar over 'mask steaming'". RTHK. 30 January 2020.
11. "Hong Kong pro-Beijing lawmakers blast Chinese University over 'black violence' on campus". Hong Kong Free Press HKFP. 20 January 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.