Rita Fan

The Honourable Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai GBM, GBS, CBE, JP
范徐麗泰
Deputy of Hong Kong to the NPC
In office 9th National People's Congress 10th National People's Congress 11th National People's Congress
Incumbent
Assumed office 8 December 1997
President of the Legislative Council
In office 25 January 1997 – 30 September 2008
Chief Executive	Tung Chee Hwa Sir Donald Tsang
Preceded by	Andrew Wong
Succeeded by	Jasper Tsang
Member of the Legislative Council
In office 26 September 1983 – 7 October 1992
Appointed by	Sir Edward Youde
Constituency	Appointed
In office 24 May 1998 – 12 September 2004
Constituency	Election Committee
In office 12 September 2004 – 7 September 2008
Succeeded by	Cyd Ho
Constituency	Hong Kong Island
Unofficial Member of the Executive Council
In office 1988–1992
Appointed by	Sir David Wilson

Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, GBM, GBS, CBE, JP (born 20 September 1945 in Shanghai, China) was the President of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo) after the transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom in 1997. She was the first woman to hold that position. She is a member of the Hong Kong delegation to the 11th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China.

Background

Rita Fan studied at St. Stephen's Girls' College from 1952 to 1964 and then at the University of Hong Kong, receiving a BSc in Chemistry and Physics in 1967 and a MSSc in Psychology in 1973.

Political career

• President of the Council since 1997 including the Second Legislative Council (2000–2004), First Legislative Council (1998–2000) and the Provisional Legislative Council (1997–1998)
• Hong Kong Deputy to the Tenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China
• Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Association for Celebration of Reunification of Hong Kong with China Charitable Trust Fund
• Supervising Adviser of the Hong Kong Federation of Women

Prior to the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), Fan was the Hong Kong Deputy to the Ninth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (1998–2003), Member of the Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1995–1997) and Member of the Preliminary Working Committee for the Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (1993–1995). Under British rule, she was a Member of the Executive Council (1989–1992) and a Member of the Legislative Council (1983–1992).

Public service

Fan served as Chairman of the Education Commission (1990–1992) and Chairman of the Board of Education (1986–1989).

Personal life

She was born in Shanghai to a business magnate, Hsu Ta Tung, and later married Stephen Fan Sheung-tak until his death from liver cancer in 2004. The couple had a son and a daughter. Their daughter suffered from renal failure in 1995, and Fan donated a kidney to save her daughter's life. Fan was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001 and underwent a mastectomy. She is Honorary President of the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation.

See also

• National People's Congress
• Legislative Council of Hong Kong
• Politics of Hong Kong
• List of graduates of University of Hong Kong

References

External links

• (Taiwanese Mandarin) 范徐麗泰網頁 (Webpage of Rita Fan)
• Citation for Honorary Doctor of Social Science