The Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

is a members-only club and meeting place for the media, business and diplomatic community. It is located at 2

Lower Albert Road Lower Albert Road is a road on the Government Hill in the Central area of Hong Kong. The road was named after Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the consort of Queen Victoria. Features The south major entrance of the Former Central Govern ...

in Central, next to the Hong Kong Fringe Club, and they both occupy the Old Dairy Farm Depot at the top of

Ice House Street Ice House Street () is a one-way street in Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. Named after the structure previously located on it that housed the city's only source of ice, it stretches from Lower Albert Road to Connaught Road. The street ...

, one of the few remaining colonial buildings in the Central district.

History

The Club was founded in Chongqing in 1943 and moved to Hong Kong from

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, where it was set up on 23 June or 25 June 1949. The Club has been located in several buildings since its inception in Hong Kong. It has occupied the North Block of the Old Dairy Farm Depot since 1982. On 14 August 2018, the Club hosted a lunch talk which pro-independence activist Andy Chan gave a speech. Beijing had tried to block the talk, but the club did not change the plan on ground of freedom of speech. As retaliation,

Victor Mallet Sir Victor Mallet (9 April 1893 – 18 May 1969) was a British diplomat and author. Career Victor Alexander Louis Mallet was educated at Winchester College and Balliol College, Oxford. In 1914 he joined the Cambridgeshire Regiment and served ...

, the vice-president of FCC, was denied renewal of his visa.

Membership

The FCC has the following membership categories: * Correspondent * Journalist * Associate (in this category anyone can join although there is a waiting list which can vary from several months to several years) * Corporate * Diplomatic The membership of the FCC (which totals around 2,400) includes foreign correspondents, reporters and members of the business and diplomatic community. The majority of members (around 1,600) are in the associate membership category. Previously it also included the

Chief Executive of Hong Kong The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and head of the Government of Hong Kong. The position was created to replace the office of governor of ...

, but no Chief Executive since

Donald Tsang Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen (; born 7 October 1944) is a former Hong Kong civil servant who served as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012. Tsang joined the colonial civil service as an Executive Officer in 1967, occupyi ...

has accepted an offer of membership. When prominent international figures from the worlds of commerce, politics or entertainment visit Hong Kong, many choose to address the FCC's speaker lunches as the best means of reaching their desired audience – both directly and through media coverage of the events. Past speakers include the former chief executive Sir

, former Chief Secretary Mrs

Anson Chan Anson Maria Elizabeth Chan Fang On-sang, (; ''née'' Fang; born 17 January 1940) is a retired Hong Kong politician and civil servant who was the first ethnic Chinese and woman to serve as Chief Secretary, the second-highest position in both ...

. In 2018, the FCC invited

Chan Ho-tin Andy Chan Ho-tin (; born 6 September 1990) is a Hong Kong pro-independence political activist. He is a founding member and the convenor of the Hong Kong National Party, the first party to advocate for Hong Kong independence. Chan attracted me ...

, convenor of the

Hong Kong National Party The Hong Kong National Party was a localist political party in Hong Kong. It was the first political party in Hong Kong to advocate for Hong Kong independence. The Hong Kong National Party is also the first political party to be outlawed since ...

, the event precipitated the

Victor Mallet visa controversy The Victor Mallet visa controversy is an incident in Hong Kong in 2018 that many pundits consider as having major implications for freedom of speech in Hong Kong. The Foreign Correspondents' Club (FCC) scheduled a lunchtime talk for 14 August. T ...

Features

The heart of the FCC building is The Main Bar (on the ground floor) which maintains its reputation for colourful characters both from the media and other professions. The FCC has two restaurants on the first floor: the Main Dining Room focused primarily on western-style cuisine, and the Chinese Restaurant. In the basement is Bert's Bar, named after the late Bert Okuley, long time FCC member and jazz pianist. Bert's features live jazz several nights each week, often with the house band under the leadership of Musical Director Allen Youngblood. The basement also contains The Work Room where local and visiting members can use the broadband-connected facilities to prepare their articles, and a small but well-equipped Health Club with fitness equipment, a

sauna A sauna (, ), or sudatory, is a small room or building designed as a place to experience dry or wet heat sessions, or an establishment with one or more of these facilities. The steam and high heat make the bathers perspire. A thermometer in a ...

and a

steam room A steam bath is a steam-filled room for the purpose of relaxation and cleansing. It has a long history, going back to Greek and Roman times. History The origins of the steam bath come from the Roman bath, which began during the height of the R ...

In popular culture

* The Club is featured in

John le Carré David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British and Irish author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. ...

's 1977 novel ''

The Honourable Schoolboy ''The Honourable Schoolboy'' (1977) is a spy novel by British writer John le Carré. George Smiley must reconstruct an intelligence service in order to run a successful offensive espionage operation to save the service from being dismantled by ...

''. * The FCC has appeared several times in films: ** ''

Chinese Box ''Chinese Box'' is a 1997 movie directed by Wayne Wang and starring Jeremy Irons, Gong Li, Maggie Cheung and Michael Hui. The movie is set and was made at the time of Hong Kong's handover to the People's Republic of China on June 30, 199 ...

'' (1997), directed by

Wayne Wang Wayne Wang (; born January 12, 1949) is a Hong Kong–American director, producer, and screenwriter. Considered a pioneer of Asian-American cinema, he was one of the first Chinese-American filmmakers to gain a major foothold in Hollywood ...

. Features the Main Bar.F.C.C Facilities – Main Bar
** '' Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing'' (1955), directed by Henry King. The FCC was located at

Conduit Road Conduit Road is a road in the Mid-Levels on Hong Kong Island in Hong Kong. The road and buildings Conduit Road was constructed in 1910. It is located in Western Mid-Levels. It is named after the aqueduct passing underneath which carries water ...

at that time."Hong Kong as City/Imaginary in ''The World of Suzie Wong'', ''Love is a Many Splendored Thing'', and ''Chinese Box''", by Thomas Y. T. Luk, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
/ref> ** Series 4, episode 1 of the British television series '' Cracker''.

References

External links

FCC Home Page
{{Central, Hong Kong Central, Hong Kong Clubs in Hong Kong Communications in Hong Kong Foreign correspondents' clubs Mass media in Hong Kong