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John Tsang Chun-wah, GBM, JP (; born Mui; born 21 April 1951) is a
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 Delt ...
former senior
civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
and
government official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...
who was the longest-serving Financial Secretary in the Special Administrative Region period to date. Born in Hong Kong and raised and educated in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, Tsang worked in the Hong Kong government for more than thirty years. He was the private secretary to the last colonial governor
Chris Patten Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, (; born 12 May 1944) is a British politician who was the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992. He was made a life pe ...
and was promoted to
Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development heads the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of the Hong Kong Government. The Secretary is responsible for promoting commerce and the economic development of Hong Kong. The position was ...
in 2003. He worked as director of the
Office of the Chief Executive Office of the Chief Executive (CEO) is one of the government agencies for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It consists of the immediate staff to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and multiple levels of support staff reporting to t ...
under
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 ...
administration from 2006 to 2007. In July 2007, he was appointed Financial Secretary by Donald Tsang. He proposed the
Scheme $6,000 Scheme $6,000 () is a 2011 Hong Kong Government tax rebate program that gave out HK$6,000 to all adult holders of a Hong Kong permanent identity card, in a bid to "藏富於民" (Leave wealth with the people). Background After seven consecuti ...
tax rebate A tax refund or tax rebate is a payment to the taxpayer due to the taxpayer having paid more tax than they owed. By country United States According to the Internal Revenue Service, 77% of tax returns filed in 2004 resulted in a refund check ...
to all Hong Kong residents in his 2011 Budget. He continued to serve in the
Leung Chun-ying Leung Chun-ying (; born 12 August 1954), also known as CY Leung, is a Hong Kong politician and chartered surveyor, who has served as vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference since Ma ...
administration until January 2017, when he resigned to run in the 2017 Chief Executive election. Despite his lead in the opinion poll by large margin throughout the campaign, he lost the bid to
Carrie Lam Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ( Cheng; ; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the 4th Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022. She served as Chief Secretary for Administration between 2012 and 2017 and Secr ...
. Tsang is currently engaged in a number of diverse activities. He is the Founder of Esperanza, a non-profit organisation, the Vice Chairman of Ion Pacific, a financial institution that specialises in technology investments, the Senior Advisor of Bowtie, a virtual insurance company, the host of a weekly music programme on Commercial Radio and the fencing coach of La Salle College.


Early life and education

Tsang was born on 21 April 1951 at Maternity home in Dukes Street,
Kowloon Tong Kowloon Tong () is an area of Hong Kong located in Kowloon. The majority of the area is in the Kowloon City District. Its exaclocationis south of the Lion Rock, north of Boundary Street, east of the East Rail line and west of Grampian Road. It i ...
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 Delt ...
, his great-grandfather was from
Taishan __NOTOC__ Taishan may refer to: *Mount Tai or Taishan (), Shandong, China *Taishan District, Tai'an (), named after the Mount Tai, a district in Tai'an, Shandong, China *Taishan, Guangdong (), a county-level city of Jiangmen, Guangdong, China **Gre ...
, Guangdong, who made his fortune beginning as a labourer in San Francisco. His grandfather was a well-off Chinese physician-turned-businessman. His father, Tsang Chuek-ho, was the eldest child of eight siblings. Graduated from normal schools, Tsang Chuek-ho and his wife Li Pik-sheung planned to move to the United States, where his sister was living, through Hong Kong in the 1940s. While waiting for the immigration process, the family settled in Hong Kong and had four children. Tsang Cheuk-ho and his children adapted the surname Mui when he was adopted by a relative in Hong Kong; they reverted to their original surname after emigrating to the United States. John Tsang, the eldest child, was born as Mui Chun-wah in Hong Kong on 21 April 1951 and lived in
Sai Yeung Choi Street Sai Yeung Choi Street () are two streets in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong, namely, Sai Yeung Choi Street South (西洋菜南街) and Sai Yeung Choi Street North (西洋菜北街). Although officially two streets, local people seldom make distinc ...
in his childhood. Tsang was a primary and secondary school student at La Salle Primary School and
La Salle College La Salle College (LSC) (, Demonym: Lasallian) is a boys' secondary school in Hong Kong. It was established in 1932 by the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, a Roman Catholic religious teaching order founded by St. John Ba ...
in Hong Kong. When he was 13 in 1965, Tsang and his family moved to the United States. He first resided on the 8th Street in
Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...
,
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, New York City. He enrolled in
Stuyvesant High School Stuyvesant High School (pronounced ), commonly referred to among its students as Stuy (pronounced ), is a State school, public university-preparatory school, college-preparatory, Specialized high schools in New York City, specialized high school ...
the following year, from which he graduated in 1969.
Eric Holder Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, was the first African America ...
, the first African-American
Attorney General of the United States The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
, was his classmate. During the early 1970s in the United States, he was involved in the defend the Diaoyu Islands movement. He then studied architecture at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
. He also holds a master's degree in bilingual education from
Boston State College Boston State College was a public university located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. History Boston State College's roots began with the Girls' High School, which was founded in 1852. In 1872, the Boston Normal School separated from Girl ...
and a
MPA MPA or mPa may refer to: Academia Academic degrees * Master of Performing Arts * Master of Professional Accountancy * Master of Public Administration * Master of Public Affairs Schools * Mesa Preparatory Academy * Morgan Park Academy * Mou ...
from the
Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...
at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.


