RGC Awards $5 Million in Research Funding to HKU Law 2026/27

Congratulations to our eight colleagues who were successful in the 2026-2027 round of research grant funding by Hong Kong's Research Grants Council (RGC). Seven General Research Fund (GRF) projects were funded to evaluate the Infrastructure Consultation in the Asia Pacific; to explore Human-AI Interaction in Legal Processes; to regulate Donation-Based Crowdfunding Platforms in China; to assess how can AI help Debt Mediation; to analyse Damage in Hong Kong's Law of Negligence; to examine the role of corporate law in advancing ESG in China; to evaluate the structured issues of FILs and identifying ways to minimize FILs’ impact on citizens’ rights. One Early Career Scheme (ECS) project was funded to evaluate the Necessity and Feasibility of a Sentencing Council in Hong Kong. The details of the new funded projects are as follows:

GRF:
Professor Shahla Ali
Infrastructure Consultation in the Asia Pacific, HK$827,180

Professor Benjamin Chen
Artificially Enhanced Justice: An Exploration of Human-AI Interaction in Legal Processes, HK$777,600

Professor Hui Jing
Regulating Donation-Based Crowdfunding Platforms in China: Challenges and Future Directions, HK$633,900

Professor John Liu
Can Artificial Intelligence Help Debt Mediation? A Field Experiment, HK$650,000

Professor Craig Purshouse
Damage in Hong Kong's Law of Negligence, HK$147,500

Professor James Zeng
Corporate Law and ESG in China, HK$816,000

Dr. Han Zhu
Rule of Law or Rule of Values? A Critical Comparative Analysis of Foreign Influence Laws, HK$549,240

ECS:
Professor Florence Lee
Evaluating the Necessity and Feasibility of a Sentencing Council in Hong Kong: Lessons from Comparative Perspectives, HK$599,984

RGC funded Collaborative Research Project on Mitigating Legal and Climate Risk in Asia Pacific Infrastructure Development

Congratulations to the research team awarded a RGC Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) Grant of $2 million for the project "Mitigating Legal and Climate Risk in Asia Pacific Infrastructure Development".  The project began in June 2025 for a duration of 36 months. It aims to develop a framework for assessing the sources of legal risk associated with infrastructure investment projects resulting in legal disputes. 

It is led by Prof. Shahla Ali of University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law and includes Co-Principal Investigators from HKU Law (Prof. Ying Zhu), HKU Social Sciences (Prof. David Palmer and Prof. Hui Li), and PolyU Construction and Environment (Prof. Tarek Zayed), and collaborator from HKU Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (Ms. ZiWei Fan).  This is another good example of an interdisciplinary collaborative research project. There are few law-related projects supported by the CRF fund, so well done to the team and hopefully we will see more CRF collaborations with legal academics in Hong Kong.

RGC Awards $3.5 Million in Research Funding to HKU Law 2025/26

Congratulations to our five colleagues who were successful in the 2025-2026 round of research grant funding by Hong Kong's Research Grants Council (RGC). The three General Research Fund (GRF) projects that were funded cover a range of topics, from examining the impact of “revolving-door” judges in the Chinese judicial system to investigating China’s efforts to reshape public interest lawyering to exploring the relationship between China’s legal system, financial markets, and economic development. Two Early Career Scheme (ECS) project were funded to study the Integration of China's Patent System and Social Credit System, and introduction of statutory recognition of same-sex couples in Hong Kong. The details of the new funded projects are as follows:

GRF:
Professor John Liu
The Revolving Door in the Chinese Judiciary and Its Economic Consequences: A Quantitative Study, HK$1,064,000

Professor Ying Xia
Nationalizing Legal Mobilization: The Transformation of Public Interest Lawyering under Xi Jinping, HK$679,000

Professor James Zeng
China's Path of Law and Finance, HK$746,000

ECS:
Professor Taorui Guan
Big Data-Driven Governance: A Study on the Integration of China's Patent System and Social Credit System, HK$630,925

Professor Stefano Osella
Recognising Same-sex Partnerships in Hong Kong: Constitutional and Human Rights Perspectives, HK$406,816

RGC Awards $4.6 Million in Research Funding to HKU Law 2024/25

Congratulations to our seven colleagues who were successful in the 2024-2025 round of research grant funding by Hong Kong's Research Grants Council (RGC). The seven General Research Fund (GRF) projects that were funded cover a wide range of topics, from China’s plea leniency system to the work conditions of early-career lawyers in China to the problem of animal rescue hoarding in Hong Kong. The details of the new funded projects are as follows:

GRF:

Professor Cora Chan

Liberal Regions in Illiberal States, HK$527,490

Professor Xin He

Appeals and Inequalities in China’s Plea Leniency System, HK$1,040,000

Professor Sida Liu

The Work Conditions of Early-Career Lawyers in China, HK$840,000

Professor John Zhuang Liu

The Rise and Limits of the Chinese Judiciary: Administrative Litigation in China during the Reform Period, HK$716,000

Professor Ryan Whalen

Artificial Intelligence in the Administration of the Patent System, HK$366,626

Professor Michael Ng

Judicial Independence on Trial: Archival study of political interference with the colonial Hong Kong courts (1842-1997), HK$742,000

Professor Amanda Whitfort

Responding to Animal Rescue Hoarding in Hong Kong: A Comparative and Empirical Review, HK$407,644

RGC Awards $4.8 Million in Research Funding to HKU Law 2023/24

Congratulations to our eight colleagues who were successful in the 2023-2024 round of research grant funding by Hong Kong's Research Grants Council (RGC). Six General Research Fund (GRF) projects were funded to study the abuse of dominance in the digital age; to examine the reformation of administrative law for the coming age of algorithmic government in Hong Kong; to evaluate the process of transnational law-making and its boundaries in trust and succession planning in Hong Kong and Singapore; to conduct field experiments of using cameras in Chinese trials; to study the implications for enhanced intellectual property protection in China through the Chinese music streaming market; to explore possible changes and impacts on the Hong Kong tax system after the social unrest, COVID-19 and PRC factor. Two Early Career Scheme (ECS) project were funded to study political crowdfunding in authoritarian regimes and to conduct a comparative study (Hong Kong, Australia, and England) of trustees’ discretionary powers in express private trusts and their possible control. The details of the new funded projects are as follows:

GRF:

Professor Thomas Cheng

Abuse of Dominance in the Digital Age, HK$664,340

Professor Eric C. Ip

Judging the Automated State: The Reformation of Administrative Law for the Coming Age of Algorithmic Government in Hong Kong under Chinese Sovereignty, HK$457,140

Ms. Rebecca Lee

Trust and succession planning in Hong Kong and Singapore: a critical evaluation of the process of transnational law-making and its boundaries, HK$405,800

Dr John Zhuang Liu

Cameras in the Courtroom: Field Experiments in Real Trials, HK$848,000

Professor Haochen Sun

The Rise of the Chinese Music Streaming Market: Implications for Enhanced Intellectual Property Protection in China, HK$608,400

Mr. Wilson Chow

Hong Kong tax system: New Era! New Wine in New Bottle?, HK$850,000

ECS:
Dr Julius Yam
Political Crowdfunding in Authoritarian Regimes, HK$570,000

Dr Hui Jing

Controlling Trustees’ Discretionary Powers in Express Private Trusts: A Comparative Study of Hong Kong, Australia, and England, HK$473,000

RGC Awards $5.96 Million in Research Funding to HKU Law 2021/22

Congratulations to our 9 colleagues who were successful in the 2021-2022 round of research grant funding by Hong Kong's Research Grants Council (RGC). Eight General Research Fund (GRF) projects were funded to study the development of investor dispute prevention mechanisms in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative, the concept of “best interests” for the purpose of decision-making on behalf of individuals lacking mental capacity in Chinese jurisdictions, the role of peace movements in the 1899 creation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the proliferation of International Commercial Courts across the globe, modern legal education reforms undertaken by three East Asian countries—Japan, Korea and China—meant to improve their legal professions by emphasizing postgraduate legal education, neighborhood governance in urban China, the emerging phenomenon of self-governance in the digital economy in China, and a medieval legal bestseller, the 'Statuta Vetera' Manuscript, c. 1280-1520.  An Early Career Scheme (ECS) project was funded to study the receptivity of socialist legal systems to the common law notion of precedent. 

    The details of the new funded projects are as follows:

GRF:

Professor Shahla Ali 

Is an Ounce of Prevention Worth a Pound of Cure? Assessing the Development of Dispute Prevention Mechanisms along the Belt and Road, HK$780,059

Ms Daisy Cheung

Deciding what is best for you: Best interest determinations on behalf of persons without capacity in the Chinese context, HK$443,426

Dr James Fry

The Role of Peace Movements in the 1899 Creation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, HK$291,904

Dr Weixia Gu

The Global Rise of the International Commercial Courts: Power Dynamics and Transnational Legal Order, HK644,385

Dr Jed Kroncke

The Modern Re-Engineering of East Asian Lawyers, HK$540,881

Professor Shitong Qiao

The Authoritarian Commons: The Co-Evolution of Law and Social Norms in China's Urban Residential Neighborhoods, HK$1,255,474

Dr Angela Zhang

Decentralizing Platform Governance: Innovations from China, HK$656,825

Dr Anya Adair (cross appointed with Faculty of Arts)

The 'Statuta Vetera' Manuscript, c. 1280-1520: Production and Use of a Medieval Legal Bestseller, HK$599,209

ECS:

Dr Ben Chen, 

The Socialist Reception of Precedent: A Computational Analysis of Guiding Cases in the People’s Republic of China, HK$746,320

RGC funded Collaborative Research Project on Insolvency Law Implications of Covid-19 in Hong Kong

Congratulations to the research team recently awarded a RGC Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) Grant of $3.11 million for the project "Hong Kong Insolvency and Restructuring Law and Policy in Times of COVID-19 and Beyond".  The project collects data on the impact of the pandemic on businesses in Hong Kong and considers whether reforms to Hong Kong's laws of insolvency and business restructuring are needed.  It is led by Professor Wai Yee Wan of City University of Hong Kong School of Law and includes Co-Principal Investigators from HKU Law (Mr Alwin Chan and Mr Kelvin Kwok) and City University of Hong Kong, and other collaborators from Oxford University and Leeds University.  This is yet another good example of a collaborative research project between HKU Law and CityU Law.  There are very few law-related projects supported by the CRF fund, so well done to the team and hopefully we will see more CRF collaborations between legal academics in Hong Kong.

HKU Law Begins 2020/21 with $12 Million in New Competitive Research Funding

Congratulations to our 8 colleagues who were successful in their research funding applications this year in competitive exercises conducted by external funding bodies.

RGC Senior Research Fellowship 2020/21

Professor Douglas Arner was awarded an inaugural RGC Senior Research Fellowship by the Research Grants Council.  This fellowship in the amount of $7,798,380 enables Professor Arner to deepen his research on "Digital Finance, Financial Inclusion and Sustainability: Building Better Financial Systems" over the next five years.  This fellowship builds on the RGC Research Impact Fund award Professor Arner obtained in the 2018/19 exercise.

Public Policy Research Funding Scheme 2020/21

Ms Amanda Whitfort was awarded a Public Policy Research (PPR) grant from the Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office in the amount of $462,019.  She will conduct "An Empirical Study of the Nature of Animal Abuse Cases in Hong Kong from 2013-2019" over the next 12 months.  Ms Whitfort's 2008 PPR project, "Review of animal welfare legislation in Hong Kong", produced an influential policy report that improved the welfare of pets and animals in Hong Kong by triggering impactful legislative and policy reforms.

