Rosanna Wong

Dame Rosanna Wong
王䓪鳴
Member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Assumed office
March 2003
ChairmanJia Qinglin
Yu Zhengsheng
Wang Yang
Convenor of the Executive Council
In office
26 July 1995 – 30 June 1997
Preceded byLydia Dunn (as Senior Unofficial Member)
Succeeded byChung Sze-yuen
Chairperson of the Housing Authority
In office
1993 – 30 September 2000
Preceded byDavid Akers-Jones
Succeeded byCheng Hon-kwan
Unofficial Member of the Executive Council
In office
1 July 1997 – 25 June 2002
Appointed byTung Chee-hwa
In office
7 October 1992 – 30 June 1997
Appointed byChris Patten
In office
1 September 1988 – 31 October 1991
Appointed byDavid Wilson
Member of the Legislative Council
In office
30 October 1985 – 31 July 1991
Appointed byEdward Youde
David Wilson
Personal details
Born
Rosanna Wong Yick-ming

(1952-08-15) 15 August 1952 (age 72)
Hong Kong
Spouse
Alfred Tam Yat-chung
(m. 1979; div. 1992)
Children2
EducationSt. Stephen's Girls' College
Alma materUniversity of Hong Kong
OccupationSocial administrator, Legislative and Executive Councillor, Chairwoman of the Housing Authority and the Education Commission
Rosanna Wong
Traditional Chinese王䓪鳴
Transcriptions
Yue: Cantonese
Yale RomanizationWòhng Yihk-mìhng
JyutpingWong4 Yick6-ming4
"Wong Yick-ming" (reading from left to right as shown above) in Traditional Chinese.[1]

Dame Rosanna Wong Yick-ming DBE JP (Chinese: 王䓪鳴, born 15 August 1952) also known by her married name, Rosanna Tam Wong Yick-ming, in her former marriage from 1979 lasting until 1992, and primarily known as Dr Rosanna Wong in public occasions after 1997, is a Hong Kong social work administrator and politician who has served as the Executive Director of the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups since 1980.

Before the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, she was appointed as unofficial member of the Legislative Council from 1985 to 1991 and of the Executive Council from 1988 to 1991. She briefly retired from politics in 1991 but was successful to return as unofficial Executive Councillor for a second time in 1992, and was also appointed chairperson of the Hong Kong Housing Authority in the following year. Wong was trusted by the last British colonial Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten (later Lord), who chose her to replace Baroness Dunn as the Convenor of the Executive Council (equivalent to the Senior Unofficial Member of the Executive Council) in 1995, thus rising as an influential figure in the final years of the colonial government. In 1997, she was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire and became the second Chinese woman, after Baroness Dunn, to be made a Dame in history.

After the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, Wong was one of the two colonial unofficial members who remained in the new Executive Council under the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Nevertheless, when the Housing Authority Short-piling Scandal broke out in 1999, Wong, as the chairperson of the Housing Authority, was heavily blamed by the general public of not taking any responsibility. Under public pressure, she subsequently decided to resign from the Housing Authority four days before the Legislative Council passing the motion of no confidence on her and the Director of Housing, Tony Miller in June 2000. However, her resignation did not prevent her and some other government officials from receiving censure in the short-piling scandal investigation report released by the Legislative Council later in January 2003. Following the scandal, Wong ceased to be an unofficial member of the Executive Council in 2002 but was appointed chairperson of the Education Commission from 2001 to 2007. Since 2003, she has also been a Hong Kong member of the CPPCC National Committee of the People's Republic of China.

Besides, Wong plays a role in the business sector in Hong Kong. She has been a non-executive director of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation since 1996 and has also been an independent non-executive director of Sir Ka-shing Li's Cheung Kong Holdings since 2001.

  1. ^ The name Wong Yick-ming in Chinese was given by Wong's parents. The Chinese character "Yick" was created by Wong's parents and therefore not all computers can type in or display this character.