Lee Cheuk-yan (; born 12 February 1957 in Shanghai) is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. 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 Ko ...

from 1995 to 2016, when he lost his seat. He represented the

Kowloon West Kowloon West is the western part of Kowloon, covering the Yau Tsim Mong and Sham Shui Po District, with Kowloon City District occasionally included. History The boundary of Kowloon West is not strictly defined and hence varies. While traditio ...

and the

Manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to ...

constituencies briefly in 1995 and had been representing the

New Territories West New Territories West (NTW) is the western part of Hong Kong's New Territories, covering Yuen Long, Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan, Kwai Tsing and the Islands District. History Settlements in the area, except the Islands District, have been connected by the ...

constituency from 1998 to 2016. He is a trade union leader and General Secretary of the

Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU) was a pro-democracy labour and political group in the Hong Kong. It was established on 29 July 1990. It had 160,000 members in 61 affiliates (mainly trade unions in various sectors) and rep ...

, as well as former chairman of the

Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of 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 ...

Background

Lee's ancestral home is Chaoyang, Guangdong. Lee emigrated from

Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

to Hong Kong in 1959. He graduated 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 f ...

with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in civil engineering in 1978. Since his university days, he has been a labour and pro-democracy activist. During the student-led

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 collected donations from the

Concert for Democracy in China The Concert for Democracy in China () was a benefit concert held in Hong Kong in support of the students involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The concert was held on May 27, 1989, at the Happy Valley Racecourse on Hong Kong Island. T ...

in Hong Kong and travelled to Beijing to hand over the funds to student protesters in

Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square (; 天安门广场; Pinyin: ''Tiān'ānmén Guǎngchǎng''; Wade–Giles: ''Tʻien1-an1-mên2 Kuang3-chʻang3'') is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the eponymous Tiananmen ...

. He was detained by the authorities there and made to sign a confession letter before being allowed to return to Hong Kong. Since the events of 1989, Lee has remained a standing committee member of the

which promotes democratic reform in China.

Legislative Councillor

In 1995, Lee was elected unopposed in a by-election of the Legislative Council, replacing

Lau Chin-shek Lau Chin-shek (born 12 September 1944 in Guangzhou, Guangdong with family root in Shunde, Guangdong) is the President of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and a vice Chairman of the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee. He was bo ...

, who had resigned. He has since been re-elected four times, continuously serving as a lawmaker, except for a brief period during 1997 and 1998, when the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to the People's Republic of China, and the Legislative Council temporarily became a

Provisional Legislative Council The Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) was the interim legislature of Hong Kong that operated from 1997 to 1998. The legislature was founded in Guangzhou and sat in Shenzhen from 1996 (with offices in Hong Kong) until the handover in 1997 an ...

, composed of Beijing nominees.

Labour Party

In December 2011, he and three other Legislative Councillors Fernando Cheung,

Cyd Ho Cyd Ho Sau-lan () is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (Legco) for the Hong Kong Island constituency. She is a founding member of the Labour Party, since December 2011, and currently holds the position of vice-chairwoma ...

and Cheung Kwok-che co-founded the Labour Party, which became the third largest pan-democratic party in the legislature. He served as chairman until December 2015 when he stepped down to give way to the younger party members and took the vice-chairmanship. He received an unexpected loss in the 2016 Legislative Council election, departing the legislature after more than 20 years of service.

Family

He is married to Elizabeth Tang, the chairperson of the

Hong Kong People's Alliance on WTO The Hong Kong People’s Alliance on WTO (HKPA; ) is a grassroots organization that aimed to protest at the WTO Ministerial Conference of 2005 which was held in Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai North on 13–18 December 2 ...

. They have one daughter.

Arrests

On 28 February 2020, Lee was arrested for his involvement in a

pro-democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the transition to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. It may be a hybrid regime in transition from an authoritarian regime to a full ...

march on 31 August 2019, which was part of the protests sparked by the extradition bill and had been classified by police as illegal assembly. A few hours later, he was released on bail, as were the other arrestees

Jimmy Lai Lai Chee-ying ( zh, link=no, t=黎智英, born 8 December 1947), also known as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong busniessman and a politician. He founded Giordano, an Asian clothing retailer, Next Digital (formerly Next Media), a Hong Kong-listed me ...

and

Yeung Sum Yeung Sum (; born 22 November 1947 in Guangzhou) is a Hong Kong politician and academic. He served several terms as a Legislative Councillor and was the second chairman of the Democratic Party (DP), a pro-democracy political party in Hong ...

. The cases were scheduled to be heard at Eastern Law Court on 5 May 2020. On 18 April, Lee was one of the 15 Hong Kong high-profile democracy figures arrested on suspicion of organizing, publicizing or taking part in several unauthorized assemblies between August and October 2019 during the anti-extradition bill protests. On 1 April 2021, Lee was convicted, along with six other pro-democracy advocates, for his role in a rally on 18 August 2019. On 16 April, Lee was sentenced to 14 months in jail for his role in this and another August 2019 rally.

References

External links

Hong Kong Legislative Council's website on Hon Lee Cheuk-yanHong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions' election campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Cheuk-yan 1957 births Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Alumni of St. John's College, University of Hong Kong Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions Living people Hong Kong social democrats Hong Kong trade unionists Hong Kong Christians Charter 08 signatories The Frontier (Hong Kong) politicians Labour Party (Hong Kong) politicians Politicians from Shanghai HK LegCo Members 1991–1995 HK LegCo Members 1995–1997 HK LegCo Members 1998–2000 HK LegCo Members 2000–2004 HK LegCo Members 2004–2008 HK LegCo Members 2008–2012 HK LegCo Members 2012–2016 Hong Kong political prisoners