Editing Tung Chee-hwa (section)

==Early business and political career==
{{BLP sources section|date=February 2019}}
He joined his father's business upon his return to Hong Kong in 1969 and gradually took over the leadership of the family enterprise. He took over his family business in 1982 when his father died. However, in 1985, his company was heavily in debt and teetered on the edge of bankruptcy. [[Henry Fok]], a pro-Beijing businessman took initiative and helped Tung's family, with the support of the Beijing government.

Tung became close to the Communist authorities in Beijing afterward especially with [[Jiang Zemin]], former [[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party]], who had risen to power surrounded by his "[[Shanghai clique]]"; Tung could be associated with them because he was from the nearby city of [[Ningbo]], [[Zhejiang]] and had lived and worked in Shanghai for a while.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Bowring|first=Philip|date=1997-07-20|title=Tung Chee-hwa|url=https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/tungcheehwa|access-date=2021-02-11|website=Prospect Magazine|language=en-US|archive-date=7 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207062451/https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/magazine/tungcheehwa|url-status=live}}</ref>

Tung was a member of the [[Hong Kong Basic Law Consultative Committee|Basic Law Consultative Committee]] from 1985 to 1990, responsible for the drafting of the [[Basic Law of Hong Kong]]. In 1993, he was appointed to the [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]], the top advisory body of China.<ref name="independent"/> He also established close relationship with [[US President]] [[George H. W. Bush]] and [[US Assistant Secretary of State]] [[Winston Lord]].

Under the consensus between the British and Chinese government, Tung, until then remained a low profile in politics, was appointed to the [[Executive Council of Hong Kong]] by the last [[Governor of Hong Kong|British Governor]] [[Chris Patten]], the highest advisory body in the colonial government in 1992, before he left the office in 1996 and ran for the [[1996 Hong Kong Chief Executive election|first Chief Executive election]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Politics 97 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/hk/tung.shtml |access-date=2024-11-05 |website=www.bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

Before the election, he received a warm handshake from Jiang Zemin who crossed a crowded room to single out Tung, which was seen as a sign of him being regarded as Beijing's choice for the Chief Executive. Tung employed three "isms" in his election campaign, namely [[Confucianism]], [[elitism]] and [[nationalism]]. On 11 December 1996, he was elected by a 400-member [[Selection Committee (Hong Kong)|Selection Committee]], receiving 320 votes and beating former judge [[Yang Ti-liang]] and tycoon [[Peter Woo]], all three candidates were of [[Shanghainese people|Shanghainese]] descent. He was sworn in as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on the day of [[Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong|transfer of sovereignty]] on 1 July 1997.<ref>{{Cite web|title=HKSAR Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa Sworn In|url=http://www.china.org.cn/china/hk/2007-06/19/content_1213904.htm|access-date=2021-02-11|website=[[China Internet Information Center]]|archive-date=7 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210207181848/http://www.china.org.cn/china/hk/2007-06/19/content_1213904.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>