Christopher Chung Shu-kun, SBS, JP (; born 31 March 1957, commonly known as "Tree Gun") was elected to the

Legislative Council of Hong Kong The Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, colloquially known as LegCo, is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It sits under People's Republic of China, China's "one country, two systems" c ...

in 2012, representing the

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...

constituency. He is also former chairman of

Eastern District Council The Eastern District Council is the district council for the Eastern District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Eastern District Council currently consists of 35 members, of which the district is divided into three constituenc ...

, and a former councillor from 1991 to 2015, representing the Yue Wan constituency. He is a veteran member of the

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) is a Pro-Beijing camp (Hong Kong), pro-Beijing political party registered since 1992 in Hong Kong. Chaired by Gary Chan and holding 19 Legislative Council of Hong Kong ...

, the flagship pro-Beijing party in Hong Kong.Live coverage: Pan-democrats hold on to veto power in Legco
/ref> He was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star by the Hong Kong SAR Government in 2017.

Biography

Chung was born in Hong Kong in 1957. He was inspired by

Mao Zedong Thought Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China and later the People's Re ...

when he was young and joined the

pro-Beijing The pro-Beijing camp, pro-establishment camp or pro-China camp is a political alignment in Hong Kong which generally supports the policies of the Beijing central government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) towards Hong Kong. The term " ...

organisation Hok Yau Club in 1974, where he went on to become its president. During the 1980s when the colonial government introduced elections to the District Boards, he participated in the discussion in the club which decided not to participate. He first contested in the 1988 District Board elections, where he initially considered standing in

North Point North Point is a mixed-use urban area in the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern District of Hong Kong. Located in the northeastern part of Hong Kong Island, the area is named after a cape between Causeway Bay and Tsat Tsz Mui that projects ...

, but switched with Chan Yuen-han and ran in

Chai Wan Chai Wan (; ), formerly known as Sai Wan (西灣), lies at the east end of the urban area of Hong Kong Island next to Shau Kei Wan. The area is administratively part of the Eastern District, and is a mosaic of industrial and residential ar ...

, where he lost the

Reform Club The Reform Club is a private members' club, owned and controlled by its members, on the south side of Pall Mall, London, Pall Mall in central London, England. As with all of London's original gentlemen's clubs, it had an all-male membership for ...

Brook Bernacchi Brook Antony Bernacchi (; 22 January 1922 – 22 September 1996) was a lawyer and politician in Hong Kong. He was the long-time chairman of the Reform Club of Hong Kong, the then quasi-opposition party in the colony and the longest serving ele ...

and nonpartisan Wong Ming-kuen. In 1989, Chung represented the club to join the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China during the

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between t ...

in China but left after a half year. He was first elected to the Eastern District Board in 1991 through Chai Wan East. He joined the newly established

Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) is a pro-Beijing political party registered since 1992 in Hong Kong. Chaired by Gary Chan and holding 19 Legislative Council seats, it is currently the largest party ...

(DAB), the flagship pro-Beijing party in 1993. He went on to become the chairman of the party branch in Hong Kong Island East. He was also one of the last

Urban Council The Urban Council (UrbCo) was a municipal council in Hong Kong responsible for municipal services on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon (including New Kowloon). These services were provided by the council's executive arm, the Urban Services ...

lor elected in 1995 until the council was abolished in 2000. Since the 1998 Legislative Council election, he had been nominated in the DAB party list in

placing after party's big names such as Cheng Kai-nam,

Choy So-yuk Choy So-yuk, BBS, JP (, born 10 October 1950) is a Hong Kong politician. She was an elected member of Eastern District Council and a Hong Kong Deputy of the National People’s Congress. From 1997 to 2008 she was a member of the Legislative ...

Ma Lik Ma Lik, GBS, JP (; 23 February 1952 – 8 August 2007), was a Legislative Councillor, and was the Chairman of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB), a pro-Beijing political party in Hong Kong. Education Ma Lik attende ...

and

Tsang Yok-sing Jasper Tsang Yok-sing ( zh, t=曾鈺成; born 17 May 1947) is a Hong Kong politician. He is the founding member of the largest pro-Beijing party the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) from 1992 to 2003 and ...

