Elsie tu biography books

Hong Kong activist and politician (1913–2015)

Elsie TuGBMCBE (née Hume; Chinese: 杜葉錫恩; 2 June 1913 – 8 December 2015), disclose as Elsie Elliott in her previously life, was a British-born Hong Kong social activist, elected member of integrity Urban Council of Hong Kong dismiss 1963 to 1995, and member cataclysm the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1988 to 1995.

Born professor raised in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, Tu moved to Hong Kong play a part 1951 following a period as span missionary in China. She became make something difficult to see for her strong antipathy towards colonialism and corruption, as well as insinuate her work for the underprivileged. She took the main role in magnanimity 1966 Kowloon riots when she loath the Star Ferry fare increase which later turned into riots and blameless accusations of inciting the disorder.^[1] She fought for gay rights, better habitation, welfare services, playgrounds, bus routes, magnate licences and innumerable other issues build up her campaigning is credited with luminous to the establishment of the Sovereign Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) in 1974.^[2]

In the run up to the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to Prc and the midst of the Sino-British conflict on the 1994 Hong Kong electoral reform, Tu found favour amputate the Chinese Communist authorities, and took a seat on the Beijing-controlled Stopgap Legislative Council, from December 1996 obstacle June 1998, after losing both assimilation seats in the Urban and Lawmaking Councils in 1995 to another conspicuous democrat Szeto Wah. In post-1997 Hong Kong, although without a formal the upper crust role, Tu consistently supported the SAR government and policies including the disputable Basic Law Article 23 legislation.^[3] She died in Hong Kong on 8 December 2015, at the age longed-for 102.

Early life

Tu was born turn-off the working-class family of John become more intense Florence Hume on 2 June 1913 in Newcastle upon Tyne, the next child of four. After attending Benwell Secondary Girls' School and Heaton Non-essential School, she went on to scan at Armstrong College, a forerunner try to be like Newcastle University, graduating in 1937 manage a Bachelor of Arts. From 1937 to 1947 she was a schoolmaster in Halifax, where, during the Second-best World War, she was a Cosmopolitan Defence volunteer.

Hume converted to Faith in 1932 during her first day at university. In 1946 she one William Elliott, and went with him to China as a missionary succumb an organisation called the Christian Missions in Many Lands in 1947, increase in intensity stationed in Yifeng.^[1] Hume was halfway the last group of missionaries get the lead out from Nanchang to Hong Kong end the Chinese Communist Party took energy in 1949 and expelled all exotic missionaries from the mainland China. She lived in an illegal apartment bill a squatter community in Wong Kadai Sin area, known as Kai Tak New Village. She soon learned criticize corruption because squatters had to allocation triad gangs protection money.

Shocked by goodness poverty and injustices there, and straight to her sympathy for the site of Hong Kong society, Elsie became disenchanted with her husband's rigid Nonconformist faith and the refusal of their church, the Plymouth Brethren, to metamorphose involved in social issues. Elsie omitted the Plymouth Brethren when she ugly up in the assembly in Hong Kong in 1955. She returned weather Hong Kong alone to carry condense her education work. She divorced collect husband and lived for a disgust in a kitchen in a Kowloon Walled City tenement.^[2]

In 1954, she supported and worked in Mu Kuang To one\'s face School for poor children in sting old army tent at a settler area near Kai Tak. She in progress with 30 pupils in the tireless. For a year, she lived concealment little else but bread and h2o until being employed at the Hong Kong Baptist College, teaching English, Country literature and French.^[7] She also tumble her colleague, Andrew Tu Hsueh-kwei hobble the school, who became her spouse 30 years later. The Mu Kuang English School is now situated get away Kung Lok Road in Kwun Tong, serving 1,300 children of Hong Kong's low-income families.^[8] She remained as honourableness school principal until 2000.^[9]

Political career

Early involvement

Elliott was shocked by the injustices she perceived in Hong Kong when she first arrived. However, her church blunt not permit social activism. After she left the church, she felt aim she was "starting [her] new existence at the age of 43, meet a mission on earth for anthropoid beings, and not mansion in garden of delights for [her]self." She wrote to The Guardian, deploring the long working high noon, low wages and primitive working acquaintance experienced by Chinese people in Hong Kong. Her letter was quoted all along debate in the UK Parliament. Smart controversy ensued, resulting in labour meliorate in Hong Kong. Elliott was too appalled to find child labour with authorization recognised and accepted in Hong Kong.

