Hong Kong holds state funeral for first post-handover leader Tung Chee-hwa
Senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials attended the funeral for Tung Chee-hwa, who died aged 89 after shaping the city’s early post-colonial administration.
Hong Kong has held a state funeral for Tung Chee-hwa, its first chief executive after the 1997 handover from British to Chinese rule. Tung died aged 89 on 8 September.
Senior Chinese and Hong Kong officials attended the ceremony at Hong Kong Funeral Home in North Point, a day after a public vigil. The funeral was reportedly only the third state funeral granted by Hong Kong since the handover.
The 87-member funeral committee was chaired by Shi Taifeng, a senior Chinese official and vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Beijing’s top official for Hong Kong and Macau affairs, Xia Baolong, and current chief executive John Lee also attended, alongside former chief executives and business figures.
Lee and former chief executive Leung Chun-ying were among the pallbearers who carried Tung’s coffin, draped in China’s national flag, to a hearse bound for Cape Collinson Crematorium.
Selected by Beijing in 1996, Tung led Hong Kong through the Asian financial crisis, the 2003 SARS outbreak and mass protests over proposed national security legislation. He resigned in 2005 during his second term, officially citing poor health, and later served as a CPPCC vice-chairman until 2023.
Chinese state media praised Tung as a “renowned patriot”, while critics have pointed to governance difficulties and public discontent during his tenure. His political legacy remains contested.
