Lee Cheuk-yan (; born 12 February 1957 in Shanghai) is a

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 ...

politician and social activist. He was a member of 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 ...

from 1995 to 2016, when he lost his seat. He represented the Kowloon West and the

Manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

constituencies briefly in 1995 and had been representing the

New Territories West New Territories West (NTW) is the western part of Hong Kong's New Territories, covering Yuen Long District, Yuen Long, Tuen Mun District, Tuen Mun, Tsuen Wan District, Tsuen Wan, Kwai Tsing District, Kwai Tsing and the Islands District. History ...

constituency from 1998 to 2016. He is a former trade union leader, former General Secretary of the

Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions Hong may refer to: Places *Høng, a town in Denmark *Hong Kong, a city and a special administrative region in China *Hong, Nigeria *Hong River in China and Vietnam *Lake Hong in China Surnames *Hong (Chinese surname) *Hong (Korean surname) O ...

, as well as former chairman of the

Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China ( zh, link=no, t=香港市民支援愛國民主運動聯合會; abbr. ; ) was a pro-democracy organisation that was established on 21 May 1989 in the then British Hon ...

. He has been jailed since April 2021 for his role in the Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protests, having been sentenced for organizing two unauthorized assemblies; for an alleged offence of subversion of the state, no trial date has been set .

Background

Lee's ancestral home is Chaoyang, Guangdong. Lee emigrated from

Mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

to Hong Kong in 1959. He graduated from the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) is a public research university in Pokfulam, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese by the London Missionary Society and formally established as the University of ...

with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in civil engineering in 1978. His labour activism began with his first job after graduation, when he came in contact with workers with occupational injuries and diseases. During the student-led

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 ...

, he collected donations from the Concert for Democracy in China in Hong Kong and travelled to Beijing to hand over the funds to student protesters in

Tiananmen Square Tiananmen Square or Tian'anmen Square () is a city square in the city center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen ("''Gate of Heavenly Peace''") located to its north, which separates it from the Forbidden City. The square contains th ...

. He was detained by the authorities there and made to sign a confession letter before being allowed to return to Hong Kong. Since the events of 1989, Lee has remained a standing committee member of the

which promotes democratic reform in China.

Legislative Councillor

In 1995, Lee was elected unopposed in a by-election of the

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

, replacing Lau Chin-shek, who had resigned. He was re-elected four times, continuously serving as a lawmaker, except for a brief period during 1997 and 1998, when the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to the People's Republic of China, and the Legislative Council temporarily became a Provisional Legislative Council, composed of Beijing nominees. He received an unexpected loss in the 2016 Legislative Council election, departing the legislature after more than 20 years of service.

Labour Party

In December 2011, he and three other Legislative Councillors Fernando Cheung, Cyd Ho and Cheung Kwok-che co-founded the Labour Party, which became the third largest pan-democratic party in the legislature. He served as chairman until December 2015 when he stepped down to give way to the younger party members and took the vice-chairmanship.

Family

He is married to Elizabeth Tang, who in 2005 was the chairperson of the Hong Kong People's Alliance on WTO, and who is the general secretary of the International Domestic Workers Federation. They have one daughter.

Arrests

On 28 February 2020, Lee was arrested for his involvement in a pro-democracy march on 31 August 2019, which was part of the protests sparked by the extradition bill and had been classified by police as illegal assembly. A few hours later, he was released on bail, as were the other arrestees

Jimmy Lai Lai Chee-ying ( zh, t=黎智英; born 8 December 1947), also known as Jimmy Lai, is a Hong Kong businessman and politician. He founded Giordano (clothing), Giordano, an Asian clothing retailer, Next Digital (formerly Next Media), a Hong Kon ...

and Yeung Sum. The cases were scheduled to be heard at Eastern Law Court on 5 May 2020. On 18 April 2020, Lee was one of the 15 Hong Kong high-profile democracy figures arrested on suspicion of organizing, publicizing or taking part in several unauthorized assemblies between August and October 2019 during the anti-extradition bill protests. On 1 April 2021, Lee, along with six other pro-democracy advocates, was found guilty of organizing an unauthorised rally on 18 August 2019. On 16 April, Lee was sentenced to 14 months in jail for his role in this and another August 2019 rally.

References

External links

Hong Kong Legislative Council's website on Hon Lee Cheuk-yan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Cheuk-yan 1957 births Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Alumni of St. John's College, University of Hong Kong Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions Living people Hong Kong social democrats Hong Kong trade unionists Hong Kong Christians Hong Kong democracy activists Charter 08 signatories The Frontier (Hong Kong) politicians Labour Party (Hong Kong) politicians Politicians from Shanghai HK LegCo Members 1991–1995 HK LegCo Members 1995–1997 HK LegCo Members 1998–2000 HK LegCo Members 2000–2004 HK LegCo Members 2004–2008 HK LegCo Members 2008–2012 HK LegCo Members 2012–2016 Political prisoners held by Hong Kong