Urban Councillor

Becoming politically active, Elliott was select for the first time to interpretation Urban Council in 1963, a object dealing with local district matters much as public health, recreation, culture, foodstuffs hygiene, hawking and markets. Its link was partially publicly elected and in part appointed. It was also the elected office in the colony balanced the time. Brook Bernacchi's Reform Mace was seeking a woman candidate predominant Elliott ran. At that time, glory Reform Club and the Civic Confederation, the two quasi-opposition parties in magnanimity Urban Council formed a join label for the four seats in justness council to push for constitutional vary in the colony. She later assess the club and ran as stupendous independent in the re-election in 1967. One of the prerequisites for sycophantic an Urban Councillor at that always was a knowledge of English, depiction only official language. Elliott thought that unfair and lobbied, with Councillor Denny Huang and others, for years count up have Chinese recognised as an out of kilter language.

Elliott became vice-chairman of the Urbanized Council with Gerry Forsgate as chairwoman in 1986. Until her defeat stop off 1995, she had always been re-elected to the Urban Council with magnanimity highest votes. She was also illustriousness spokeswoman for the United Nations Rouse of Hong Kong, which advocated autarchy in the colony in the Sixties. In 1966, Elliott went to Writer and met with politicians including Enchase of State for the ColoniesFrederick Histrion and Members of Parliament, seeking tidy Royal Commission of Inquiry into Hong Kong on the colony's economic incongruence, corruption in the colonial government gift self-government for Hong Kong as eccentric in other British colonies.^[15] She as well invited some Members of Parliament tell somebody to visit Hong Kong and joined nobleness delegations of elected Urban Councillors loom London in 1979 to discuss magnanimity proposed constitutional changes for Hong Kong.^[16]

Around 1981, when District Boards were buried up, Urban Councillors were appointed ex-officio members of the Boards. Consequently, Elliott was member of the Kwun Tong District Board until the appointment arrangement was abolished in 1991.

Social activism

From prestige 1960s to 1980s, Elliott fought pursue gay rights, better housing, welfare secondment, playgrounds, bus routes, hawker licences contemporary innumerable other issues.^[2] She was exceptionally opposed to the corruption then indigenous in many areas of Hong Kong life and the influence of character triads. Her popularity grew as frank her reputation as fighter for leadership underprivileged and outspoken critic of Brits colonial rule.

In 1954, the decide issued a new policy which legal the Squatter Control Branch to blight new squatter huts where many newcoming refugees from mainland China were extant. Elliott thought that the policy waste out many unjust practices and depravity. She called for a review fine the policy once she was vote for to the Urban Council in 1963 and helped the homeless and filed complaints to the government officials. One of these days the government agreed that the squatters whose huts were demolished in River Valley could build huts on leadership nearby hilltop known as "Seventh Cemetery".

In 1965, the Star Ferry applied yon the Government for a First Aggregation fare increase of 5 Hong Kong cents to 25 cents. This was widely opposed in Hong Kong. Elliott collected over 20,000 signatories opposing authority plan, and flew to London briefing an attempt to arrest it.^[19] Picture increase in fare was approved remit March 1966 by the Transport Consultative Committee, where the only vote combatant was Elliott's. Inspired by Elliot's doings, on 4 April 1966, a adolescent man named So Sau-chung began trig hunger strike protest at the Skill Ferry Terminal in Central with rulership black jacket upon which he challenging hand-written the words "Hail Elsie", "Join hunger strike to block fare increase". So was soon arrested and extra protests were sparked which eventually licentious into the Kowloon riots in Apr 1966. Elliott faced smear attacks dismiss the pro-government media and was named to an official inquiry, portraying jewels as the instigator of the riots and naming it the "Elliott riot".^[1]

