Why former Hong Kong lawmaker Emily Lau will never stop fighting for democracy

Held to ransom: My father’s first wife gave him 15 kids, but many did not survive long. After his first wife died, he married my mother and she had three children. I was the youngest. I was born in Hong Kong, in 1952. My parents had moved to Hong Kong from Guangzhou in 1948, the year before the Chinese Communist Party came to power. My father was a merchant and like many people in business, he was frightened of the communists – not only that they’d take away your wealth, but that they may also mistreat you.

My parents came to Hong Kong with my two brothers as well as my second half-brother, my sixth half-brother and my seventh half-sister. They were, of course, much older than I. My sixth half-brother had been in business with my father in Guangzhou. He was upset about leaving every­thing behind, so he went back to China, where he was arrested and held for ransom. They knew the family had fled to Hong Kong and said, “Send back all the money you have and we will let this man go.” So, my family surren­dered everything, he was released and we were paupers.

All in the family: My father died when I was four. Like many women at the time, my mum didn’t have much education. And she had no money. So she went to work as a live-in amah for a rich family in Mid-Levels. My brothers and I were split up and sent to live with relatives. Initially, I went to live with my sixth aunt in Yuen Long, who had six kids of her own. Mum had only one day off a month and it took her three hours to travel from Mid-Levels to Yuen Long to see me, then another three hours to go back.

Her boss told her about a new Maryknoll School, so she applied for me and I was accepted. I went to stay with my eighth aunt, my mum’s sister, in Wan Chai. A few years later, I moved to stay with my seventh half-sister in Kowloon – there was so little space that we slept in a four-deck bunk bed. When I reached secondary school, I went to To Kwa Wan to stay with my second half-sister. The relatives I stayed with were nice, but no one had much money. It was difficult times.

All through secondary school, I gave private tuition to make some money. Often I wouldn’t get home until 9pm or 10pm to have my dinner and do my home­work. I learned to be independent. Some of my class­mates were rich kids, some even came to school in a Rolls-Royce, but I never felt envious. I learned at a young age that some people are very rich and some of us are very poor, and that’s life.