Pioneering Paulines

Lau Siu Kai graduated from sixth form at St. Paul’s College in 1968. A sociologist, Lau taught sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), once heading the university’s sociology department. He retired in 2007 and was most known for his work as vice-president of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies.

Lau’s interests lie in socio-political development. After attaining his doctorate from the University of Minnesota in 1975, Lau began teaching at the CUHK. Selected works include Society and Politics in Hong Kong (1982) and The Practice of ‘One Country, Two Systems’ Policy in Hong Kong (2017); common themes include governance and its connection with Hong Kong’s Chinese population.

Lau was appointed a Hong Kong Affairs Adviser to Beijing in 1993, prior to the handover, and has served city and country ever since: he headed Hong Kong’s Central Policy Unit from 2002 to 2012 and was a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (national committee, 2003–18). He was appointed JP in 1999 and awarded the GBS in 2012.

劉兆佳在一九六八年於聖保羅書院高六畢業，爲社會學家，曾長年於香港中文大學任敎，曾任社會學系主任，於二〇〇七年退休，曾爲全國港澳硏究會副會長。

劉氏硏究興趣主要圍繞社會及政治發展。在一九七五年由明尼蘇達大學考獲博士學位後返中大任敎，期間著作《Society and Politics in Hong Kong》（「香港社會與政治」，一九八二年英文初版），《一國兩制在香港的實踐》（二〇一五年中文初版），主題不離施政及在港華人兩者之關聯。

劉氏在一九九三年出任港事顧問，此後爲特區及中央政府輔政，包括由二〇〇二至一二年間任香港中央政策組首席顧問，在二〇〇三至一八年爲中國人民政治協商會議全國委員會委員。於一九九九年獲港府委太平紳士，在二〇一二年獲頒金紫荊星章。