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Evangeline Lam



Elsie Tu was born and grew up in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England on June 2, 1913 before the First World War. Her father played a major role influencing her life and passion to serve the society.

After leaving the church in 1954, she founded and worked in Mu Kuang English School for poor children in the squatter area near Kai Tak. It is now situated on Kung Lok Road in Kwun Tong, serving 1,300 children of Hong Kong's low-income families.


She was an elected member of the Urban Council for thirty-two years from 1963 to 1995 until she lost to Hong Kong late democratic icon Szeto Wah. She was a member of the Kwun Tong District Board from 1981 to 1986, member of the HKSAR Basic Law Consultative Committee from 1985 to 1990, member of the Legislative Council from 1988 to 1995 and the House Committee chair of the Legislative Council from 1991 to1995. 



In 1985, she got married to Andrew Tu Hsueh-kwei, who came from Inner Mongolia and helped set up the school. They wrote a book called Shouting at the Mountain: A Hong Kong story of love and commitment, telling the couple’s lives dedicated to the society. It was completed after Andrew Tu’s death in 2001 and published in 2005.


She was regarded as pro-Beijing by the pan-democrats and was a vigorous and vocal participant in Hong Kong politics and society, fighting for the underprivileged and against 'rich men with no conscience'.  
Elsie Tu was a huge contributor in the drive to establish the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC) and was honoured with a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her work against corruption.


















She celebrated her 100th birthday in 2013. Each year she made the same very public wish: “We can have a world at peace instead of all wanting to fight.” 


Ten Hong Kong women who have made a difference, from Elsie Tu to Gigi Chao to Ann Hui

Remember former lawmaker Elsie Tu’s steadfast commitment  

Elsie Tu offered ‘respect of all residents’ as three Hong Kong leaders including CY Leung carry her coffin

Elsie Tu funeral: Former Hong Kong leaders Tung Chee-hwa and Donald Tsang to join CY Leung as pallbearers

Elsie Tu

Veteran Hong Kong politician Elsie Tu: a life in pictures

Tu (seated) with Leung Chun-ying and other guests at her 100th birthday banquet. Photo: Felix Wong


Tu was interviewed at her home in Kwun Tong in 2013 when she was 100 years old.

Elsie Tu, right, holding hand with her older sister in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, circa 1916 during WWI. Tu was born to John and Florence Hume on 2 June 1913 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the second child of four. 

Elsie Tu, top row left, posing with her netball team. 

Governor Chris Patten bestows an honorary doctorate degree on Legislative Councillor Mrs Elsie Tu at the graduation ceremony of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 1994.

Elsie Tu refuses to shake hands with Szeto Wah at the Kwun Tong Polling station in Hong Kong on March 5, 1995. Mr Szeto and Mrs Tu both are candidates for the Kwun Tong West seat of the municipal council elections. 

Veteran independent candidate Elsie Tu (centre) is flanked by her supporters as votes are being counted for the Urban Council Kwun Tong North seat in the municipal council elections in 1995. Mrs Tu has a fierce competitor in Democratic Party heavyweight Szeto Wah. At the end of the day, Mr Szeto beat Mrs Tu by 9,175 to 6,778 votes.

Legislative Councillor Elsie Tu posing with her husband Andrew Tu Hsueh-kwei. They get married on 13 June 1985; Andrew Tu died in 2001. 

Elsie Tu and Andrew Tu co-founded Mu Kuang English School in 1954. Elsie Tu (front centre) sitting with the first graduation class and teachers in 1962. 

Elsie Tu talks with workers on strike outside the Cross-Harbour Tunnel site on October 20, 1970.

Angry students from thirteen student and youth groups held a two-hour rally at Victoria Park in 1973 to denounce corruption and to call for the extradition of Peter Godber, former police superintendent who fled to England while under investigation. In the picture are (from right) Mr Wong Shing-wah, President of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Urban Councillor Mrs Elsie Tu and two other student protestors at the rally. The banner in front of them reads, "Against corruption, bring Godber back".

Elsie Elliott reads a letter from Mr Lightbody to the rooftop squatters in Sai Yeung Choi Street on January 14, 1977. 

Elsie Elliott on her way to meet boat squatters in Hong Kong in August 1978. Next to her is Vic Hummert. 

Elsie Tu is presented with a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1978 by Sir Murray MacLehose.

Elsie Elliott cuts a ribbon to mark the opening of the first hut to be rebuilt in Ma Tsai Hang after fire swept through the area, watched by Dr L.K. Ding and residents on October 16, 1979.

Elsie Tu slips on oil poured on the road by protesting factory owners in Tai Wor Ping on December 4, 1980. Photo: Hui Chun Wah / Tin Tin Yat Pao

Urban Councillor Mrs Elsie Elliott visits the twenty-five single men from the Hing Shing Road and Kowloon Bay temporary housing areas who have been staging a sleep-in protest at the Government Secretariat against resettling them to single men hostels in the New Territories in 1983.

Urban Councillor Elsie Elliott speaking at an Urban Council meeting as Denny Huang Mong-hwa looks on in 1984.

Veteran social crusader Elsie Tu with her autobiography in 1988.

Veteran politician Elsie Tu speaks to around 1,500 expatriates in Central who demand the grant of British citizenship to all Hong Kong residents following the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing on June 4, 1989.

Wearing T-shirts which bear the words "Hong Kong is our home", Legislative Councillors (from left) Martin Barrow, Elsie Tu, Jimmy McGregor and Ronald Arculli pose for a picture at Kai Tak Airport where they see their colleagues, Mr Allen Lee Peng-fei and Dame Lydia Dunn, off to London. Mr Lee and Dame Lydia will persuade the British Government to grant citizenship to 3.25 million Hong Kong people entitled to British passports in 1989. 

Legislators Martin Lee Chu-ming (right) and his colleague Elsie Tu (left) with children taking part during World Anti-smoking Day Parade in 1990.

Chief Secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang talks with Mrs Elsie Tu at Legco on Oct 6, 1993. In 2007, Tu publicly supported former security chief and the now New People’s Party chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee in running against former chief secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang  in the Legislative Council by-election.

Veteran legislator Elsie Tu (right) tops the Most Popular Legislator poll in 1994 and outspoken independent legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing is two points behind.

Elsie Tu, as the House Committee chair of the Legislative Council, attending a Legislative Council meeting in July, 1995.

Veteran Urban Council member Elsie Tu waves goodbye following her last council meeting in 1995. The defeat in this month's Urban Council elections ended Mrs Tu's 32-year service in Hong Kong's municipal affairs.

The 82-year-old veteran independent legislator Elsie Tu is all smiles during the 1995 Legislative Council elections.

Elsie Tu raises her fist in confidence as she shows off thousands of supporters' signatures for her 1995 Legislative Council election campaign.

Elsie Tu with her Grand Bauhinia Medal (left) and C.B.E. [Commander of the British Empire] at Mu Kuang English School in Kwun Tong on November 22, 1997.

Elsie Tu launches the Chinese version of her book, 'Colonial Hong Kong in the Eyes of Elsie Tu', at Hong Kong Central Library, Causeway Bay on June 23, 2004. Photo: Dickson Lee

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