| The Honourable Anson Chan Fang On-sang 陳方安生 GBM, GCMG, CBE, JP |
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|---|---|
| Chief Secretary for Administration | |
| In office 1 July 1997 – 30 April 2002 |
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| Succeeded by | Sir Donald Tsang |
| Chief Secretary | |
| In office 29 November 1993 – 30 June 1997 |
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| Preceded by | Sir David Robert Ford |
| Member of the Legislative Council | |
| In office 5 December 2007 – 30 September 2008 |
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| Preceded by | Ma Lik |
| Majority | 54.84% |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 17 January 1940 Shanghai, Republic of China |
| Nationality | Chinese (Hong Kong) |
| Spouse(s) | Archibald Chan Tai-wing |
| Relations | Fang Shin-hau (father) Fang Zhaoling (mother) Harry Fang (uncle) |
| Children | Chan Wai-ling Chan Hong-wai |
| Alma mater | Sacred Heart Canossian College (1949–1957) St. Paul's Convent School (1957–1958) University of Hong Kong (1959–1962) |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Anson Chan | |||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 陳方安生 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 陈方安生 | ||||||||||
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Anson Maria Elizabeth Chan Fang On-sang[1][2] GBM GCMG (hon.)[3]CBE [4]JP(born 17 January 1940 in Shanghai) was a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong for Hong Kong Island, succeeding the late legislator Ma Lik.
Before running for LegCo, she served as the head of Hong Kong's civil service before and after the territory's handover to the People's Republic of China from British colonial rule. Noted for her poise and smile, she was the first woman and the first Chinese to hold the second-highest governmental position in Hong Kong. Since November 2005 she has identified herself with the pro-democracy camp, and won the December 2007 by-election for the Hong Kong Island seat in the Legislative Council, as an independent.
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Born one of twins in Shanghai, China, Anson Chan was educated at Hong Kong's Sacred Heart Canossian College (formerly known as Italian Convent School and Sacred Heart School) and the University of Hong Kong. She also studied at Tufts University in Massachusetts in the United States.
Chan's father, Fang Shin-hau 方心誥, a textile manufacturer, moved the family to Hong Kong in 1948. Her mother Fang Zhaoling was a well-known painter. Her grandfather, Fang Zhenwu, was a Kuomintang general who fought against the Japanese invasion. Her uncle, Sir Harry Fang Sin-yang is a well-known orthopaedic surgeon. When she was only ten, Chan's father died suddenly aged 36, leaving her mother with eight young children: twins Anson and Ninson and six brothers. With the support of Chan's grandmother, her mother not only shouldered the responsibility of raising her children, but also tried to pursue her career as an artist. She took two of her sons to study in England, leaving Chan and her five other siblings in Hong Kong with their grandmother and Uncle Harry.
Under her grandmother's strict discipline and high expectations, Chan learned that she had a duty towards the family and the community and was expected to be upright, diligent and righteous. She put herself through university by working as a private tutor and for a year as a clerk at Queen Mary Hospital. In 1959, Chan entered the University of Hong Kong to study English literature.[1] Along with studies, she was keen on amateur dramatics, and it was through this that she met her future husband, Archibald (Archie) Chan Tai-wing.
She began work on a social work diploma, but later changed her mind and joined the Civil Service in 1962, one of only two women to join the civil service at that time. The following year, she married Archie, who became a science teacher at St Joseph's College.[1]
Chan joined the civil service as an administrative service cadet in 1962. Her salary was reportedly one-quarter that paid to men of equivalent grade.[1]
Afterwards, she progressed to the Economics Section of the Finance Branch in 1962, followed by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, then the Department of Commerce and Industry, and later back to Finance. In 1970, she became assistant financial secretary in the finance branch of the Colonial Secretary, the first woman to attain that post.[1]
She became a senior administrative officer in 1970. During this period she helped set up the Association of Female Senior Government Officers to fight for better rights for women civil servants, notably pushing for wage parity with men.[1]
Chan became the first female civil service director when appointed Director of Social Welfare in 1984. During her tenure, she was severely criticized by media for her handling of a child custody case in 1986, popularly known as the Daughter of Kwok-A Incident.[5] An investigation by Unofficial members of the Executive Council found that Chan had "acted within the law" in respect of her extreme powers, but recommended changes to the law and to the Social Welfare Department's procedures to prevent re-occurrence of similar cases. She later admitted that the media pressure had made her "very upset" and this led to keep her distance from the press, at least for a few years.[6][7]
From 1987 to 1993, she was Secretary for Economic Services, becoming the 30th and last Chief Secretary in 1993. She mainly oversaw the localisation of the civil service during her time in this position. From 1994, she headed the Airport Development Steering Committee overseeing the construction of the new Chek Lap Kok airport.