RGC General Research Fund 2020/21

Six colleagues were awarded General Research Fund (GRF) grants by the Research Grants Council in the 2020/21 round. The GRF success rate was 40%, compared to last year's 31%. The projects cover a range of legal topics of importance to Hong Kong, China and beyond. The details of the new funded projects are as follows:

Dr Clement Chen, Accountability in Algorithm-assisted Sanctions: Public Law Scrutiny of China’s Social Credit System, $705,920

Prof Frank He Xin, The Personal Safety Protection Order against Domestic Violence in China, $924,000

Prof Lusina Ho, A Comprehensive Examination of Judicial Practice on the Chinese Trust Law, $650,064

Ms Rebecca Lee, Rebuilding Trust and Legitimacy for Charities in Hong Kong, $375,000

Dr Michael Ng, Liberating Hong Kong: The awakening of freedom of expression and the rule of law in British Hong Kong (1978-1997), $591,400

Dr Marco Wan, The Construction of Sexual Minority Identities in Legal and Political Discourse in Hong Kong, $585,080

Interview with HKU Law Recipients of RGC Prestigious Fellowship in Humanities and Social Sciences

In 2019, two senior scholars of HKU's Faculty of Law were awarded the RGC Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship (HSSPF). Professor Johannes Chan was awarded HK$508,949 to study constitutional review and judicial independence under one country, two systems, asking whether the two systems are converging or diverging. Professor Frank He was awarded HK$494,000 to further his research on gendered divorce litigation in China. HKU Legal Scholarship Blog's Ivy Lai caught with both scholars to find out how they are progressing with their projects.

RGC Awards $4.6 Million in Research Funding to HKU Law 2019/20

Congratulations to our 8 colleagues who were successful in the 2019-2020 round of research grant funding by Hong Kong's Research Grants Council (RGC).  For the first time, two colleagues (Johannes Chan and Frank He) were successful in obtaining the Humanities and Social Sciences Prestigious Fellowship (HSSPF), which provides recipients with the time and funding to pursue research in place of teaching and administrative duties over the course of 12 months.  Five General Research Fund (GRF) projects were funded to study money laundering offending in Hong Kong, law reform implications of disruptive technologies for finance, enforcement of the arbitral awards under the Belt and Road Initiative, elites and judicial power in the age of populism, and the establishment of British admiralty law in Hong Kong 1861 to 1943.  An Early Career Scheme (ECS) project was funded to study political community and the legal status of established states.  The details of the new funded projects are as follows:

HSSPF

• Johannes Chan, Constitutional Review and Judicial Independence underOne Country, Two Systems: Convergence or Divergence?, $508,949
• Frank He, Gendered Divorce Litigation in China, $494,000

GRF

• Simon Young, An Empirical Study of Money Laundering Offending in Hong Kong, $719,984
• Giuliano Castellano, Creating Credit: Law Reforms, Policy Tensions, and Disruptive Technologies, $686,476
• Weixia Gu, Enforcement of Arbitral Awards under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): Regional Harmonization of the Public Policy in Context of the BRI Asia, $449,000
• Alex Schwartz, Court Curbing: Elites and Judicial Power in the Age of Populism, $685,320
• Felix Chan, The Establishment and Administration of British Admiralty law in Hong Kong and Other Treaty Ports under the Treaty of Nanking: 1861-1943, $574,000

ECS

• Alex Green, Political Community and the Legal Status of Established States, $455,520

New FinTech Regulation and Policy Project Funded by RGC's Research Impact Fund (PI: Douglas Arner, HKU Law, HK$4.3M)

Kerry Holdings Professor

Congratulations to Professor Douglas Arner who is leading a research project recently awarded HK$4.3 million (including $1.3 million matching by HKU) from the Research Grants Council's new Research Impact Fund 2018/19. The title of the project is Balancing the Opportunities and Risks of Financial Technology: FinTech Regulation and Policy.  The team members of this international and interdisciplinary project include Ross Buckley from the University of New South Wales, David C. Donald from Chinese University of Hong Kong, George Q. Huang from HKU (Business & Economics), Chen Lin from HKU (Business & Economics), Siuming Yiu from HKU (Computer Science), and Dirk A. Zetzsche from the University of Luxembourg.

