Heung Yee Kuk

Heung Yee Kuk
鄉議局
Emblem of the Heung Yee Kuk

Heung Yee Kuk Building in Shek Mun.
Agency overview
Formed1926; 98 years ago (1926)
Headquarters30 On Muk Street, Shek Mun, Sha Tin, NT
Agency executives
Websitehyknt.org
Heung Yee Kuk
Traditional Chinese鄉議局
Simplified Chinese乡议局
Literal meaningRural Council
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinXiāng Yìjú
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationHeung yi guhk
JyutpingHoeng1 ji3 guk6
Heung Yee Kuk N.T.
Traditional Chinese新界鄉議局
Simplified Chinese新界乡议局
Literal meaningRural Council of the New Territories
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinXīnjiè Xiāngyìjú
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingSan1 gaai3 Hoeng1 ji3 guk6

The Heung Yee Kuk, officially the Heung Yee Kuk N.T., is a statutory advisory body representing establishment interests in the New Territories, Hong Kong. The council is a powerful organisation comprising heads of rural committees which represent villages and market towns.

From 1980 to 2015, it was chaired by Lau Wong-fat, a billionaire landowner and heavyweight political figure in the pro-Beijing camp,[1] until he stepped down and was succeeded by his son Kenneth Lau.[2]

The organisation has its own functional constituency seat in the Hong Kong Legislative Council. Despite having less than 150 registered voters,[3] it also controls 26 seats on the 1200-member committee which selects the chief executive of Hong Kong.[4]

  1. ^ Bridge Builder Archived 28 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Christine Loh, Civic Exchange
  2. ^ Ng, Kang-chung (1 June 2015). "Heung Yee Kuk chairman steps into father's shoes saying he'll seek his advice". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
  3. ^ "Now is the best chance to reform the Heung Yee Kuk|Alex Price". Apple Daily 蘋果日報 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Archived from the original on 31 March 2021. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
  4. ^ "The Heung Yee Kuk: how a village governing body became an empire of rural leaders". South China Morning Post. 13 September 2016.