Chan was the first woman and the first ethnic Chinese to hold the second-highest governmental position in Hong Kong. The highest governmental position, the Governor, was always held by Britons before Hong Kong's handover to People's Republic of China.
Chan was often described during this era as an "Iron Lady", with "an iron fist in a velvet glove". Chan was lauded as the most powerful woman in Asia for her role as the deputy of British Governor Chris Patten, and later Tung Chee-hwa.
In the run-up to the Handover, she was often the 'face of Hong Kong', dispatched to reassure the wider world that the territory would not implode upon its return to China and that civil liberties would be upheld. Her confidence reassured many around the globe.[8]
Within Hong Kong she had wide public support to be the first Chief Executive in the new administration but announced in October 1996 that she would not seek the role.
After Hong Kong's handover to China on 1 July 1997, Chan stayed on as head of the civil service under then Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, a valuable sign of stability and continuity for the new administration. She was always highly regarded: one British-born civil servant said that "Nothing would work without her", also noting that "Tung needs her more than she needs him."[8]
Chan was loyal in the main but her public utterances were occasionally at odds with Tung. It was enough to earn her a certain independence and the epithet of "Hong Kong's Conscience". In contrast to the more conservative Tung, Chan showed the greater support for democracy and freedom, and advocated a faster pace of democratisation.
| “ | ''Practise their profession after 1997 as they have practised it, continue to write the stories and editorials that deserve to be written, responsibly, objectively without fear or favour... How well they do their job after the transition will to a very large extent decide how well our other freedoms will be protected."[9] | ” |
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—Anson Chan on Hong Kong journalists' role after the handover |
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When pro-government figures in Hong Kong attacked the Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) for being too critical of the Hong Kong and Chinese governments, Chan flew to its defence.[10] In the summer of 1999 RTHK became a platform for Taiwan-Mainland China discussions. A local member of the PRC's National People's Congress, Tsang Hin-chi, urged the government-owned radio station to exercise self-censorship and not to provide a platform that express the splitting of China; Xu Simin, a member of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, urged RTHK to not allow Taiwan's president broadcasts.[10]
On 12 April 2000 Wang Fengchao delivered a speech titled "The Principle of One China and the Taiwan Issue". Wang hinted that Article 23 should be enacted as quickly as possible in Hong Kong to protect China against treason and subversion.[11] Chan spoke in a four hour speech after Wang on the importance of press freedom and publication, as she believed in genuine press freedom without external pressures.[11]
The constant criticism of mainland officials and policies was perceived by many to be one of the main reasons for Beijing to view Chan as a malefactor in Hong Kong politics. In what the Hong Kong media saw as a dressing down for Chan, PRC Vice Premier Qian Qichen told her at a function in Beijing to "better support Tung", after there had been reports of disagreements between the two over the appointment of officials.[10][12]
In 1998, Chan was somewhat criticised for her role in the monitoring of the new Hong Kong International Airport construction at Chek Lap Kok. The airport had logistical difficulties upon its opening, and some blamed Chan for her lack of supervision.[13]
Chan agreed in 1999 to delay her retirement until June 2002. However, Chan announced her resignation in January 2001, and officially stepped down in April of the same year.[13]
In recognition of her 34 years of public service to the British Crown, Chan was awarded the Hong Kong Grand Bauhinia Medal in 1999.[13]
She was then appointed by Queen Elizabeth II an honorary Dame Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George in 2002 in recognition of her service with the Hong Kong Government before the handover. Such award was usually given only to Governors of Hong Kong before the return of sovereignty.[13]
In December 2005, Chan participated in the protest march for democracy, against Donald Tsang's constitutional reform package[14] and has since participated in subsequent marches for universal suffrage.[15]
In July 2006, she criticised the Commission on Strategic Development, chaired by Donald Tsang, for being "rather slow and unsatisfactory", and announced her intention to start a "Core Group" to push for taking forward the debate on Hong Kong’s constitutional reforms.[16] It was later announced that the group would consist of[17]:
On 23 September 2006, in a news conference, Chan proclaimed that she would not run for the position of Chief Executive in 2007.
