Kuan Hsin Chi () is chairman of the Department of Government and Public Administration 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 and ...

(CUHK). He retired in 2006 but continues to teach

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

part-time. He was chairman of the Hong Kong

Civic Party The Civic Party (CP) is a pro-democracy liberal political party in Hong Kong. It is currently chaired by barrister Alan Leong. The party was formed in 2006 on the basis of the Basic Law Article 45 Concern Group, which was derived from the ...

from its foundation in 2006 until 2011. Kuan, affectionately known as "Ah Gwan" (阿關), was born in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

and graduated from Yuet Wah College (粵華中學) there. After gaining his PhD degree from

Munich University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous oper ...

in 1972, he planned to take up teaching in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

but was invited to teach at

CUHK 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 and ...

instead, where he spent his entire academic career until retirement. During his 33-year career, as well as teaching

Kuan was also Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and the University Dean of Students. Currently, he is the Director of the Universities Service Centre and a member of the University Council. His main research interests are political and legal culture and development,

comparative politics Comparative politics is a field in political science characterized either by the use of the ''comparative method'' or other empirical methods to explore politics both within and between countries. Substantively, this can include questions relatin ...

, research methodology, political parties, and development of

. He is one of the most widely respected scholars in Hong Kong. He has always believed that full democracy is the only way to rebuild Hong Kong. Thinking that today's political parties are insufficient to achieve this aim, he helped found the

(公民黨), drawings its members from Legco legislators of the

Article 45 Concern Group Basic Law Article 45 Concern Group is a pro-democracy political group in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (HKSAR) . It was established on 14 November 2003 by legal practitioners and academics. It had ...

Political views

As chairman of the

, Kuan is naturally pro-democratic rights. However, he caused controversy whilst speaking on

Commercial Radio Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship. It was the United States′ first model of radio (a ...

on 1 April 2006. On the topic of 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 ...

, he said that focusing on the still-controversial event would adversely affect democratic development in Hong Kong, which should come first. This view contrasts with those of most in the pro-democratic camp, and drawing criticism from the more radical

Leung Kwok Hung Liang (Romanization used in China, ) is an East Asian surname of Chinese origin. The surname is often transliterated as Leung (in Hong Kong) or Leong (in Macau, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines) according to its Cantonese and ...

(梁國雄), a.k.a. "Long Hair" (長毛).

External links

Staying On Kuan Hsin-chi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuan, Hsin Chi Leaders of political parties Living people Chinese University of Hong Kong faculty Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Macau people Civic Party politicians Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2007–2012 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2017–2021