Yue-Chim Richard Wong

Early life and education Wong was born in Shanghai and grew up in Hong Kong, where he attended Tak Sun School and Wah Yan College, Kowloon. After graduating, Wong attended the University of Chicago, where he was president of the university's Chinese students' association. He graduated with AB and AM degrees in economics in 1974.

Academic career

Chinese University of Hong Kong Wong returned to Hong Kong in 1976 to teach at the Department of Economics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, initially as an Assistant Lecturer. He was subsequently promoted to Lecturer in 1981 after obtaining his PhD from the University of Chicago the same year. Wong actively participated in the founding of Shaw College, serving as a founding fellow and trustee of the College in the 1980s and 90s. Following his appointment as Senior Lecturer in 1987, Wong became a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University, and founded the Hong Kong Centre for Economic Research in 1988, where he remains Director.

University of Hong Kong In 1992, Wong joined the School of Economics and Finance (now part of the Faculty of Business and Economics) of the University of Hong Kong as a reader, subsequently becoming a full professor in 1995.

In 1997, he was appointed Director of the newly founded School of Business, a merger of the former Department of Management Studies and the old Business School.

Wong continued to serve as acting Dean until 2007 when he was appointed Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2004. He retired from the provostship in 2010 and was appointed Philip Wong Kennedy Wong Professor in Political Economy in 2011.

In 2015, Wong unsuccessfully sought to return to the HKU Council, the university's governing body, losing the election by 179 votes.

Wong took up the provostship for a second time in April 2019, when he was appointed on an interim basis to succeed interim Provost Paul Tam, who had unexpectedly resigned. At the time of his appointment, staff and students expressed concern over his "pro-government" and "pro-China" stance, which they feared would affect the university's ability to defend its autonomy and freedom of speech. He was viewed as an "ally" and "right-hand man" of university president Zhang Xiang during his tenure, and later was simultaneously appointed as acting Executive Vice President (Administration and Finance) in January 2024 to take up the duties of Professor Wei Pan, who had resigned before completing his term.

HKU Council controversy At a meeting of the HKU Council, HKU's governing body, on 28 May 2024, Council chairman Priscilla Wong bypassed President and Vice-Chancellor Zhang Xiang to reshuffle the university's senior management team, with Richard Wong moved to the lesser role of Vice President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Institutional Advancement). He was succeeded as Provost and Executive Vice President by Vivian Yam and Norman Tien respectively.

Following an intervention by John Lee, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and the ex-officio chancellor of the university, a government task force was set up to handle the conflict, with Wong subsequently restored to his previous role of Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor in September 2024.

Public service and politics Wong has served as a member of many public bodies, including the University Grants Committee, the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee, the Housing Authority, the Industry and Technology Development Council, the Central Policy Unit, the Chief Executive's Commission on Innovation and Technology and the Hospital Authority. In 2015, Wong became an advisor to Our Hong Kong Foundation, a pro-Beijing think tank set up by former Chief Executive Tung Chee-Hwa. Wong was a "vocal critic" of the 2014 Occupy Central protests. Silver Bauhinia Star for contributions to education, housing, industry and technology development (1999)

Publications

Fixing Inequality in Hong Kong, Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong, February 2017 Diversity and Occasional Anarchy: On Deep Economic and Social Contradictions in Hong Kong Hong Kong Land for Hong Kong People: Fixing the Failures of Our Housing Policy