On 11 September 2007, Chan announced that she would run in the December 2007 by-election for the Hong Kong Island seat made vacant by the death of Ma Lik.[18][19] During the campaign, she was criticized by Alex Tsui, a former ICAC official who accused Chan of obtaining a 100% mortgage to purchase a flat in 1993 when she was chief secretary, suggesting an abuse of power. A City University commentator said the issue marked the start of a smear campaign against Chan,[20] although Chan did not engage in smear-free politics either, accusing her rival Regina Ip of being a "fake democrat".
In the early hours of 2 December 2007, Chan was elected in the by-election with 175,874 votes, securing about 55% of the vote. Regina Ip, Chan's main rival, had 137,550 votes.[21]
For this election, Chan spent HK$1.81 million, $330,000 more than Ip. Her two main donors were Sir Quo-wei Lee and his wife, and Hong Kong Democratic Foundation chairman George Cautherly, who donated HK$250,000 each. Next Media chairman Jimmy Lai donated HK$200,000, and the Democratic Party gave HK$65,840 "for services".[22]
On 6 July 2008, Chan announced that she would not be seeking re-election to the Legislative Council at the expiry of her term.[23][24]
Among her seven siblings, twin sister Ninson ran a travel agency; one brother worked at the United Nations in Geneva. Another, David Fang Jin-sheng, was a former orthopaedics lecturer and head of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine; and another brother, John Fang Meng-sang, is a lawyer.[1] In 2006, John became embroiled in a controversy over the death of his former lover in mysterious circumstances in a flat owned by him in 1995. A coroner's inquest unanimously ruled her death accidental or by misadventure.[25]
She was married to Archibald ("Archie") Chan Tai-wing from 1963 until his death in 2010. Six years her senior, he was a director of Caltex Oil and taught science at St. Joseph's College, his alma mater. He was also in the Hong Kong Auxiliary Police from 1987 to 1996, when he retired as a commandant.[26]
The couple had two children, son Andrew Chan Hung-wai and daughter Michelle Chan Wai-ling, and four grandchildren.[1]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Piers Jacobs |
Secretary for Economic Services 1987–1993 |
Succeeded by Gordon Siu |
| Preceded by Edward Barrie Wiggham |
Secretary for the Civil Service 1993 |
Succeeded by Michael Sze |
| Preceded by Herself as Chief Secretary of Hong Kong |
Chief Secretary for Administration 1997–2001 |
Succeeded by Donald Tsang |
| Government offices | ||
| Unknown | Director of Social Welfare 1984–1987 |
Succeeded by Elizabeth Wong |
| Preceded by Sir David Robert Ford |
Chief Secretary of Hong Kong 1993–1997 |
Succeeded by Herself as Chief Secretary for Administration |
| Legislative Council of Hong Kong | ||
| Preceded by Ma Lik |
Member of Legislative Council Representative for Hong Kong Island constituency 2007–2008 Served alongside: Martin Lee, Yeung Sum, Choy So-yuk, Audrey Eu, Rita Fan |
Succeeded by Kam Nai-wai |
| Order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Wong Po-yan Recipient of the Grand Bauhinia Medal |
Hong Kong order of precedence Recipient of the Grand Bauhinia Medal |
Succeeded by Yang Ti-liang Recipient of the Grand Bauhinia Medal |
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