Percy Chen
Percy Chen | |
---|---|
Born | 1901 University College of London Middle Temple |
Occupation(s) | Barrister, journalist, businessman, political activist |
Other political affiliations | Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (6th) |
Parent(s) | Eugene Chen Agatha Alphosin Ganteaume |
Percy Chen (
Family and early life
Chen was born in
Chen was educated at
Chen was also a correspondent of the Ta Kung Pao, a pro-Communist newspaper, in Tianjin.[2] He became increasingly disappointed with the Kuomintang and grew sympathetic to the Chinese Communist Party.[1]
Chinese Reform Association
Chen moved to Hong Kong and established a private law practice in 1947.[1] He was a founding member of the Hong Kong Bar Association in 1948 and served as its first secretary.[3]
During that time he lived in a mansion at Kowloon Tong. His daughter was sent to study in Switzerland.[4] In 1949, he and some other pro-Communist intellectuals and professionals including Mok Ying-kwai and Wong San-yin founded the Hong Kong Chinese Reform Association (HKCRA) in response to the Young Plan proposed constitutional reform suggested by the then Governor Mark Aitchison Young.
The association demanded that all unofficial members of the proposed municipal council should be elected and the appointment system should be dropped.[5] In a meeting on 13 July 1949 attended by about 400 delegates from 142 registered Chinese civic organisations, the association and the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong and also two Kowloon-based commercial bodies culminated signatures of 142 organisations which presented membership of 141,800 people from the business, industry, labour and education sectors in the Chinese community.[6]
After the constitutional reform was turned down by Alexander Grantham and London in 1952, Percy Chen contested for the two resumed elected seats in the 1952 Urban Council election. He was the most energetic campaigner and was expected to win.[7] Chen declared "there is no other Colony where the system of Government is so archaic; where the system of nomination instead of election plays a bigger part in the selection of so-called representatives." He concluded that the "Democratic system of Government has not been developed in Hong Kong."[8] He urged voters to treat the 1952 Urban Council election as a referendum on reform and show London that 90 percent of those eligible cared enough to turn out on Election Day. Chen eventually lost to Brook Bernacchi and William Louey in the election.[7] He contested again in the 1953 Urban Council election but was still unable to win a seat.
He and Mok Ying-kwai also tried to bring the comfort mission from Canton to Hong Kong in support of the
Marco Polo Club
In 1956, Chen founded the Marco Polo Club, a dinner club with a select membership consisting of mainly foreign businessmen, journalists, trade representatives, and consular officers.
Chen was also a member of the Sino-British Club of Hong Kong and led a group to visit Guangdong in 1957.
Later life
Chen published an autobiography China Called Me: My Life Inside the Chinese Revolution in 1979. In his later life, he was made the member of the 6th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and was invited to witness the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in December 1984.[11] He died in 1989.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Loh, Christine (2010). Underground Front: The Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 88–89.
- ^ a b c d Rogers, J.A. (2011). World's Great Men of Color, Volume 1. Simon and Schuster.
- ^ South China Morning Post, 21 March 1948, p12
- ^ a b Bard, Solomon Matthew (2009). Light and Shade: Sketches from an Uncommon Life. Hong Kong University Press. p. 150.
- ^ a b Cheung, Gary Ka-wai (2009). Hong Kong's Watershed: The 1967 Riots. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 212–213.
- ^ Pepper, Suzanne (2008). Keeping Democracy at Bay: Hong Kong and the Challenge of Chinese Political Reform. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 98.
- ^ a b Pepper 2008, p. 100.
- ^ Kwarteng, Kwasi (2012). Ghosts of Empire: Britain's Legacies in the Modern World. PublicAffairs. p. 353.
- ^ Irwin, Lewis G. (2003). The Policy Analyst's Handbook: Rational Problem Solving in a Political World. M.E. Sharpe. p. 69.
- ^ "各界鬥委會委員名單". Ta Kung Po (in Chinese). 24 May 1967.
- ^ Loh, Christine (2010). Underground Front: The Chinese Communist Party in Hong Kong. Hong Kong University Press. p. 337.