Regine Yau Wai-ching (; born 6 May 1991) is a Hong Kong former politician and former member of the localist group

Youngspiration Youngspiration is a localist political party in Hong Kong founded in 2015. It emerged after the 2014 Hong Kong protests (often dubbed as the "Umbrella Revolution") with an agenda of protection of Hong Kong people's interests and culture agains ...

. She was elected to 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 Kon ...

as a member for Kowloon West in the 2016 Legislative Council election, but has since been disqualified pursuant to a judgment delivered by the High Court on 15 November 2016. As the youngest female parliament member in the Hong Kong history being elected on the age of 25, she is acclaimed to be a " daughter of Hong Kong" by the Chinese

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

and

political commentator A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

Zhongjing Liu for her

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 ...

statesmanship and the advocacy for the

self-determination The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a '' jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It sta ...

of the Hong Kong national identity.

Background

Yau was born on 6 May 1991 at St Teresa's Hospital in Kowloon City, Hong Kong to a

middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Com ...

family. Both her parents were

civil servants 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 ...

. Her father was a technical officer in the Hong Kong government. She was educated at Queen Elizabeth School and studied Chinese language at

Lingnan University Lingnan University (LN/LU), formerly called Lingnan College, is a public liberal arts university in Hong Kong. It aims to provide students with an education in the liberal arts tradition and has joined the Global Liberal Arts Alliance sinc ...

. She was an intern at ''

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 ...

'' newspaper during her studies. She is a former member of

, a localist group formed by young people after the

Umbrella Revolution A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014. The protests began after th ...

. Youngspiration fielded nine candidates in the 2015 District Council elections, in which Yau ran against legislator

Priscilla Leung Priscilla Leung Mei-fun (; born 18 November 1960, Hong Kong) is a barrister and Hong Kong Legislative Councillor, representing the Election Committee since 2022. She previously represented the Kowloon West constituency from 2008 to 2021. She ...

in Whampoa East. As a newcomer, Yau received 2,041 votes, only about 300 votes less than Leung. After the district council election, Yau served as District Councillor Kwong Po-yin's assistant and Youngspiration's Whampoa community officer.

Legislative Councillor and disqualification

Representing Youngspiration in the 2016 Legislative Council election, she won the sixth and final seat in the Kowloon West

geographical constituency In Hong Kong, geographical constituencies, as opposed to functional constituencies, are elected by all eligible voters according to geographically demarcated constituencies. There are currently 5 geographical constituencies in Hong Kong, return ...

. With 20,643 votes, Yau edged out incumbent

Wong Yuk-man Raymond Wong Yuk-man (; born 1 October 1951) is a Hong Kong communist, pro-china, author, current affairs commentator and radio host. He is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo), representing the geographical constitue ...

to become the youngest female member of the Legislative Council. She was the second youngest member behind

localist Localism describes a range of political philosophies which prioritize the local. Generally, localism supports local production and consumption of goods, local control of government, and promotion of local history, local culture and local identi ...

Nathan Law, who also won within the same election on

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. Known colloquially and on road signs simply as Hong Kong, the island has a population of 1,289,500 and its population density is 16,390/km2, . The island had a population of a ...

. On 12 October 2016, Yau and her party colleague Baggio Leung attended the

swearing-in Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to giv ...

ceremony at the first Legislative Council session. The two of them inserted their own words into the official script and had their oaths rejected. They were criticised for pronouncing China as " Jee-na", a term considered derogatory since the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific T ...

, and Yau mispronounced "People's Republic of China" as "people's re-fucking of Jee-na". As a result, their qualification as legislators were challenged by the government in court. The

National People's Congress Standing Committee The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPCSC) is the permanent body of the National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which is the highest organ of state ...

(NPCSC) intervened in the court case by interpreting Article 104 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong to "clarify" the provision of the legislators to swear allegiance to Hong Kong as part of China when they take office. The NPCSC insisted the oath taking must be conducted sincerely and accurately, and later stated that China would firmly oppose

Hong Kong independence Hong Kong independence is a political movement that advocates the establishment of Hong Kong as an independent sovereign state. Hong Kong is one of two Special administrative regions of China (SAR) which enjoys a certain degree of autonomy ...

. On 15 November, the court disqualified the two legislators on the grounds they did not take their oaths "faithfully and truthfully". On 26 August 2017, the

Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (HKCFA or CFA) is the final appellate court of Hong Kong. It was established on 1 July 1997, upon the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, replacing the Judicial Committee of t ...

refused to appeal the case, holding that they did not have a reasonably arguable case. Leung and Yau were found to have manifestly refused and wilfully omitted to take their oath – an act classed as declining and neglecting it. On 28 June 2019, Yau withdrew from the Youngspiration party. In May 2020, the Legislative Council Commission demanded Yau to repay H.K. $930,000 (U.S. $120,000) from public funds, claiming that she was mistakenly paid the salary and funds granted to legislators. The court ruling, which came right before her 29th birthday, prompted Yau to remark, "I would rebuild no matter how hard the impact."

Personal life

As of 2022, Yau is married to Matthew Lam, former spokesman of the Spark Alliance. She is also no longer involved in Hong Kong politics.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yau, Wai-ching 1991 births Living people Alumni of Lingnan University (Hong Kong) Youngspiration politicians HK LegCo Members 2016–2021 Kowloon City Hong Kong independence movement Hong Kong pan-democrats People from Kowloon 21st-century women politicians People expelled from public office Hong Kong political prisoners 21st-century Hong Kong women politicians