Civil service career

Through his teens and twenties, Tsang lived in the United States and worked as an architect. In November 1982 he returned to Hong Kong after working with the
Boston Public Schools Boston Public Schools (BPS) is a school district serving the city of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest public school district in the state of Massachusetts. Leadership The district is led by a Superintendent, hired by the ...
Board as a special advisor, at the midst of the Sino-British negotiation over Hong Kong sovereignty, and joined the civil service under the encouragement of
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 ...
, with whom he became friends when they were at Harvard together. He started his civil service as an Administrative Officer, in which his first position was a two-year stint as
Assistant District Officer Assistant may refer to: * Assistant (by Speaktoit), a virtual assistant app for smartphones * Assistant (software), a software tool to assist in computer configuration * Google Assistant, a virtual assistant by Google * ''The Assistant'' (TV seri ...
for
Shatin Sha Tin, also spelt Shatin, is a neighbourhood along Shing Mun River in the eastern New Territories, Hong Kong. Administratively, it is part of the Sha Tin District. Sha Tin is one of the neighbourhoods of the Sha Tin New Town project. The ne ...
, serving under Donald Tsang, the District Officer. He went on to serve in the former Finance Branch, Monetary Affairs Branch and the former Trade Department. From 1987 to 1992, he was first Administrative Assistant to then Financial Secretary, Sir Piers Jacobs. He was Assistant Director-General of Trade from 1992 to 1995 and Private Secretary to the
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
,
Chris Patten Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, (; born 12 May 1944) is a British politician who was the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997 and Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992. He was made a life pe ...
, from March 1995 to June 1997. In July 1997, Tsang was appointed Director-General of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London. In 1999 he returned from London and assumed the office of
Commissioner of Customs and Excise The Commissioner of Customs and Excise () is the head of the Customs and Excise Department, which is responsible for monitoring the movement of goods into and out of Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Sp ...
, appointed by then
Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
Tung Chee-hwa Tung Chee-hwa (; born 7 July 1937) is a Hong Kong businessman and politician who served as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2005, upon the transfer of sovereignty on 1 July. He is currently a vice-chairman of the Chin ...
. Tsang was Secretary for Planning and Lands from 2001 to 2002. After the
Principal Officials Accountability System Principal Officials Accountability System, commonly referred to as the Ministerial system (), sometimes the Accountability System, was introduced in Hong Kong by chief executive Tung Chee Hwa in July 2002. It is a system whereby all principal ...
was introduced in July 2002, his title was changed to the Permanent Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands (Planning and Lands),
Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...
having become the highest ranking in the
Hong Kong Civil Service The Hong Kong Civil Service is managed by 13 policy bureaux in the Government Secretariat (Hong Kong), Government Secretariat, and 67 departments and agencies, mostly staffed by civil servants. The Secretary for the Civil Service (SCS) is one of t ...
. From August 2003, Tsang was
Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development heads the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of the Hong Kong Government. The Secretary is responsible for promoting commerce and the economic development of Hong Kong. The position was ...
. In this role he was also Chair of the Sixth Ministerial Conference (MC6) of the
World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and e ...
(WTO) held in Hong Kong from 13 to 18 December 2005. For his outstanding performance in the WTO, he even earned praise
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
from
general secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...
Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese politician who served as the 16–17th general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the 6th president of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 2003 to 2013, an ...
. Tsang then became the director of the
Office of the Chief Executive Office of the Chief Executive (CEO) is one of the government agencies for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It consists of the immediate staff to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and multiple levels of support staff reporting to t ...
, working directly for his friend Donald Tsang. He held the post from 2006 to June 2007.


