Lee Cheuk-yan

Lee Cheuk-yan (Chinese: 李卓人; born 12 February 1957 in Shanghai[1]) is a Hong Kong politician and social activist.[2] He was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1995 to 2016, when he lost his seat. He represented the Kowloon West and the Manufacturing constituencies briefly in 1995 and had been representing the New Territories West constituency from 1998 to 2016. He is a trade union leader and General Secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, as well as former chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.

Lee Cheuk-yan
李卓人
Lee in 2018
Chairman of the Labour Party
In office 18 December 2011 – 13 December 2015
Succeeded by	Suzanne Wu
Chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China
In office 2 January 2011 – 15 December 2014
Deputy	Richard Tsoi Mak Hoi-wah
Preceded by	Szeto Wah
Succeeded by	Albert Ho
General Secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions
Incumbent
Assumed office 1990
Member of the Legislative Council
In office 1 July 1998 – 30 September 2016
Preceded by	New parliament
Succeeded by	Cheng Chung-tai
Constituency	New Territories West
In office 11 October 1995 – 30 June 1997
Preceded by	New constituency
Succeeded by	Replaced by Provisional Legislative Council
Constituency	Manufacturing
In office 10 February 1995 – 31 July 1995
Preceded by	Lau Chin-shek
Succeeded by	Lau Chin-shek
Constituency	Kowloon Central
Personal details
Born	12 February 1957 Shanghai, China
Nationality	Chinese
Political party	Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions Labour Party
Other political affiliations	Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Tang
Alma mater	University of Hong Kong
Occupation	Legislative Councillor Trade unionists

Lee Cheuk-yan
Chinese	李卓人
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lǐ Zhuórén Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Léih Cheuk Yàhn Jyutping Lei^5 Coek^3 Jan^4

Background

Lee's ancestral home is at Chaoyang, Guangdong. Lee emigrated from Mainland China to Hong Kong in 1959. He graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1978.[3] Since his university days, he has been a labour and pro-democracy activist.

During the student-led Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he collected donations from the Concert for Democracy in China in Hong Kong and travelled to Beijing to hand over the funds to student protesters in Tiananmen Square. He was detained by the authorities there and made to sign a confession letter before being allowed to return to Hong Kong. Since the events of 1989, Lee has remained a standing committee member of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China which promotes democratic reform in China.

Legislative Councillor

In 1995, Lee was elected unopposed in a by-election of the Legislative Council, replacing Lau Chin-shek, who had resigned. He has since been re-elected four times, continuously serving as a lawmaker, except for a brief period during 1997 and 1998, when the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to the People's Republic of China, and the Legislative Council temporarily became a Provisional Legislative Council, composed of Beijing nominees.

Labour Party

In December 2011, he and three other Legislative Councillors Fernando Cheung, Cyd Ho and Cheung Kwok-che co-founded the Labour Party, becoming the third largest pan-democratic parties in the legislature. He served as chairman until December 2015 when he stepped down to give way to the younger party members and took the vice-chairmanship.[4]

He received an unexpected loss in the 2016 Legislative Council election, departing the legislature after more than 20 years of service.

Family

He is married to Elizabeth Tang, the chairperson of the Hong Kong People's Alliance on WTO. They have one daughter.[3]

Arrests

On 28 February 2020, Lee was arrested for his involvement in a pro-democracy march on 31 August 2019, which was part of the protests sparked by the extradition bill and had been classified by police as illegal assembly. A few hours later, he was released on bail, as were the other arrestees Jimmy Lai and Yeung Sum. The cases were scheduled to be heard at Eastern Law Court on 5 May 2020.[5][6]

On 18 April, Lee was one of the 15 Hong Kong high-profile democracy figures arrested on suspicion of organizing, publicizing or taking part in several unauthorized assemblies between August and October 2019 during the anti-extradition bill protests.[7][8]

See also

• List of graduates of University of Hong Kong

References

1. 隔牆有耳：李卓人原來係富三代. Apple Daily. 23 March 2011.
2. Lo, Sonny Shiu-hing (2006). "The Politics of Policing the Anti-WTO Protests in Hong Kong". Asian Journal of Political Science. 14 (2): 140–162. doi:10.1080/02185370601063175.
3. "Hon LEE Cheuk-yan". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
4. "工黨換班 女將胡穗珊任主席". Ming Pao (in Chinese). 13 December 2015.
5. Zhang, Karen; Lum, Alvin (28 February 2020). "Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai charged over August 31 march, intimidation case". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
6. Wong, Rachel; Grundy, Tom (28 February 2020). "Hong Kong police arrest pro-democracy newspaper tycoon Jimmy Lai and Labour Party vice-chair Lee Cheuk-yan". HKFP. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
7. Yu, Elaine; Ramzy, Austin (18 April 2020). "Amid Pandemic, Hong Kong Arrests Major Pro-Democracy Figures". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
8. Wong, Rachel (18 April 2020). "15 Hong Kong pro-democracy figures arrested in latest police round up". Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved 18 April 2020.

External links

• Hong Kong Legislative Council's website on Hon Lee Cheuk-yan
• Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions' election campaign website