Sir Harry Fang Sin-yang, GBM,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, JP (, 2 August 1923 – 24 August 2009) was a Hong Kong

orthopaedic surgeon Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

, legislator and campaigner who promoted

rehabilitation services Physical medicine and rehabilitation, also known as physiatry, is a branch of medicine that aims to enhance and restore functional ability and quality of life to people with physical impairments or disabilities. This can include conditions su ...

. He was widely known as the "father of rehabilitation" in Asia. A well-known humanitarian, Harry Fang championed the rights of the disabled and disadvantaged. He co-founded the

Hong Kong Society for Rehabilitation Hong may refer to: Places *Høng, a town in Denmark *Hong Kong, a city and a special administrative region in China *Hong, Nigeria *Hong River in China and Vietnam *Lake Hong in China Surnames *Hong (Chinese name) *Hong (Korean name) Organiz ...

, and headed the

Rehabilitation International Rehabilitation International (RI Global) is an international disability rights organization with member organizations in every region of the world. The RI secretariat is located in New York City. Founded in 1922, RI is a network of people with di ...

for a period of time. In 2009, he died from complications of a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

Biography

Fang was born in

Nanking Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

in August 1923. Fang's family moved to Shanghai in 1931 and then moved to Hong Kong in 1938. He received his secondary education at the

King's College, Hong Kong King's College (), often informally referred to simply as King's or K.C., is a single-sex boys' government-operated secondary school located at 63A Bonham Road, Mid-levels, Hong Kong. It currently serves as a secondary education institution f ...

, and his degree of medicine from 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 ...

. He then specialized in orthopedics and quickly became an orthopedic surgeon. Throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, Fang became known as a powerful legislator 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 ...

. He was a Member of 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 ...

from 1974 to 1985. From 1979 to 1983, he was a member of the

Executive Council of Hong Kong The Executive Council of Hong Kong (ExCo) is the cabinet of the Government of Hong Kong, acting as a formal body of advisers to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong that serves as a core policy-making organ assisting the Chief Executive. It is ...

. In both of these offices, he campaigned for the rights of the disabled and for rehabilitation. In 2009, Fang died of complications from a

References

1923 births 2009 deaths Alumni of King's College, Hong Kong Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Alumni of the University of Liverpool Chinese orthopedic surgeons Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Hong Kong activists Hong Kong surgeons Knights Bachelor Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong Politicians from Nanjing Recipients of the Grand Bauhinia Medal Recipients of the Paralympic Order Physicians from Jiangsu 20th-century surgeons Chinese emigrants to British Hong Kong {{HongKong-poli-stub