Dr. Cheng Hon-kwan, GBS,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, JP (; born 16 May 1927) is a Hong Kong engineer and politician. He was the member of the

Executive Council Executive Council may refer to: Government * Executive Council (Commonwealth countries), a constitutional organ that exercises executive power and advises the governor * Executive Council of Bern, the government of the Swiss canton of Bern * Ex ...

and

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 ...

in the 1980s and was chairman of the

Hong Kong Housing Authority The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) is the main provider of public housing in Hong Kong. It was established in April 1973 under the Housing Ordinance and is an agency of the Government of Hong Kong. In the same year, the Resettlement Depa ...

from 2000 to 2002.

Education and government career

Cheng was born in Hong Kong on 16 May 1927 and was educated in Beijing and Tianjin. He received Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from

Tianjin University Tianjin University (TJU, ), formerly Peiyang University (), is a national public research university in Tianjin, China. The university was established in 1895 by Guangxu Emperor's royal charter to be the first university of China. It is now fu ...

in 1948 and moved to Hong Kong. He joined the Hong Kong government as an assistant structural engineer to the architectural office of the

Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tan ...

in 1953. He subsequently studied abroad in England and graduated with the Diploma of Imperial College in Concrete Structures and Technology from the

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a ...

in 1964. He returned to Hong Kong and became the chief structural engineer of the Buildings Ordinance Office of the Public Works Department by 1965. He retired from the government in 1977 and started his own consultancy office, H. K. Cheng & Partners, Consulting Engineers.

Public career

He is the fellow of the

Hong Kong Institution of Engineers The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE, ) is a professional body of engineers in Hong Kong. It was founded in 1947 as the ''Engineering Society of Hong Kong'' and was incorporated by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong as ''The Hong Kong ...

Institution of Structural Engineers The Institution of Structural Engineers is a professional body for structural engineering based in the United Kingdom. The Institution has over 30,000 members operating in over 100 countries. The Institution provides professional accreditation ...

in the United Kingdom,

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

, and member of the Association of Consulting Engineers in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. In 1978–79, he was elected president of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers. In 2002. the Institution of Structural Engineers, United Kingdom awarded a Gold Medal to Dr. Cheng for his personal contribution in establishing structural engineering as a pre-eminent profession in Hong Kong. He had been appointed to many public positions, including member of Land and Building Advisory Committee, Appeal Tribunal (Buildings Ordinance), Committee of Review Panel (Buildings Ordinance), Engineering Advisory Committee of the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public university, public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest Higher education in Hong Kong, tertia ...

, board of directors of the Chinese YMCA and board of governors of the Hong Kong Bible Society. He became one of the first elected members of the

when the

indirect elections Indirect, the opposite of direct, may refer to: * Indirect approach, a battle strategy * Indirect DNA damage, caused by UV-photons * Indirect agonist or indirect-acting agonist, a substance that enhances the release or action of an endogenous neur ...

were introduced in 1985, in which he was elected to the council in 1985 and 1988 through the Engineering, Architectural, Surveying and Planning functional constituency elected by engineers architects, surveyors and urban planners. In 1988, he was appointed to the

Executive Council of Hong Kong The Executive Council of Hong Kong (ExCo) is the cabinet of the Government of Hong Kong, acting as a formal body of advisers to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong that serves as a core policy-making organ assisting the Chief Executive. It i ...

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Sir David Wilson until his retirement in 1991.

Recent career

He remained active in the public arena after 1997. In 1998, he was among the first recipients of the

Gold Bauhinia Star The Gold Bauhinia Star (, GBS) is the highest Bauhinia Star rank in the honours system of Hong Kong, created in 1997 to replace the British honours system of the Order of the British Empire after the transfer of sovereignty to People's Republic of ...

. He was appointed chairman of the

from 2000 to 2003. He was also chairman of the Council of the

City University of Hong Kong City University of Hong Kong (CityU) is a world-class public research university located in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and became a fully accredited university in 1994. Currently, CityU is ...

and the

Open University of Hong Kong Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU) is a university in Ho Man Tin, Hong Kong. Established as the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong by the Hong Kong government in 1989, HKMU now consists of five schools, namely the School of Arts and So ...

, as well as vice-chairman of the Council of the

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is a public research university in Clear Water Bay Peninsula, New Territories, Hong Kong. Founded in 1991 by the British Hong Kong Government, it was the territory's third institu ...

. He also serves on the Standing Committee of the Tianjin Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheng, Hon-kwan 1927 births Living people Chinese structural engineers Hong Kong civil servants Hong Kong civil engineers Hong Kong Methodists Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong Heads of universities in Hong Kong Tianjin University alumni Alumni of Imperial College London Recipients of the Gold Bauhinia Star Officers of the Order of the British Empire HK LegCo Members 1985–1988 HK LegCo Members 1988–1991 Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong