Avery Ng Man-yuen (; born 27 December 1976) is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He is the chairman of the

League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parlia ...

(LSD), a pro-democracy radical

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

party in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Early life and education

Ng was born in Hong Kong on 27 December 1976 and raised in

Sham Shui Po Sham Shui Po () is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui ...

, a poor neighbourhood in Hong Kong. His father, who once was a sailor, made his fortune by starting his own business. He migrated to

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

with his family when he was 13, studying at the

Auckland Grammar School Auckland Grammar School (often simplified to Auckland Grammar, or Grammar), established in 1869, is a State school, state, Day school, day and Boarding school, boarding secondary school for Single-sex education, boys in Auckland, New Zealand. ...

and the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

in Australia with double degrees of Mechanical Engineering and Actuarial Studies. He also studied for a Master of Business Administration at the

London Business School London Business School (LBS) is a business school and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LBS was founded in 1964 and awards post-graduate degrees (Master's degree, Master's degrees in management and finance, Master of B ...

in 2003, but returned to Australia as a strategy consultant before he finished the degree.

Return to Hong Kong

Ng returned to Hong Kong in 2008 during the 2008 Legislative Council election. Angered by the pro-Beijing dominance, Ng joined the pro-democracy radical

party, the

(LSD) in 2009. He has been active in social activism and protests since then and has been arrested and charged. In the 2012 Legislative Council election, he surrendered his Australian and New Zealand citizenships in order to run in the Hong Kong Island constituency. He received 3,169 votes, about one percent of the popular votes and was not elected. He had been vice-chairman of the LSD since 2010. In February 2016, he was elected the chairman of the LSD, succeeding legislator "Longhair"

Leung Kwok-hung Leung Kwok-hung ( zh, t=梁國雄; born 27 March 1956), also known by his nickname "Long Hair" (), is a Hong Kong politician and social activist. He was a member of the Legislative Council, representing the New Territories East. A Trotskyist ...

Criminal conviction

In May 2018, Ng was convicted and sentenced to four months in jail over three counts of revealing the identity of a government official. In 2016, he had disclosed to broadcaster

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service of Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...

and on social media that Betty Fung Ching Suk-yee, Permanent Secretary of the

Home Affairs Bureau The Home and Youth Affairs Bureau () is a policy bureau of the Hong Kong Government. The bureau has general responsibility over local administration, with a remit covering youth affairs, family planning, women's affairs, social development, f ...

was the subject of an investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption. He was released on bail after sentencing. In December 2019, a High Court judge severely criticized Ng for what she said were his "shameless" attempts at dragging out his appeal against the jail sentence. Ng received a further extension of bail for a month. On 18 April 2020, Ng was one of the 15 high-profile Hong Kong democracy figures arrested that day. According to the police statement, his arrest was based on suspicion of organizing, publicizing or taking part in several unauthorized assemblies between August and October 2019 during the anti-extradition bill protests. On 18 May 2021, Ng was remanded in custody by District Judge Amanda Woodcock, over his participation in an unauthorised assembly in 2019. Ng accused the judicial system of persecution and argued that the justice in Hong Kong had been "weaponized" to target pro-democracy figures. About the future of his

party, he said that they have inside cautious optimism but pointed out an "uncertain" future under the national security law and with its two vice chairmen (

and

Jimmy Sham Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit ( zh, t=岑子杰, j=sam4 zi2 git6; born 29 June 1987) is a Hong Kong pro-democracy and LGBT rights activist. He served as a convener for the pro-democracy organisation Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) until October 2020 and s ...

) awaiting trial for subversion. On 28 May 2021, Ng was sentenced to 14 months' imprisonment over the unauthorised assembly, remanding him in custody, after a suspended 2019 sentence was automatically activated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ng, Avery 1976 births Living people League of Social Democrats politicians Hong Kong emigrants to New Zealand University of Melbourne alumni People educated at Auckland Grammar School Hong Kong democracy activists Prisoners and detainees of Hong Kong Political prisoners held by Hong Kong