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I was brought up opposite Victoria Park in an old, five-storey building that’s no longer in existence. We lived on the top floor with another family.
My mother got married at a young age to my father, who came from a very poor family in Shanghai. He met her in Shanghai and brought her to Hong Kong.
When I was a kid, Hong Kong was the center. All you had to do was work hard and success would follow. Now it's part of China and the center seems to have moved. Things are much more complicated.
Life was like black-and-white television. There was only one thing to do and that was to study. The second thing was to study. The third thing was to study.
I’m always very conscious of duty.
I never learned to ride a bicycle. I never learned to swim.
There are regrets, so when I had kids I made sure they learned to swim and to ride bicycles and to play piano.
I never really had a keen sense of what I was going to do. It was just obeying my mother's wishes and not disappointing my teachers.
My mother was very strong. She clung to the concept that girls are just as good as boys, if not better. I think she had a sense of failed opportunity.
I couldn’t draw and my math wasn’t that good, so I couldn’t be an architect or an engineer. The only subject with a professional degree then was law. My mother said that was alright. It was better than going to do journalism in the States.
Virgos are perfectionists. I have that too.
In Hong Kong everybody seems so impatient. Life is a continuous stream of getting from one job to another, getting everything finished.
When I was in my 30s and 40s, I thought, “Yes, I’m getting things done.” But in my 50s, I am beginning to question: Why is the quality of life so poor in Hong Kong? Why are Hong Kong people unable to savor living?
I cry over all sorts of things. I’m a very sentimental person.
If you ask me whether I have any single event that makes me feel really devastated - well, I suppose I’ve been lucky in that respect.
My husband and I went out for seven years before we got married. Was it an electric feeling when I met him? The answer is no.
I teach my kids to look at things with a smile and meet challenges with confidence. You should always be kind and considerate to others, even to people you don’t like. You’ve got to find the good qualities in other people.
On September 11, 2000, I was told I should run in the Hong Kong Island election and I was shocked. It was something I never thought of. I was very happy being a barrister.
I was given a deadline for my answer. I did what I was taught in law, which is take out a single sheet of paper and list the pros and the cons. You don’t find many pros!
I wasn’t going to change myself. People say, “Audrey, you should be wearing your earrings or your rings or your diamond watches.” If people feel that I’m too overdressed or underdressed, then fine, don’t elect me, don’t trust me, don’t like me. That’s fine.
On non-political issues, where the government really does not have a stance, it’s easy to make a difference. On matters where the government already has a stance, it is absolutely impossible to change their minds.
Tamar is a good example. We’re not querying that you need expansion. All we’re saying is, does the whole thing have to be at Tamar? And if it does have to be, what’s going to happen to Government Hill?
One of the reasons we formed the Civic Party, apart from social justice and democracy, is that we want to foster a kind of citizenship and civic responsibility - not just civic rights.
It’s quite challenging. We argue a lot. Because Exco is largely made up of barristers and academics, we have different opinions.
Strength and weakness are two sides of the same coin. It’s a question of shade.
The greatest issues facing Hong Kong are poverty, the gap between the rich and the poor. The minimum wage is also a thorny issue.
I read books and learn from other people’s experiences. I underline whatever nice things they say and try to practice them.
Simple pleasures make me happy: being able to spend time with my family, feeling relaxed, being able to chat about frivolous things with my friends.


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Audrey Eu Yuet-mee

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Legco member and leader of the new Civic Party, Audrey Eu has also been a barrister, Queen’s Counsel and chairwoman of the Hong Kong Bar Association. Scott Murphy finds out what makes her tick.