Financial Secretary

In 2007, Tsang was appointed
Financial Secretary of Hong Kong The Financial Secretary () is the title held by the Hong Kong government minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters (“Department of Finance” per Article 60 of the Basic Law). The position is among the three most sen ...
when Donald Tsang began his second term. In 2012, he was re-appointed as the territory's financial chief by
Leung Chun-ying Leung Chun-ying (; born 12 August 1954), also known as CY Leung, is a Hong Kong politician and chartered surveyor, who has served as vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference since Ma ...
. Although Hong Kong's economy generally grew at a stable rate under Tsang and the government recorded surpluses every year, Tsang was criticised for his drastic miscalculations of the government's surpluses and his
fiscal conservative Fiscal conservatism is a political and economic philosophy regarding fiscal policy and fiscal responsibility with an ideological basis in capitalism, individualism, limited government, and ''laissez-faire'' economics.M. O. Dickerson et al., ''A ...
philosophy. After seven consecutive years of budget surplus, Tsang's 2011 annual budget came under heavy fire from the Legislative Council. His original proposal of putting HK$6,000 directly into workers'
Mandatory Provident Fund The Mandatory Provident Fund (), often abbreviated as MPF (), is a compulsory saving scheme (pension fund) for the retirement of residents in Hong Kong. Most employees and their employers are required to contribute monthly to mandatory provident f ...
(MPF) accounts was condemned. About 10,000 protesters demonstrated in
Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
. The mismanagement of the funds led to a number of controversies. Tsang eventually backed down and carried out the
Scheme $6,000 Scheme $6,000 () is a 2011 Hong Kong Government tax rebate program that gave out HK$6,000 to all adult holders of a Hong Kong permanent identity card, in a bid to "藏富於民" (Leave wealth with the people). Background After seven consecuti ...
to give a HK$6,000 cash handout to all adult holders of a
Hong Kong permanent identity card The Hong Kong identity card (officially HKIC, commonly HKID) is an official identity document issued by the Immigration Department of Hong Kong. According to the Registration of Persons Ordinance (Cap. 177), all residents of age 11 or above w ...
. In the same budget, Tsang initiated iBond, a
Hong Kong dollar The Hong Kong dollar (, currency symbol, sign: HK$; ISO 4217, code: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cent (currency), cents or 1000 Mill (currency), mils. The H ...
retail
inflation-indexed bond Daily inflation-indexed bonds (also known as inflation-linked bonds or colloquially as linkers) are bonds where the principal is indexed to inflation or deflation on a daily basis. They are thus designed to hedge the inflation risk of a bond. Th ...
to further develop the local bonds market, attracting 155,835 applications in 2011, which rose to 525,359 by 2013. In January 2011, the government's IT chief information officer Jeremy Godfrey stepped down from his job for "personal reasons". On 10 May 2011, in a letter to the Legislative Council, he said the real reasons why he resigned were related to Permanent Secretary for Permanent Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Elizabeth Tse and John Tsang. It turns out that there had been arguments over the implementation of the Internet Learning Support Program (ILSP). It was revealed that Tse and Tsang had forced the HK$220 million contract to be awarded to a company called Internet Professional Association (iProA). This company was founded by Elizabeth Quat, a member of 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 ...
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 ...
(DAB). Tsang responded that the accusations were ridiculous and absurd. Godfrey then stated that Quat herself had nothing to do with the ILSP controversy, but said the IT decision was politicised. In the 2013 budget, Tsang said he understood the people's concerns because he himself was a member of the middle class. He supported this claim by saying middle-class people are those who drink coffee and enjoy French films. He was ridiculed by the public for the remarks, given that he earned a basic monthly salary of HK$302,205 and lived in a luxury government residence. On 7 December 2013, Tsang was hit in the head by an egg thrown by a
League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp (Hong Kong), pro-democracy camp and stresses on ...
(LSD) protester, Derek Chan Tak-cheung, at a government forum. Tsang joked about the incident, saying that a doctor had advised him not to eat too many eggs. "Luckily I'm not wearing a good suit today. I appear to have foreseen the incident." To distance himself from Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who took a hardline stance against
localism in Hong Kong In Hong Kong, localism is a political movement centered on the preservation of the city's autonomy and local culture. The Hong Kong localist movement encompasses a variety of groups with different goals, but all of them oppose the perceived grow ...
, Tsang expressed his affection for local culture, especially by showing his support for the
Hong Kong national football team The Hong Kong national football team () represents Hong Kong in international association football, football and is controlled by the Hong Kong Football Association, the governing body for football in Hong Kong. Hong Kong was the first in Asia ...
against China during the World Cup football qualifiers. He also wrote in his blog that localism could become a "strong and constructive force" that binds society together. His popularity rating had been over 60 out of 100 in 2015 and 2016, according to tracking polls by the
University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...
public opinion programme, being the most popular principal official in the government. Tsang resigned as Financial Secretary on 12 December following months of speculation that he would run in the 2017 Chief Executive election during which he led opinion polls against incumbent Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying. His resignation was approved by Beijing's central authorities on 16 January 2017, the same day his rival
Carrie Lam Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ( Cheng; ; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the 4th Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022. She served as Chief Secretary for Administration between 2012 and 2017 and Secr ...
resigned from her post as
Chief Secretary for Administration The Chief Secretary for Administration, commonly known as the Chief Secretary of Hong Kong, is the most senior principal official of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Chief Secretary is head of the Governmen ...
. The unusual month-long gap between his resignation and Beijing's approval caused critics to speculate that Beijing was reluctant to allow him to join the race.


2017 Chief Executive bid

Tsang officially declared his candidacy on 19 January with a slogan of "Trust, Unity, Hope", after more than a month-long pending of his resignation by the central government which put his campaign in limbo. There were reports that central government officials had given "red light" to John Tsang running in the election and had allegedly asked John Tsang not to run for more than ten times, including rumours of him being offered the deputy governor post at the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in return for not joining the race. Tsang refuted such claims, only saying that there were "friends" who supported him and some who did not. To contrast his archrival former Chief Secretary
Carrie Lam Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ( Cheng; ; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the 4th Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022. She served as Chief Secretary for Administration between 2012 and 2017 and Secr ...
who was perceived to follow Leung Chun-ying's hardline and divisive policies, Tsang described himself as a good listener who accepted different views, appealing to "all 7.35 million Hongkongers so that together we can make Hong Kong a better place." Tsang also launched his election Facebook page, which drew more than 100,000 likes in a day. Tsang unveiled his 75-page election platform entitled "Convergence of Hearts, Proactive Enablement" on 6 February, with the promise of revisiting the possibility of the Article 23 national security legislation with the possibility of relaunching political reform without mentioning the " 831 framework". Other policies included introducing a progressive profit tax, developing New Territories North and East Lantau and abolishing all
Territory-wide System Assessment The Territory-wide System Assessment (TSA) is an assessment introduced by the Education Commission in the report o"Reform Proposal for the Education System in Hong Kong"in September 2000. The Territory-wide System Assessment is held in June ...
(TSA) and Basic Competency Assessment (BCA) tests, among others. Amid the alleged pressure from the Liaison Office which actively lobbied for Carrie Lam and speculations that he was not Beijing's favoured candidate, Tsang struggled to seek nominations from the pro-Beijing electors and had to heavily rely on the Democrats. He received a few pro-Beijing electors' support, including
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...
honorary chairman James Tien who was the most outspoken supporter of Tsang since the early stage of the campaign, as well as the party's honorary chairwoman
Selina Chow Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee (; born 25 January 1945) is a former Hong Kong television executive and politician. She was a member of the Legislative Council for nearly three decades, and was also a member of the Executive Council. She is honorar ...
and leader
Felix Chung Felix Chung Kwok-pan (, born 4 November 1963) is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong for the Textiles and Garment constituency, representing the Liberal Party. He has also been the leader of the Liberal Party since 2016, afte ...
. He also received a nomination from Thomas Wu, son of real estate tycoon
Gordon Wu Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung,Gordon WU Ying-Sheung biography
- website o ...
of the
Hopewell Holdings Hopewell Holdings Limited (), established on 17 October 1972, is a major property developer in Hong Kong headed by Sir Gordon Wu. History It was listed on the Hong Kong stock exchanges in 1972 and delisted when taken private in 2019. Hopewell ...
, the only tycoon to nominate Tsang. 123 of his total number of 160 nominations came from pro-democracy camp, of which majority of them were from the professional sector, including the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
which made it the first time a pro-democratic party to nominate an establishment candidate. On 25 February, he became the first candidate to submit his nominations. He was criticised by pro-Beijing media and politicians for taking pro-democrats' support,
Tam Yiu-chung Tam Yiu-chung, GBM, JP (; born 15 December 1949) is a pro-Beijing politician in Hong Kong. He is a current member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC), former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Leg ...
said that Tsang now clearly represented the pan-democrats while ''
Ta Kung Pao ''Ta Kung Pao'' (; formerly ''L'Impartial'') is the oldest active Chinese language newspaper in China. Founded in Tianjin in 1902, the paper is state-owned, controlled by the Liaison Office of the Central Government after the Chinese Civil War ...
'' editorials attacked Tsang for "making deal with the devils". Tsang performed well in the election debates. In a two-hour televised debate co-organised by seven electronic media outlets on 14 March, Tsang quoted Lam's nickname "CY 2.0", which meant the second version of the divisive incumbent
Leung Chun-ying Leung Chun-ying (; born 12 August 1954), also known as CY Leung, is a Hong Kong politician and chartered surveyor, who has served as vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference since Ma ...
