Tsui Sze-man (, 3 July 1914 – 9 September 2007) was a pro-

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

loyalist and

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

based 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 ...

. He was nicknamed "Big Cannon Tsui" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial views. He was known as a staunch supporter of Beijing's policies in Hong Kong.

Early life

Tsui was born in 1914 in Burma (present day

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

). Despite his birth in Burma, Tsui spent the majority of his life either in mainland

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

or Hong Kong. Tsui attended school at

Xiamen University Xiamen University (XMU; ) is a public university in Siming, Xiamen, Siming, Xiamen, Fujian, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Pro ...

Fujian province Fujian is a province in southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefecture city by population is Qua ...

Career

Tsui returned to his birthplace, Burma, in the 1940s and founded the '' New Rangoon News''. He returned to

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

China in 1964. Tsui finally settled permanently in Hong Kong in 1977. Once in Hong Kong, Tsui began publishing '' The Mirror'', a pro-Beijing magazine which supported the policies of the mainland. Tsui was known for his controversial opinions. In 1998, he heavily criticized

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 ...

, a Hong Kong government run

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

, for being too critical of the Hong Kong and Chinese administrations. Tsui urged Hong Kong officials to censor RTHK. Tsui served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a Hong Kong committee which advises China's congress. Tsui died of organ failure on 9 September 2007 in Hong Kong at the age of 93. At Tsui's funeral,

Gao Siren Gao Siren (born March 1944 in Qingdao, Shandong) was the director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region The Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kon ...

, Beijing's liaison to Hong Kong praised Tsui for his support of Hong Kong's

Basic Law A basic law is either a codified constitution, or in countries with uncodified constitutions, a law designed to have the effect of a constitution. The term ''basic law'' is used in some places as an alternative to "constitution" and may be inte ...

and current "

one country, two systems "One country, two systems" is a constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China (PRC) describing the governance of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Deng Xiaoping developed the one country, two systems ...

" policy. Mourners included high level officials from China and Hong Kong's governments, including the

Chief Executive of Hong Kong The chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is the representative of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and head of the Government of Hong Kong. The position was created to replace the office of Governor of ...

Donald Tsang Sir Donald Tsang Yam-kuen (; born 7 October 1944) is a former Hong Kong civil servant who served as the second Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2005 to 2012. Tsang joined the colonial civil service as an Executive Officer in 1967, occupyi ...

, the director of China's Hong Kong and

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

affairs office, Liao Hui, and former Hong Kong leader,

Tung Chee-hwa Tung Chee-hwa (; born May 29, 1937) is a Hong Kong businessman and retired politician who served as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2005, upon the transfer of sovereignty on 1 July. He served as a vice chairman of th ...

. Wreaths and flowers were sent by

CPC Politburo Standing Committee The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) an ...

members

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the president of China from 2003 to 2013, and chairman of the Central Military Comm ...

Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao ( zh, s=温家宝, p=Wēn Jiābǎo; born 15 September 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the 6th premier of China from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behin ...

and

Wu Bangguo Wu Bangguo (22 July 1941 – 8 October 2024) was a Chinese politician who served as the second-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party from 2002 to 2012, and as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the ...

, the head of China's congress. Tsui was buried at Dapeng Bay in the city of

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

, China.

References

{{Authority control 1914 births 2007 deaths Burmese people of Chinese descent Xiamen University alumni Recipients of the Grand Bauhinia Medal Hong Kong businesspeople Politics of Hong Kong Deaths from multiple organ failure Place of birth missing Members of the Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Hong Kong Basic Law Consultative Committee members Hong Kong Affairs Advisors Members of the Selection Committee of Hong Kong