New | Protege praises late Basic Law drafter Xu Chongde as 'walking dictionary' of Hong Kong's mini-constitution
Top mainland officials and Hong Kong delegates bid farewell to Xu in Beijing
As top mainland officials waved a final farewell to late Basic Law drafter Xu Chongde on Friday morning, one of his former students lamented the death of the “final guardian of the Basic Law” has made the understanding of legislative intent of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution more difficult.
Priscilla Leung Mei-fun, a student of Xu between 1987 and 1990, mourned the death of the last of the four mainland academics dubbed “the guardians of the Basic Law”.
Top mainland officials and local Beijing-friendly political heavyweights gathered at Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing on Friday morning to bid a final farewell to Xu, who died on Monday aged 85.
National People’s Congress Law Committee chairman Qiao Xiaoyang; chairman of the Basic Law Committee Li Fei ; former and current directors of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, Liao Hui and Zhang Xiaoming were among senior Beijing officials who attended the funeral.
“He was a walking dictionary of the Basic Law,” said Leung, who studied Chinese law under Xu at Renmin University.
“A lot of details on the Basic Law’s legislative intent were not written down… Xu had good memory and was authoritative when it came to details of the drafting process,” Leung said. “He could give authoritative answers whenever I asked him anything about the Basic Law.”