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Olga Wong

The state funeral for the city’s first chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, is scheduled for next Sunday, the South China Morning Post has learned.
A source confirmed on Saturday that the service would take place on September 20, with details being arranged. State leaders and central government officials are expected to join the funeral committee, in line with previous practice.
The SCMP reported earlier that a state funeral would be accorded to Tung to honour his legacy as a deputy national-level leader and his contributions to the “one country, two systems” governing framework.
“Preparations were under way” and were being coordinated by the city government after Tung’s death on Tuesday at the age of 89, a separate source told SCMP previously.
The government’s Administration Wing said on Thursday that it would announce relevant arrangements in due course.
Since the 1997 handover, only two other local figures have been granted state funerals: industrialist Ann Tse-kai in 2000 and tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung in 2006. Both held the rank of vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a position that Tung also held.
Tung and Fok served as two of the eight pallbearers at Ann’s funeral after he died of heart complications at 88.
The other pallbearers at the time included both mainland Chinese and local officials, including Leung Chun-ying, who would later also serve as city leader, as well as the late entertainment tycoon Run Run Shaw and two of Ann’s longtime business partners.
The service started at 9.30am and lasted 100 minutes, with mourners standing in silent tribute.
A committee comprising 74 leading mainland and Hong Kong figures oversaw the funeral arrangements for Fok in 2006, when he died at age 83.
Headed by CPPCC vice-chairman Wang Zhongyu, the panel had four deputy directors: Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office director Liao Hui, head of the United Front Work Department Liu Yandong, Tung and chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen.
As Hong Kong’s first chief executive, Tung played a pivotal role in implementing the then-untested and novel “one country, two systems” model, under which the city would be administered after the end of British colonial rule in 1997.
After his death on Tuesday, Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong issued a statement describing Tung as a “close friend of the Communist Party of China”, an “outstanding contributor to ‘one country, two systems’” and a “renowned patriot”.
Despite facing major challenges during his tenure, including the first and ultimately unsuccessful attempt at passing national security legislation required under Article 23 of the Basic Law, Tung oversaw deeper economic integration between Hong Kong and the mainland.
The city and Beijing signed the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, giving Hong Kong preferential access to mainland markets, while the Individual Visit Scheme opened the door for more residents from over the border to travel independently to the city.
Both measures helped revive Hong Kong’s hobbled tourism sector and economy as it battled to recover from the Sars epidemic in 2003. They continue to be vital to the city’s economy more than two decades later.
After resigning as chief executive in March 2005, citing health reasons, Tung went on to assume a prominent role at the national level and increasingly came to be regarded as an elder statesman, serving as a CPPCC vice-chairman.


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State funeral for Hong Kong’s first chief executive Tung Chee-hwa set for September 20

Former city leader Tung Chee-hwa died on Tuesday at the age of 89. Photo: SCMP

Hong Kong’s first leader Tung Chee-hwa to be honoured with state funeral

Tung Chee-hwa poses for a portrait taken at the Office of Former Chief Executives in Mid-Levels in 2017. Photo: Antony Dickson

Tung Chee-hwa (right) leads the pallbearers carrying Henry Fok’s coffin during the property tycoon’s funeral in 2006. Photo: Handout 

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Former city leader Tung Chee-hwa attends the SCMP China Conference at Times Square on December 1, 2020. Photo: Edmond So

(From left) Luo Huining, then-director of the central government’s liaison office, former chief executive Leung Chun-ying, former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa and then-leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, at a forum titled “Chinese Communist Party and One Country Two Systems” in June 2021. Photo: Nora Tam

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Alibaba has mourned the death of former independent director Tung Chee-hwa, hailing his global perspective and contribution to the company’s development. Photo: Sam Tsang

Alibaba Group Holding co-founder and former executive chairman Jack Ma (right) embraces Tung Chee-hwa during a talk organised by Our Hong Kong Foundation at Taikoo Place in Hong Kong in 2015. Photo: Sam Tsang

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State leaders and central government officials expected to join funeral committee for Tung, source says


State leaders and central government officials expected to join funeral committee for Tung, source says.


China

Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)

Hong Kong politics

State funeral for Hong Kong’s first chief executive Tung Chee-hwa set for September 20

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}State leaders and central government officials expected to join funeral committee for Tung, source says

State leaders and central government officials expected to join funeral committee for Tung, source says