. In 2000, after DAB legislator Cheng Kai-nam resigned soon right the 2000 Legislative Council election after he was suspected of corruption. The party nominated Chung as the candidate for the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

against barrister

Audrey Eu Audrey Eu Yuet-mee is a Hong Kong lawyer and politician who represented Hong Kong Island in the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 2000 to 2012. Eu was the founding leader of the Civic Party and was a member of the party's executive commit ...

who was supported by the

pro-democracy camp The pro-democracy camp, also known as the pan-democracy camp, is a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy, namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic La ...

. Chung received more than 78,000 votes, 37 percent of the total votes and was defeated by Eu. Chung was briefly chairman of the Eastern District Council in 2012. He was then nominated by the party to lead a candidate list in the 2012 Legislative Council election, while another DAB list was led by Legislative Council President Tsang Yok-sing. Both DAB lists successfully win a seat, while Chung's list received nearly 34,000 votes and took the fourth out of nine seats in Hong Kong Island. In 2013, Chung was accused of making racist comments in a LegCo debate, during which he described foreigners as "flawed by nature", that they "knew nothing about Hongkong" and therefore were not fit to manage the

West Kowloon Cultural District The West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD, ) is a large arts development in Hong Kong. Designed and planned by Foster and Partners, the district comprises with 17 venues. Major establishments include Xiqu Centre for Chinese opera, the Freespa ...

project.Lawmakers veto WKCD scrutiny
/ref> He is widely known by the nickname "Tree Gun", direct translation and transliteration of the two characters of his Chinese name, respectively. He was surprisingly defeated by Chui Chi-kin, an "umbrella soldier" inspired by the

2014 Hong Kong protests 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 ...

almost unknown to the public before he was elected in the 2015 District Council election with 2,017 votes against Chung's 1,829 votes in

Yue Wan Yue Wan (died 368) was a general and politician of Former Yan during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. He defended Fancheng (凡城, in modern Kazuo County, Liaoning) from Later Zhao in 339 and helped defeat Ran Min with Yao Xiang and Shi Zhi duri ...

, which ended his 25-year service as District Councillor. After having been listed by the party as a candidate for the 2016 Legislative Council election, he was dropped in May 2016 when the party decided to field only one candidate list in Hong Kong Island, to be led by

Horace Cheung Horace Cheung Kwok-kwan, Justice of Peace , JP (, born 30 June 1974) is a Hong Kong solicitor and politician and the former vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), the largest pro-Beijing ca ...

. He protested the party's decision and considered running as an independent.

Personal life

Chung worked in the information technology field after graduating from secondary school, in which he had worked at the

Chinese University of Hong Kong The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a public university, public research university in Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong Kong. Established in 1963 as a federation of three university college, collegesChung Chi College, New Asia Coll ...

and the

Hong Kong Jockey Club The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) was founded in 1884 and is one of the oldest institutions in Hong Kong. In 1960, it was granted a royal charter and renamed The Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club (). The institution reverted to its original name in 19 ...

until he became full-time district councillor in 1999. At the age of 47, he went back to school, studying master's degrees at the

Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University, informally GCU, Caledonian or Caley (), is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of The Queen's College, Glasgow (founded in 1875) and Glasgow Polytechnic (originally Glasg ...

and the

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

. He began his doctoral studies in

Business Administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

at the

London South Bank University London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

since 2011 but has stopped his study due to the 2012 election. His wife is a retired Chinese teacher and his daughter is an English teacher.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chung, Christopher 1957 births Living people Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong politicians Members of the Urban Council of Hong Kong District councillors of Eastern District Alumni of the University of Wales, Newport Alumni of Glasgow Caledonian University HK LegCo Members 2012–2016 Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 1998–2000 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2000–2005 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2007–2012 Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2012–2017 Recipients of the Silver Bauhinia Star Recipients of the Bronze Bauhinia Star