Christopher Chung Shu-kun, SBS, JP (; born 31 March 1957, commonly known as "Tree Gun") was elected to the

Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under China's " one country, two systems" constitutional arrangement, and is the power centre of Hong Kong ...

in 2012, representing the

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an Islands and peninsulas of Hong Kong, island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km ...

constituency. He is also former chairman of

Eastern District Council The Eastern District Council is the district council for the Eastern District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Eastern District Council currently consists of 35 members, of which the district is divided into 35 constituencies, ...

, and a former councillor from 1991 to 2015, representing the Yue Wan constituency. He is a veteran member of the

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) is a pro-Beijing conservative political party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Starry Lee and holding 13 Legislative Council seats, it is currently the largest party in the l ...

, the flagship pro-Beijing party in Hong Kong.Live coverage: Pan-democrats hold on to veto power in Legco
/ref> He was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong SAR Government in 2017.

Biography

Chung was born in Hong Kong in 1957. He was inspired by

Mao Zedong Thought Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Chi ...

when he was young and joined the

pro-Beijing The pro-Beijing camp, pro-establishment camp, pro-government camp or pro-China camp refers to a political alignment in Hong Kong which generally supports the policies of the Beijing central government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) t ...

organisation Hok Yau Club in 1974, where he went on to become its president. During the 1980s when the colonial government introduced elections to the District Boards, he participated in the discussion in the club which decided not to participate. He first contested in the 1988 District Board elections, where he initially considered standing in

North Point North Point is a mixed-use urban area in the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern District of Hong Kong. Located in the northeastern part of Hong Kong Island, the area is named after a cape between Tin Hau, Hong Kong, Causeway Bay and Tsat Ts ...

, but switched with

Chan Yuen-han Chan Yuen-han, SBS, JP (; born 16 November 1946 in Baoan, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China) is a former member of Hong Kong Legislative Council and a noted Hong Kong female trade unionist. She is the vice-chairperson of the Hong Kong Federation ...

and ran in

Chai Wan Chai Wan (; ), formerly known as Sai Wan (西灣), lies at the east end of the urban area of Hong Kong Island next to Shau Kei Wan. The area is administratively part of the Eastern District, and is a mosaic of industrial and residential area ...

, where he lost the

Reform Club The Reform Club is a private members' club on the south side of Pall Mall in central London, England. As with all of London's original gentlemen's clubs, it comprised an all-male membership for decades, but it was one of the first all-male cl ...

Brook Bernacchi Brook Antony Bernacchi (; 22 January 1922 – 22 September 1996) was a lawyer and politician in Hong Kong. He was the long-time chairman of the Reform Club of Hong Kong, the then quasi-opposition party in the colony and the longest serving ele ...

and nonpartisan Wong Ming-kuen. In 1989, Chung represented the club to join the

Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China ( zh, link=no, t=香港市民支援愛國民主運動聯合會; abbr. ; ) was a pro-democracy organisation that was established on 21 May 1989 in the then British col ...

during the

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known in Chinese as the June Fourth Incident (), were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square, Beijing during 1989. In what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, or in Chinese the June Fourth ...

in China but left after a half year. He was first elected to the Eastern District Board in 1991 through Chai Wan East. He joined the newly established

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) is a pro-Beijing conservative political party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Starry Lee and holding 13 Legislative Council seats, it is currently the largest party in the l ...

(DAB), the flagship pro-Beijing party in 1993. He went on to become the chairman of the party branch in Hong Kong Island East. He was also one of the last

Urban Council The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Services ...

lor elected in 1995 until the council was abolished in 2000. Since the 1998 Legislative Council election, he had been nominated in the DAB party list in

placing after party's big names such as

Cheng Kai-nam Gary Cheng Kai Nam (, born 29 May 1950, in Hong Kong with family roots in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China) is a Hong Kong politician who served as vice-chairman for the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong party. He was edu ...

Choy So-yuk Choy So-yuk, BBS, JP (, born 10 October 1950) is a Hong Kong politician. She was an elected member of Eastern District Council and a Hong Kong Deputy of the National People’s Congress. From 1997 to 2008 she was a member of the Legislative C ...

