Tung Chee Hwa

Tung Chee Hwa (Traditional Chinese: 董建華; Simplified Chinese: 董建华; Cantonese {{IPA2|təʊŋ35 kɪn33 wɑ11}}; Jyutping: dung2 gin3 waa4; Mandarin Pinyin: Dǒng Jiànhuá) (born July 7, 1937, or the 29th day of the 5th month in the Chinese calendar in Shanghai, China) was the first elected Chief Executive (July 1,1997–March 12,2005) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). He took office on July 1, 1997 after the handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China and was elected again to a second five-year term in 2002.

First term

Tung formally took office on July 1, 1997, with a high initial popularity among the public. Nevertheless, a few months after, the regional economy deteriorated rapidly after the Asian financial crisis. With job losses and plummeting values in the stock and property markets, people started to lose faith in Tung and the HKSAR government. Some commentators attributed the plunge in the property market to his counter-indicated home-building initiative.

Related Topics:
Economy - Asian financial crisis

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During Tung's first term the government came up with a number of reform proposals and plenty of grand infrastructure projects were proposed, including a technology park, a science park, a Chinese medicine centre and a Disney theme park. But too often his administration was seen as bungling, particularly during the confusion of the first days of the new airport, the mis-handling of the avian flu epidemic, education reforms (including teaching in the "mother tongue" (Cantonese) and mandatory English examination for teachers), the Right of abode issue, and the disagreement of his political views with the popular then Chief Secretary, Anson Chan. Tung's popularity plummeted with the economy.

Related Topics:
Technology park - Disney theme park - Airport - Avian flu - Cantonese - Right of abode issue - Anson Chan

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