'Naughty boy' James Tien has often taken a different line

Known as "naughty boy" in the pro-establishment camp, Liberal Party politician James Tien Pei-chun has a penchant for offering alternative views on things.

But for Beijing, his eyebrow-raising suggestion last week that Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying should consider resigning to resolve the impasse on political reform was the last straw.

Tien had been a member of China's top political advisory body - the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference - for more than a decade before his expulsion yesterday.

His remark against Leung should not have come as too much of a surprise, however; it is no secret in political circles that Tien does not like the chief executive, who defeated his friend and veteran Liberal Henry Tang Ying-yen in the 2012 chief executive election.

He had already made a similar suggestion in the legislature in July, asking Leung if he would consider resigning.

Tien was born in Shanghai in 1947. His family settled in Hong Kong in 1949. His father, Francis, a textile entrepreneur in the 1960s, was appointed to the Legislative Council in the 1970s, representing the garment and textiles sector.

The year 1983, when China and Britain started talks over Hong Kong's handover, marked a crucial point in Tien's life.