Patriotism and Pomp: Hong Kong Bids Farewell to Its First Chief Executive

When Beijing stages a state funeral, the choreography leaves little room for ambiguity. The death of Tung Chee-hwa at the age of 89 offered the party apparatus another opportunity to demonstrate where ultimate authority lies. Draped in China’s national flag, the coffin of Hong Kong’s first post-colonial leader was borne to the hearse by current Chief Executive John Lee and former leader Leung Chun-ying, heading toward Cape Collinson Crematorium after a weekend of public mourning.

This marked only the third time since the 1997 handover from Britain that Hong Kong has granted such an honor. The political weight behind the ceremony was impossible to ignore. An 87-member funeral committee was chaired not by a local administrator, but by Shi Taifeng, a senior Chinese Communist Party Politburo member and vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Beijing’s top official for Hong Kong affairs, Xia Baolong, joined a lineup of past and present leaders—including Carrie Lam and Donald Tsang—to pay their respects at the Hong Kong Funeral Home in North Point.

For all the high-profile solemnity, Tung’s political career offers a clear lesson in the perils of appointing political novices to manage complex governance. A shipping tycoon with virtually no political experience, he was chosen in 1996 by a Beijing-appointed committee. His reward was leading Hong Kong through the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the 2003 SARS outbreak, and a disastrous attempt to push through national security legislation. That proposed security law provoked massive street protests, forcing Tung to shelve the measure in an embarrassing retreat.

Although re-elected unopposed in 2002, Tung did not finish his second term. He resigned in 2005, citing poor health—a conventional excuse for a leader who had lost Beijing's confidence after failing to stem public discontent. His exit was softened by a long stint as a vice chairman of China's top political advisory body until 2023, matching the political afterlife of previous state funeral recipients Ann Tse-kai and Henry Fok.

Official tributes predictably smoothed over those bumpy years. Chinese state media praised Tung as a renowned patriot, while his successor Donald Tsang remembered him as an easy-going, gentle and refined man with a broad-minded outlook and far-reaching vision. Critics, however, recall a tenure plagued by administrative stumbles and persistent dissatisfaction. Beijing may award state honors to those who serve its interests, but ceremonial red flags cannot erase a record defined by popular resistance.

Written by Sandy van Dongen sandy.vandongen@alpineweekly.com