Liu Yiu-chu
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Dorothy Liu Yiu-chu (; 8 July 1934 – 30 March 1997) was a prominent Hong Kong
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 " ...
politician and lawyer. She was well known for her independent and outspoken image, as she was one of the few members of the pro-Beijing camp who was willing to stand up to Beijing.


Early career

A Hakka of Huiyang ancestry, Liu was born in Hong Kong on 8 July 1934. Her father, Dr. Liu Yan-tak was on good terms with senior officials of the People's Republic of China and took her to meetings with him. She was named Dorothy because the initial letter D is the fourth in the alphabet, and Dorothy was the fourth of the six children. She later dropped her English name to emphasize her Chineseness, but it was still commonly used in the local media and she was nicknamed Dotty, partly because it evoked her eccentric character. Liu 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 ...
in 1956 and went on to study English literature at
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
. At her father's prompting, she later obtained a second degree in Law at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. She returned to Hong Kong and began practising law in the 1960s and was senior partner of the Liu, Chan & Lam law firm. Liu declared her pro-Beijing convictions during the 1967 Leftist riots, although she disagreed with the terrorist tactics of the Leftists. Liu was taking a risk by expressing her pro-Beijing sympathies as the colonial government and most of the public were anti-Communists.


Politics

In the 1980s, Liu was invited to join the preparatory work for setting up the Hong Kong constitution after 1997 when it was handed over to Chinese rule. She was member of the
Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Basic Law Drafting Committee (BLDC) was formed in June 1985 for the drafts of the Hong Kong Basic Law for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) after 1997. It was formed as a working gro ...
in 1985 and was selected as Hong Kong deputy to the
National People's Congress The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest organ of state power of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The NPC is the only branch of government in China, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs from the Sta ...
(NPC) in 1982 which she served until her death in 1997. 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 ...
, Liu supported the Beijing government's decision to impose
martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...
in Beijing, but she condemned the bloody suppression on 4 June. In the annual NPC meeting early the following year, Liu attacked a decision to purge a senior Chinese deputy for his role in the unrest. In 1991, she called for a minute's silence for the victims of Tiananmen at the NPC meeting. It was considered rebellious in the hard-line political climate. Liu was trusted by the Beijing authorities with her genuine patriotism. She once told a local newspaper " en it's a question of conflict between Britain and China, I have made it clear I will, without reservation, always be on China's side." However, in her later years, she became increasingly critical of Beijing's policy on Hong Kong. "There will be fluctuating times: when the central government n Pekingmay be more dictatorial towards Hong Kong; may fail to allow us to have the high degree of autonomy promised to us," she warned in a newspaper interview published in December 1996. Liu was also critical of onetime supporters of the colonial administration who switched allegiance as the handover approached, who she called "old batteries". She also wept when seated next to a former top adviser to the British, Sir
Chung Sze-yuen Sir Sze-yuen Chung, (; 3 November 1917 – 14 November 2018), often known as Sir S.Y. Chung, was a Hong Kong politician and businessman who served as a Senior Member of the Executive and Legislative Councils during the 1970s and 1980s in ...
, at a committee meeting for making arrangements for the transition. However, her resentment was seen to be aimed as much at Beijing, for welcoming such people. Although she opposed the last
governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Chris Patten Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes (; born 12 May 1944), is a British politician who was the Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1992, and the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong from 1992 to 1997. He was made a lif ...
's political reform for the 1995 Legislative election, Liu also questioned the legitimacy of Beijing's decision to replace Hong Kong's 1995 elected legislature with an appointed
Provisional Legislative Council The Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) was the interim legislature of Hong Kong that operated from 1997 to 1998. The legislature was founded in Guangzhou and sat in Shenzhen from 1996 (with offices in Hong Kong), until the 1997 handover whe ...
. She warned there would be "lots of puppets" in the new government. She was left out of the
Preparatory Committee for the HKSAR The Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was a body established by the People's Republic of China government on 26 January 1996 for the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. Overview The Preparatory Committee was respon ...
as she became increasingly critical of Beijing. Liu developed
pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...
in 1996. She lapsed into a coma on 29 March 1997 and died at 2:50 a.m. in Queen Mary Hospital,
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 ...
on 31 March at the age of 62, just three months before the
handover of Hong Kong The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China was at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule in the former colony, which began in 1841. Hong Kong was established as a specia ...
. She married once and had one son. However, Liu asked for her ashes to be scattered in San Francisco where her son lives, as she said she did not want her remains to "take up land in China, which is precious to poor farmers". obituary Liu's brother, Benjamin Liu Tsz-ming, was a judge of the
Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...
. He died 16 October 2013. The Liu family are relatives of prominent Republican China strongman,
Liao Zhongkai Liao Zhongkai (April 23, 1877 – August 20, 1925) was a Chinese-American Kuomintang leader and financier. He was the principal architect of the first Kuomintang–Chinese Communist Party (KMT–CCP) United Front in the 1920s. He was assassin ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Dorothy 1934 births 1997 deaths Hong Kong solicitors Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee members Delegates to the 7th National People's Congress Delegates to the 8th National People's Congress Alumni of the University of Hong Kong Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford Deaths from pancreatic cancer Hong Kong Affairs Advisors Hong Kong women lawyers Hong Kong people of Hakka descent People from Huiyang Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong Harvard Law School alumni 20th-century women lawyers