‘A man of duty’: Hong Kong political, legal heavyweights pay tribute to the late Ti-liang Yang, city’s first Chinese chief justice, at private event
- Chief Executive John Lee, former leaders Carrie Lam and Donald Tsang among those attending private memorial for Ti-liang Yang, who died earlier this year at age 93
- Anthony Neoh, former chair of Securities and Futures Commission, praises late judge as man of duty and one with strict moral compass
Hong Kong’s political and legal heavyweights gathered on Saturday for a private ceremony for the late Ti-liang Yang, the only ethnic Chinese chief justice during British colonial rule, as they paid tribute to him for his sense of duty and strict morals.
The ceremony for Yang, who died on June 24 at age 93, was held at St John’s Cathedral in Central and attended by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, former leaders Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, as well as political and legal elites.
Anthony Neoh, a former chair of the Securities and Futures Commission, speaking to the Post after the event, said: “If you were to summarise [Yang’s] life in a few words, it would be ‘I was asked; it was my duty’.”
The senior counsel also described the late judge as a mentor and remembered him as “strict in his moral rectitude” and guided by Chinese history and culture.
Hong Kong’s first Chinese chief justice, Ti-liang Yang, dies at age 93
Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung also attended the ceremony, along with Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok, education minister Christine Choi Yuk-lin and treasury chief Christopher Hui Ching-yu.
Yang’s family held a private funeral for him in July.
Yang was born in Shanghai in 1929, going on to obtain his law degree from the University College London in 1953 and becoming a magistrate in Hong Kong three years later.
He presided over the corruption trial of police officer Peter Fitzroy Godber in 1975, a watershed moment that lead to the founding of Hong Kong’s anti-graft body, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
Yang also served as chief justice from 1988 to 1996, a period when use of the Chinese language became increasingly common in District Court proceedings and some appeal hearings.
He resigned at the end of this period to stand in the race for the city’s first chief executive, initially enjoying strong support from pro-Beijing politicians and securing a ticket from the 400-member selection committee. He later lost out to Tung Chee-hwa by a wide margin of 42 to 320.
Yang was subsequently appointed to the Executive Council and served on the city’s key decision-mission body from 1997 to 2002.
“A lot of his life was lived as a person of moral rectitude and that is exactly what we need in a judge,” Neoh said on Saturday.
At the ceremony, Neoh also said Yang had two “lucky escapes” over the course of his career, as he was initially considered for the role of commissioner of the young ICAC during the colonial era and was also asked by the “powers that be” to run in the city’s first chief executive race.
“Those would have been tough jobs. But he bravely agreed because he was asked and felt it his duty to accept,” he said.
The former Securities and Futures Commission chair also paid tribute to Yang’s work outside the courtroom, including translating three classics texts from Qing dynasty, which ran from 1644 to 1911, and taught English and etiquette to youth.
Michael Wilkinson, who taught Hong Kong’s first chief justice, dies at 74
Neoh added that Yang had not wanted for his many titles and accolades to be included in the announcement for the ceremony and had favoured more modest proceedings.
“He merely wished us to remember him as a man of modest abilities who would always accept a public duty because he was asked and because it was his duty to serve,” he said.
The ceremony was also attended by Chinese University president Rocky Tuan Sung-chi and his University of Hong Kong counterpart Xiang Zhang.