, saying that people fear society will suffer "split 2.0" if Lam wins. Former candidate
Regina Ip Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee (; ' Lau; born 24 August 1950) is a Chinese politician. She is currently the Convenor of the Executive Council (ExCo) and a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), as well as the founder and current chair ...
and political scientist Ma Ngok said that Tsang won the debate. According to a poll conducted by the
University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...
Public Opinion Programme (HKUPOP) after a forum co-organised by a group of Election Committee members on 19 March 62 per cent out of the 717 respondents said they would vote for Tsang if eligible, against 24 per cent for Lam and seven per cent for Woo. Ahead of 26 March election, Tsang held a rally on 24 March evening in
Edinburgh Place Edinburgh Place is a public square in Central, Hong Kong, adjacent to the Victoria Harbour. The Hong Kong City Hall is located in the square. In addition, the Edinburgh Place Ferry Pier and Queen's Pier were also located in the square before t ...
,
Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
, the final stop on his half-day bus parade on Hong Kong Island. Around 3,500 showed support at the rally, with some 449,000 people watched the rally on his Facebook page and more than 18,700 comments were left on the page. Film director
Johnnie To Johnnie To Kei-fung (born 22 April 1955) is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter and film producer. Popular in his native Hong Kong, To has also found acclaim overseas. Intensely prolific, To has made films in a variety of genres, though in ...
, Tsang's wife Lynn and his former political assistant Julian Law Wing-chung were among the six guests who spoke at the rally. In Tsang's speech, he said: "We are here to show our love for this city of ours ... I hope the Election Committee members, who have the power to vote, would heed our call and heal the rift, and make Hong Kong the home we imagined it should be." He also made a reference to the 2014 Occupy protests, saying: "Here we stand near Lung Wo Road and
Connaught Road Connaught Road is a major thoroughfare on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. It links Shing Sai Road in Kennedy Town to the west and Harcourt Road in Admiralty to the east. Location The road consists of two adjoining sections, ...
, Occupy happened near this place in more than two years ago, but I hope our rally today can give a new meaning to this place. I hope you will remembered that on 24 March 2017, we gathered here for the unity of Hong Kong." On 26 March, Tsang received 365 votes in the 1,194-member Election Committee, losing to Carrie Lam who received 777 votes. His votes came from 98 percent of the 325-member "Democrats 300+" coalition, who voted as masse for the candidate leading in opinion polls, as well as a few pro-Beijing electors. Tsang fought back tears as he implored supporters to carry on the dream for democracy and not to give up on Hong Kong in his concession speech. "I believe this dream to turn Hong Kong more democratic ... has made every Hongkonger willing to dream on – till our dream comes true one day."


Post-election life

In late October 2017, Tsang again gained media attention when it was reported that a
RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...
10-episode show titled ''Hong Kong Stories'' in which Tsang was a voluntary guest host would be suspended from airing as he had failed to declare this employment after leaving the government. Chief Executive Carrie Lam urged Tsang to "respect the system" like other officials to declare his employment accordingly. Tsang revealed that he had been in touch with permanent secretary Jessie Ting Yip Yin-mei at Chief Executive Carrie Lam's office as early as mid-September regarding the television series and provided information as requested. In March 2018, John Tsang announced plans to establish a fund to help young entrepreneurs in Hong Kong. He wants to match his experienced and knowledgeable network of contact with aspiring entrepreneurs. He also joined a fintech-focused merchant bank Ion Pacific as its vice-chairman and Benefit Vantage Limited (BVL) as a chairman and investor in June 2018. BVL's main focus is cybersecurity and they are currently taking their authentication solution IPification to the market. In 2020, Tsang co-founded middle-of-the-road political group "
Hope for Hong Kong Hope for Hong Kong () was a "middle-of-the road" moderate political group founded by former Liberal Party leader James Tien who hoped to explore the moderate ground between the pro-democracy and pro-Beijing camps. It stopped operation after the ...
", signaling his change of political stance from pro-Beijing to centrism. He also appeared in "In Geek We Trust", a drama of
ViuTV ViuTV is a Cantonese language general entertainment television channel in Hong Kong operated by HK Television Entertainment (HKTVE), whose parent company PCCW also operates the IPTV platform Now TV and the media streaming service Viu. The chann ...
in 2022.