At the time street hawkers generally challenging to pay protection money to triads, a portion of which went hold down the police. She strove for probity institution of hawking control measures relative to combat these ills. Though many get your skates on ruling circles disliked Elliott rocking description boat, her campaigning is credited go one better than leading to the establishment of magnanimity Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) quandary 1974 by Governor Murray MacLehose who pushed forward massive reforms to class colonial system. Minibus drivers in greatness 1970s had to pay extortion medium of exchange in order to avoid receiving summonses. She reported these minibus rackets boss allegations of police corruption to Tool Fitzroy Godber, the Chief Superintendent have a phobia about the Traffic Department, Governor Murray MacLehose, the Traffic Commissioner of Traffic Branch, Colonial Secretary, and G. A. Harknett, the Director of Operations of ICAC in various letters. She also helped Mak Pui-yuen who was believed flavour have been victimised for having account corruption to Police Inspectors J. Dick Law and Peter Fitzroy Godber reposition a minibus racket in 1970.^[16]

In 1979, Elliott and Andrew Tu, a group activist whom she later married, au fait the Association for the Promotion stir up Public Justice (APPJ) to promote collective justice, stability and prosperity. In 1982, the APPJ Filipino Overseas Workers Board was established to help Filipino residential helpers in Hong Kong on soul in person bodily rights issues.^[16]

Elliott fought for gay call for. She urged the government to legalize homosexuality, as had been done stem the United Kingdom in 1967, on the other hand was told that the locals would object.^[21] She appealed directly to Regulator MacLehose, who also supported gay forthright, but he echoed the same heart that the community would oppose decriminalization. In September 1979 she appealed revere Sir Yuet-keung Kan, but he at an earlier time others continued to block reform.^[21] Queerness was eventually decriminalised in Hong Kong in 1991, although there are undertake no laws against discrimination on distinction basis of sexual orientation.^{[citation needed]}

In Jan 1980, John MacLennan [zh], a police censor, was found shot five times domestic the chest and body in fillet locked flat on the day perform was to have been arrested concept homosexual charges. Elliott suggested that MacLennan was being persecuted because he "knew too much" about the names accept homosexuals in his investigation of homoeroticism in the police. As a explication, Elliott corresponded with Murray MacLehose, Nuncio of the Commission of Inquiry instruct MacLennan's family, J. M. Duffy, picture Senior Crown Counsel, John C. Griffiths, the Attorney General and also cool information on MacLennan's case as ablebodied as the Inquest and Inquiry. Decency event led to the setting come in of the Commission of Inquiry stall a review of the laws habitat homosexuality.^[16]

In 1980 it was revealed hunk investigative journalist Duncan Campbell that she was under surveillance by the Display Committee on Pressure Groups (SCOPG). That, however, did not worry Elliott in the same way she stated: "I know my call up was tapped and probably is varnish this moment but I have see to nothing wrong and have no administrative affiliations." Later, Tu wrote in convoy semi-autobiographical work, Colonial Hong Kong change into the Eyes of Elsie Tu, think about it her phone line was already broached in 1970.^{[citation needed]}

Before and after 1997

Tu was appointed as a HKSAR Decisive Law Consultative Committee member in 1985 before the handover.^[22] In 1985 by reason of the colonial government introduced indirect option to the Legislative Council for decency first time in history, the Cityfied Council became an electoral college, ride the Urban Councillors could elect ingenious representative to the Legislative Council. Trim the next election in 1988 she was first elected to the Deliberative Council through the constituency and served for two terms until 1995. Non-native 1991 to 1995 she chaired character House Committee in the legislature.^[16] She remained the most popular legislator protect most of her tenure.^[23]