Ma Lik Ma Lik, GBS, JP (; 23 February 1952 – 8 August 2007), was a Legislative Councillor, and was the Chairman of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), a pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong. Education Ma Lik attended ...

and

Tsang Yok-sing Jasper Tsang Yok-sing ( zh, t=曾鈺成; born 17 May 1947) is a Hong Kong politician. He is the founding member of the largest pro-Beijing party the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) from 1992 to 2003 and ...

. In 2000, after DAB legislator

resigned soon right the 2000 Legislative Council election after he was suspected of corruption. The party nominated Chung as the candidate for the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

against barrister

Audrey Eu Audrey Eu Yuet-mee is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong and was founding leader of the Civic Party. She was a member of the Executive Committee of the Civic Party, focusing on party development. In politics, Eu has foc ...

who was supported by the

pro-democracy camp The pro-democracy camp, also known as the pan-democracy camp, is a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy, namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic L ...

. Chung received more than 78,000 votes, 37 percent of the total votes and was defeated by Eu. Chung was briefly chairman of the Eastern District Council in 2012. He was then nominated by the party to lead a candidate list in the

2012 Legislative Council election 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

, while another DAB list was led by Legislative Council President Tsang Yok-sing. Both DAB lists successfully win a seat, while Chung's list received nearly 34,000 votes and took the fourth out of nine seats in Hong Kong Island. In 2013, Chung was accused of making racist comments in a LegCo debate, during which he described foreigners as "flawed by nature", that they "knew nothing about Hongkong" and therefore were not fit to manage the

West Kowloon Cultural District The West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD) is a large arts development in Hong Kong. Based on a Foster and Partners master plan and comprising , the district will eventually include 17 venues. The Xiqu Centre for Chinese opera, the Freespace c ...

project.Lawmakers veto WKCD scrutiny
/ref> He is widely known by the nickname "Tree Gun", direct translation and transliteration of the two characters of his Chinese name, respectively. He was surprisingly defeated by

Chui Chi-kin Andy Chui Chi-kin () is a member of the Eastern District Council, representing Yue Wan constituency in Hong Kong. Chui is a trader by occupation and participated in the 79-day Occupy sit-ins in 2014. Inspired by the Occupy movement, he formed ...

, an "umbrella soldier" inspired by the

2014 Hong Kong protests A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014. The protests began after ...

almost unknown to the public before he was elected in the 2015 District Council election with 2,017 votes against Chung's 1,829 votes in

Yue Wan Yue Wan (died 368) was a general and politician of Former Yan during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. He defended Fancheng (凡城, in modern Kazuo County, Liaoning) from Later Zhao in 339 and helped defeat Ran Min with Yao Xiang and Shi Zhi ...

, which ended his 25-year service as District Councillor. After having been listed by the party as a candidate for the 2016 Legislative Council election, he was dropped in May 2016 when the party decided to field only one candidate list in Hong Kong Island, to be led by

Horace Cheung Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan, JP (, born 30 June 1974) is a Hong Kong solicitor and politician and the former vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), the largest pro-Beijing party in Hong Kong. ...

. He protested the party's decision and considered running as an independent.

Personal life

Chung worked in the information technology field after graduating from secondary school, in which he had worked at the

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public research university in Ma Liu Shui, Hong Kong, formally established in 1963 by a charter granted by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. It is the territory's second-oldest university an ...

and the

Hong Kong Jockey Club The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) is one of the oldest institutions in Hong Kong, having been founded in 1884. In 1959, it was granted a Royal Charter and renamed The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club (). The institution reverted to its original name ...

until he became full-time district councillor in 1999. At the age of 47, he went back to school, studying master's degrees at the

Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University ( gd, Oilthigh Chailleannach Ghlaschu, ), informally GCU, Caledonian or Caley, is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of The Queen's College, Glasgow (founded in 1875) and G ...

and the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

. He began his doctoral studies in

Business Administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

at the

London South Bank University London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

since 2011 but has stopped his study due to the 2012 election. His wife is a retired Chinese teacher and his daughter is an English teacher.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chung, Christopher 1957 births Living people Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong politicians Members of the Urban Council of Hong Kong District councillors of Eastern District Alumni of the University of Wales, Newport Alumni of Glasgow Caledonian University HK LegCo Members 2012–2016 Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 1998–2000 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2000–2005 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2007–2012 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2012–2017 Recipients of the Silver Bauhinia Star Recipients of the Bronze Bauhinia Star