Personal life

Tsang is married to Lynn Tsang (曾黃蓮華; née Wong) who he met as a nurse while doing volunteer work in the United States in 1975. The couple has a son Terence Tiu-lung (雕龍; literally "carving of dragons") and a daughter Prudence Man-sum (文心; literally "literary mind"); the combination of the siblings' names alludes to ''
The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons ''The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons'' () is a 5th-century work on Chinese literary aesthetics by Liu Xie, composed in fifty chapters (篇) according to the principles of numerology and divination found in the ''Book of Changes'' or ''I ...
'', a Chinese classic on literary aesthetics. The family remained a low profile despite Tsang's senior political position. Tsang is a practicing
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
and a martial arts and fencing enthusiast. He learned
Hung Kuen Hung Ga (), Hung Kuen (), or Hung Ga Kuen () is a southern Chinese martial art belonging to the southern Shaolin styles. The hallmarks of Hung Ga are strong stances, notably the horse stance, or "si ping ma" (), and strong hand techniques, no ...
with martial arts master Kwong Tit-fu during his life in the United States and got to know
Tai Chi Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called "shadowboxing", is an neijia, internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and medita ...
master
Bow-sim Mark Bow-sim Mark (born 1942) is a Chinese martial arts grandmaster who lives in Newton, Massachusetts, US. She is the mother of martial arts film star, Donnie Yen. Training Mark was born in Guangzhou, Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of Ch ...
and her son
Donnie Yen Donnie Yen Chi-tan (; born 27 July 1963) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, and action director. Yen is one of Hong Kong's top action stars. Yen is widely credited for bringing mixed martial arts (MMA) into the mainstream Asian cinema by cho ...
. He has been voluntarily coaching the fencing team of his alma mater La Salle College since 1985,
Sammy Leung Sammy Leung Chi Kin is an actor under TVB, DJ, singer, and host for Commercial Radio Hong Kong. Life and career Leung was raised in Kwai Shing Estate, and received his secondary education at St. Stephen's College and La Salle College, grad ...
was among his students. He also cameoed as a fencing coach in a government's tourism promotion video. He is also nicknamed "Mr Potato Chips" and "Uncle Pringles" for a moustache similar to one worn by a character on a potato crisp brand's packaging. He has a pet dog
Shiba Inu The is a breed of hunting dog from Japan. A small-to-medium breed, it is the smallest of the six original and distinct spitz breeds of dog native to Japan. Its name literally translates to "firewood dog". A small, alert, and agile dog that c ...
named Oliver, in which he gave to his daughter as a Christmas present in 2008. Oliver is often featured in Tsang's greeting cards. In 2009, Tsang suffered a health scare on his return from a
G-20 summit The following list of G20 summits summarizes all G20 conferences held at various different levels: summits of heads of state or heads of government, ministerial-level meetings, Engagement Group meetings and others. Summits of state leaders ...
in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
. On 27 September he was admitted to Queen Mary Hospital with a
coronary artery blockage Coronary artery disease (CAD), also called coronary heart disease (CHD), ischemic heart disease (IHD), myocardial ischemia, or simply heart disease, involves the reduction of blood flow to the heart muscle due to build-up of atherosclerotic pla ...
and underwent an angioplasty operation. He recovered and was discharged from hospital on 3 October, assuring the media that the operation would not affect his work.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsang, John 1951 births Living people Hong Kong Roman Catholics Hong Kong emigrants to the United States Former United States citizens Boston State College alumni Stuyvesant High School alumni MIT School of Architecture and Planning alumni University of Massachusetts Boston alumni Harvard Kennedy School alumni Hong Kong civil servants Government officials of Hong Kong Financial Secretaries of Hong Kong Recipients of the Grand Bauhinia Medal