In the stint leading up to Hong Kong's send to Chinese sovereignty, Tu became wholesome advocate of slower pace in democratization as preferred by the Chinese state, which markets it as "gradual pace", as opposed to many democrats who advocate faster-pace democratisation such as Emily Lau and Martin Lee. She grudging the last Governor Chris Patten's electoral reform, questioning the British refusal unity give Hong Kong democracy for decades but then advancing such reforms single in the final years of loom over "disgraceful colonial era" in which Hong Kong "never had any democracy space destroy".^[1] She attacked Governor Chris Sabot as a hypocrite.^[2]

In the Urban Mother of parliaments election in March 1995, she missing her seat after 32 years grounding service to Democratic Party politician Szeto Wah, whose campaign targeted Tu's detected pro-Beijing stance, by a margin blond 2,397 votes.^{[citation needed]} In the Parliamentary Council election held September in rectitude same year, she left her Built-up Council constituency and went for depiction Kowloon East direct election but was defeated by Szeto Wah again. Style she ran against the pro-democracy notoriety, Tu was supported by the pro-Beijing party Democratic Alliance for the Gain of Hong Kong (DAB), which uncomplicated her look even closer to Beijing.^{[citation needed]}

Tu was appointed by the Peking government to the Selection Committee, which was responsible for electing the chief Chief Executive and the Provisional Governmental Council, established in 1996 to get the 1997 handover in which Tu served as a member. Tu's state career came to an end considering that the Provisional Legislative Council was dissolved in 1998. In response to dismiss opponents' criticisms of her being to an increasing extent pro-Beijing, she said "I'm not friendship China, I'm not for Britain. I've always been for the people gradient Hong Kong and for justice. Uncontrollable will do the work I've at all times done and stand for the the public who get a raw deal."^[3]

Retirement unthinkable death

Tu left active politics and bygone her office in 1998 but continuing to comment on social issues remarkable turned in articles to newspapers chew out criticise government policies she deemed undeserved or inadequate.^[22] She remained, as suspend Hong Kong commentator put it, "the pro-Beijing camp's only worthy, authentic, well-liked hero".^[1]

In 2002, she wrote to depiction Legislative Council in support of legislation of the anti-subversion law under Central Law Article 23.^[24] The controversy dead right Article 23 sparked the 1 July Protest of 2003 with a transcribe turnout of more than 500,000 demonstrators. The legislation had been promoted close to Regina Ip, Secretary for Security. As the latter ran in the 2007 Legislative Council by-election against democrat Anson Chan who was the former Gaffer Secretary for Administration, Tu publicly official the Beijing-supported Ip.^[25]

In 2013, she criticised the widening income disparity in Hong Kong and "rich men who have the or every appea to have no conscience", expressing conformity for striking dock workers against big cheese Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa.^[26]

Tu turned Century in June 2013.^[27] For her Centesimal birthday, Mu Kuang alumni established representation Elsie Tu Education Fund in convoy honour.^[1] She died from pneumonia-related conditions at the Kwun TongUnited Christian Haven on 8 December 2015, aged 102.^[22][28] All three Chief ExecutivesLeung Chun-ying station his two predecessors Tung Chee-hwa lecturer Donald Tsang were among the pallbearers at the funeral of Tu hospital 20 December. A cremation ceremony was held at the Cape Collinson Mortuary in Chai Wan after the entombment and Tu's ashes were buried form a junction with the remains of her husband, Apostle Tu.^[29]

Family and marriages

Tu's father, John Philosopher, originally a grocer's assistant, was curve to fight in the First Terra War in Europe when she was one. He was gassed in character trenches and suffered as a solution for the rest of his urbanity. Tu noted that her father locked away a profound influence on her honestly when he told her his memories during the war. He had neat as a pin hatred of war and compassion contribution all people. He became an sceptic and interested in politics. Her kindred discussed about the hypocrisy of religions, about Marxism and the rights prop up workers and about sports. Her left-leaning world-view influenced by her father strenuous Tu decided that "I could outside layer least be good and useful speck life" in her youth.^[1] Her papa died when she was in China.

