The body of Henry Fok Ying-tung, a former senior member of China's top advisory body, was flown to Hong Kong from Beijing yesterday for a traditional Chinese funeral on Tuesday. Fok, 83, a vice-chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), died in a Beijing hospital on Saturday night after a long battle with cancer. After his father's coffin was transported to the Hong Kong Funeral Home, Fok's son, legislator Timothy Fok Tsun-ting, expressed gratitude to the central government and people who had offered help and shown concern for the family. 'The funeral should be held on November 7 and it will be conducted in a traditional Chinese way. A land burial will be held. I want to thank those who have shown their care,' he said. A chartered flight carrying Fok's coffin, draped with the national flag, landed at Chek Lap Kok at 1.15pm. The family and ministerial-level officials from the CPPCC were on the flight, which departed from Beijing at 10am. In the capital, a simple memorial service attended by state leaders was held at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Grandson Kenneth Fok Kai-kong, holding a portrait of the tycoon, stood with his father and family members as the coffin was carried to a hearse at the hospital. Acting Chief Secretary Michael Suen Ming-yeung, Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen, the director of the Chief Executive's Office, John Tsang Chun-wah, and the central government's liaison office director, Gao Siren , greeted Fok's flight in Hong Kong. Police officers in white uniforms escorted the coffin as it was moved from the plane to the hearse. Led by traffic police, the hearse arrived at the funeral home in North Point at 2.30pm. Mr Tang said: 'We lost a great entrepreneur, Henry Fok, last week. He represented true entrepreneurship and he is a good role model to young business leaders in Hong Kong ... During the years when China opened up, he showed how he used creativity to succeed as an entrepreneur ... This is the greatest loss to us.'
