Christine Fong Explained

Christine Fong
Native Name Lang:zh-hk
Office:Member of the Sai Kung District Council
Constituency1:Appointed
Term Start1:1 January 2008
Term End1:31 December 2011
Constituency:Sai Kung and Hang Hau (since 2024)
Wan Po North (2015–2023)
Wan Po (until 2015)
Term Start:1 January 2012
Predecessor:New constituency
Birth Date:28 March 1966
Birth Place:Hong Kong
Nationality:Chinese
Alma Mater:University of Hawaiʻi
Occupation:District Councillor
Profession:Engineer

Christine Fong Kwok-shan (born 28 March 1966) is an engineer and politician in Hong Kong, as well as a former child actress. She is a current member of the Sai Kung District Council.

Early life and career

Fong was a child actress at Asia Television in the 1980s. Actor Bowie Wu is her godfather. She got famous from her role, Nezha, in the 1986 TV series The Boy Fighter from Heaven, and is nicknamed after the role. After she graduated from the University of Hawaiʻi with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration, she obtained the qualification of a building engineer and worked as secretary of Cheung Yan-lung, a powerful rural leader.

District councillor

She joined the Liberal Party in 2004 and served as the chairman of the New Territories East Branch until 2010 when she quit the Liberals and formed Professional Power. She was appointed to the Sai Kung District Council in 2008 and elected to the Council through the new Wan Po constituency in the 2011 election with high votes.

She has been outspoken against the government's plan of the extension of the Tseung Kwan O landfill which is located in her constituency. She also launched a 35-hour fast outside the Legislative Council building to protest against the landfill extensions in 2013.[1]

Fong was also involved in an assault case against Elizabeth Quat, a Legislative Councillor of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), when Fong and a group of protestors confronted Quat in a protest against the extension of the Tseung Kwan O landfill.[2] She was later found not guilty of the charge on 22 February 2016.[3]

In 2015 election, she was re-elected through the new Wan Po North constituency which was split from her original constituency after a boundary review. She clung on to her seat in 2019 District Council elections in Hong Kong by 170 votes, following a rout of pro-Beijing candidates amidst the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.[4]

Bids for Legislative Council

She ran for the 2012 Legislative Council election in New Territories East, receiving 24,594 votes, about 4,000 votes short for claiming a seat.

In the 2016 New Territories East by-election, she finished fourth place in the election by receiving 33,424 votes, around 8,000 more than the 2012 election.[5] [6]

Fong ran for the New Territories East multi-seat constituency again in the 2016 Hong Kong legislative election and came 10th, falling short of the lowest-ranking winner Leung Kwok-hung by about 1000 votes.

Political stance

Fong and Professional Power have been widely considered as a centrist political faction. They have competed directly with both the pro-Beijing camp and the pro-democracy camp. In the 2016 Hong Kong legislative election, it was reported that the Hong Kong Liaison Office tried to persuade pro-Beijing campaigners to "allocate" tactical votes to Fong without success.[7]

In 2019 Hong Kong local elections, many candidates of the Professional Power were not challenged by any parties or independent politicians from the pro-Beijing camp.[8] Prior to the polling day, there was a list widely circulated in LIHKG and Factcheck.io. The list claimed itself as a list of candidates endorsed by Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions. The list included six candidates from the Professional Power.[9] [10]

Notes and References

  1. News: Plea to residents as row grows on landfill. 25 June 2013. Hong Kong Standard. Winnie. Chong. 9 January 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20150910003535/http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4. 10 September 2015. dead.
  2. News: Court shown video in Quat assault hearing. 15 December 2015. Hong Kong Standard. Kenneth. Lau.
  3. News: Christine Fong cleared of assaulting lawmaker. 22 February 2016. The Standard.
  4. Web site: 2019 District Councils Election – Election Results (Sai Kung). Government of Hong Kong.
  5. Web site: 2016 Legislative Council Geographical Constituency New Territories By-election - Election Result. Electoral Affairs Commission. 29 February 2016.
  6. News: Opening shots fired as big rivals file for by-election. 6 January 2016. Hong Kong Standard. Kenneth. Lau.
  7. Web site: 選舉內幕:建制曾下令救方國珊 有人拒執行. 2019-11-19. on.cc東網. zh-hk.
  8. Web site: 【區選前瞻】西貢區山頭林立 「撞區」全因無大台?. 2019-11-19. 2019-10-30. 評論編輯室. 香港01. zh-HK.
  9. Web site: LIHKG. 2019-11-19. LIHKG 討論區.
  10. Web site: 區議會選舉候選人及區議員資料庫 - 選區事實處. 2019-11-19. hkfactcheck.io. en.