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What moves Peter Woo

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When Peter Woo Kwong-ching was a keen teenage swimmer, he would hurl himself with enthusiasm into Victoria Harbour. With thousands of others of all ages and races, he would swim from Queen's Pier to Kowloon. The annual cross-harbour race was an exuberant social festival.

'I wouldn't like to try it now,' he says. 'The water is toxic. You could almost walk across.' The demise of the popular splash-in figures in two of the major concerns of the man who wants to be the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

He's worried about our environment and the impact dirty water, polluted air and rampant noise have on our lifestyle. And as chairman of the Hospital Authority, he has an abiding interest in communal health.

When he announced his candidacy for the Chief Executive's job last week, the usual questions were asked, echoing a magazine article a couple of years ago which queried: 'Who's Woo?' It's always been a good question. Details of his family life have been sketchy. He's a private person with a private life. The teetotaler (apart from a rare glass of wine) tycoon is not a hail-fellow-well-met clubman, although he is a Jockey Club racing steward.

His public image doesn't do him justice. In person, he's relaxed, easy-going with those he knows, with a good sense of humour and casual charm. But the stress for most of his adult life has been work, business and commerce. He's never been a star on the social scene; family is more important to him than flimflam.

Now he has plunged into the political waters, he feels the public has a right to know a little more about Woo the family man rather than businessman Woo.

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