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Ng Kang-chung

Danny Mok

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s famously controversial daughter, Chai-yan, offered a glimpse into poor relations with her parents in her debut television appearance on Thursday night, saying they had been locked in disputes on “more than 100” occasions.
The 23-year-old law student came down hard on her parents in the full glare of the media for making “superficial judgments” of her friends.
She conceded being a “troublesome” child, but said she was “filial” deep down in her heart.
“There are many conflicts on the surface, but family is always family,” she told programme host Natalie Mitchell.
[My parents] care much about the superficial factors, like [my friends’] family backgrounds
LEUNG CHAI-YAN
The revelations emerged in the first episode of a pre-recorded, seven-part interview entitled I Am Leung Chai Yan, aired on Cable TV’s entertainment news programme, CEN.
Leung, back in town from her studies at London School of Economics and Political Science, has also granted a series of newspaper and magazine interviews in recent weeks.
In one of those interviews, she said she had suffered from depression before and was “pretty familiar with the insides of a London ambulance”.
Last week, she drew a media mob when she popped up in the audience at a Wan Chai fashion show, a month after disclosing that a modelling agency had approached her. According to speculation, she might be aiming to join local show business.
During the five-minute instalment on Thursday night, Leung, true to her rebellious image, was almost slumped in the chair, muttering in Cantonese mixed with English phrases as Mitchell tried to lead her to speak about the family of Hong Kong’s chief executive.
Asked if she could recall the most difficult time she had experienced with her parents, her response was swift: “There were more than 100 times.
“They judge my friends. I would get very angry. [They] care much about the superficial factors, like how [my friends] do academically, their family backgrounds, how they do in exams, if they are going to enter Oxford or Cambridge [University] … what their parents do.
“I understand they want to protect me. But I apparently do not look at these things. I don’t care what [subject] you have failed … so long as you are a good friend and a good person.”
Despite the squabbles, she said, she was a filial child.
“To my parents, I am headstrong and troublesome. Probably [it is the] generation gap. I went to study in Britain when I was 12 or 13. I may be more open-minded. My family are more Chinese, more traditional. My father and my mother are rather strict.”
Early last year, Leung caused a firestorm online after questioning whether a brutal assault on former Ming Pao chief editor Kevin Lau Chun-to was related to press freedom.
In another Facebook posting, she bragged that she “used taxpayers’ money” to fund her expensive bags and shoes.
The comments were made at the height of Occupy Central protests that brought thousands of protesters onto the streets to protest against social inequality and other issues.
Then in June, she posted more pictures showing cuts to her wrist and asked: “Will I bleed to death?”
The media had a field day again covering that posting, and the chief executive and his wife flew to London. The three released a picture of themselves in Hyde Park, which the daughter later said on Facebook was a poor public relations stunt.
Her father might have stayed quiet following the saga, but his wife, Regina, had a harder time containing herself after Chinese University academic Ivan Choy Chi-keung blasted the family, saying “even a vicious tiger will not eat its cubs”.
Mrs Leung accused Choy of being “shallow, ignorant, cold-blooded and unfeeling”.
Chai-yan later told East Week magazine that it was the first time she had ever hurt herself and she was at “the lowest point” in her life and only wanted “to do something to attract my parents’ attention”.


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Leung Chun-ying (CY Leung)

CY Leung’s daughter Chai-yan admits to ‘100 disputes’ with parents in debut TV interview

The 23-year-old law student came down hard on her parents. Photo: SCMP Pictures

CY Leung’s daughter Chai-yan ‘lays her heart bare’ in first television interview

Leung Chai-yan has made headlines over the past year. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Chai-yan gave her first television interview to Cable TV show CEN. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Natalie Mitchell interviews Leung Chai-yan. Photo: SCMP Pictures

News

Hong Kong

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying’s famously controversial daughter, Chai-yan, offered a glimpse into poor relations with her parents in her debut television appearance on Thursday night.


Celebrity children