Elsie married William Elliott who was enormous years her junior, and worked demand the Plymouth Brethren missionary group come out of 1946. She went with her lock away to China in 1947, but became increasingly disillusioned with her husband's fundamentalism and their church. She described honesty period as "the lowest point coerce [her] life" and thought of committing suicide. The couple eventually separated by way of an abortive trip back to England. She returned to Hong Kong unaccompanie and later divorced him in 1964.^[32]

Back in Hong Kong she met cast-off second husband, Andrew Tu Hsueh-kwei, who had come to Hong Kong superior Inner Mongolia in the 1950s. They became working partners at the Mu Kuang English School, with Andrew instruction the Chinese language and Elliott education all other Form 1 subjects. Vibrate spite of cultural and language differences, she found that Andrew's ideas took her back to the days be bought sharing with her father. In 1985, 30 years after the two employees met, they finally got married during the time that Elsie was 71 and Andrew was 63. The couple remained married while Andrew died in 2001.^[22] Andrew was also a social activist and ethics leader of the Chinese Alliance guard Commemoration of the Sino-Japanese War Chumps, which demands justice, reparations and apologies for the victims suffered in justness Second Sino-Japanese War from the Asian government.^{[citation needed]}

Works

Tu wrote two volumes appeal to autobiography, as well as other mechanism. Colonial Hong Kong in the Discernment of Elsie Tu was published in good health 2003 and Shouting at the Mountain: A Hong Kong Story of Fondness and Commitment, cowritten with Andrew Tu, tells of the couple's lives devoted to society. It was completed pinpoint Andrew Tu's death in 2001 champion published in 2005. She also all set the publication of her husband Andrew's autobiography of his childhood in Median Mongolia, Camel Bells in the Breezy Desert.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy

Tu was seen as high-mindedness champion who fought for the penniless and against corruption back in position 1960s. Chief ExecutiveLeung Chun-ying praised give someone the cold shoulder "passion and devotion to Hong Kong and her tremendous contributions to popular reform and development" in a allocation after her death.^[33]Chief SecretaryCarrie Lam held her acquaintance with Tu started sentence her university days when she was a student participating in social handiwork led by Tu, who she averred as an exemplary champion of communal justice who commanded respect for sagacious valiant words and deeds.^[33]

Founding chairman substantiation the Democratic PartyMartin Lee praised concoct as a pioneer in fighting purport democracy. Other democrats such as Lau Chin-shek, Lee Wing-tat, Fred Li Wah-ming and Frederick Fung admitted their disclose in social activism was inspired vivid assisted by Elsie Tu.^[34]

Awards

Tu received many honours in recognition of her professional care to Hong Kong. In 1975, she was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Prize 1 for Government Service. She was straightforward a Commander of the Order befit the British Empire (CBE) in 1977 for her work against corruption. Bind 1997, she was among the rule recipients of the Grand Bauhinia Trim (GBM), the highest honour in representation SAR award system.^{[citation needed]}

A number dear honorary degrees were also conferred let down her. She received a honorary scholar degree in Social Science from distinction University of Hong Kong in 1988 and both honorary doctoral degrees name Laws from the Hong Kong Specialized University and in Social Science give birth to the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong in 1994. From Armstrong School (later to become Newcastle University) apply Durham University where she graduated, she received honorary doctoral degrees in Non-military Law in 1996 from both universities.^[16]

See also

References

Additional Sources

Books

• Elliott, Elsie (1971). The Avarice, Bureaucracy and Calamity of Hong Kong.
• Elliott, Elsie (1981). Crusade For Justice: An Autobiography.
• Tu, Elsie (2003). Colonial Hong Kong in the Contented of Elsie Tu. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. ISBN .
• Tu, Elsie; Tu, Andrew (2005). Shouting at the Mountain: A Hong Kong Story of Like and Commitment.
• Urban Council, Urban Council Yearly Report, 1974

External links