  Project Description: Finance and technology have always been inextricably intertwined, from the earliest development of money (e.g. coins are a technology which stores value, provides a unit of account and a means of payment) to today’s e-money solutions (from mobile payment to cryptocurrencies). Within that interaction between finance and technology law plays a critical role as it defines the use, limitation and function of money in society.

    The 1970s marks the beginning of a change of the relationship between finance, technology and law. The arrival of mainframe computers initiated a process of digitisation of finance, which has only increased ever since with the improvement in computing power, datafication of the financial services industry and availability of analytical tools.

     Following the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, a second evolution in the interaction between finance, technology and regulation occurred. It was brought by two factors. First, the arrival of new participants (from start-ups to major technology and communications companies) in financial markets. Second the extremely rapid datafication of society brought by increased mobile phone penetration (5 billion), IoT devices (20 billion) which can be stored and managed on new infrastructure (blockchain and DLT) analysed by tools such as artificial intelligence.

     This second phase is now generally identified by the term “FinTech” and has gathered the interest of policymakers, regulators, private sectors and investors in every major financial centre, including Hong Kong. Whilst FinTech development offers many opportunities (i.e. better competition, financial inclusion, economic development) certain risks emerge. In particular where FinTech responds to unmet demands, a new segment on consumer can be at exposed. Furthermore, when FinTech relies on new technological advancements, new unanswered questions emerge (i.e. what of GDPR compliance of distributed data on blockchain).

     Hong Kong’s opportunities and risks are compounded by its geographical situation. It's proximity to China and centre place in Asia put’s Hong Kong at the heart of the regions witnessing the most dramatic changes in finance and technology. The tension brought by these changes will reveal (in)adequacies of the law and its role in facilitation the interaction between finance and technology. This opens an opportunity for reform, one which will look at new laws and regulations but also how this can be improved with technology (what the authors refer as Smart Regulation, part of Regtech)

     This research project will provide a comprehensive study benefiting the agenda of Hong Kong’s regulators and policymakers in respect to FinTech development. Therefore it will support the city’s ambition to retain its leadership as a financial centre. Given the benchmarking work that will be conducted and Hong Kong’s geographical location at the forefront of change, this work can be exported in other jurisdiction as foresight of what will occur in the future.

RGC Awards $6 Million in Research Grant Funding to HKU Faculty of Law

Congratulations to our 11 colleagues who were successful in the 2018-2019 round of research grant funding by Hong Kong's Research Grants Council (RGC).  The success rate for General Research Fund (GRF) projects was 73%, a little better than last year.  The projects cover a range of legal topics of importance to Hong Kong, China and beyond.  This year the largest grant was awarded to Dr Richard Wu for his ongoing and expansive study of law student values.  This is the fifth RGC grant Dr Wu has received in support of his comparative study of law students in 14 jurisdictions.  The details of the new 11 GRF projects are as follows:

• Weixia Gu, The (Recognition and) Enforcement of Mainland Judgments in Hong Kong: A Regional Conflict of Laws Study, $590,000, 36 months 
• Angela Zhang, Antitrust and the Rise of China: An Institutional Analysis, $637,440, 36 months 
• Shahla Ali, Soft Law from the Ground Up: The Role of the UNCITRAL Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific in the Formation of Transnational Dispute Settlement Norms, $688,080, 36 months 
• Thomas Cheng, Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement in China, $594,100, 36 months 
• Rebecca Lee, Rationalising Recovery for Mistaken Transfers at Common law and in Equity?, $347,200, 24 months 
• Haochen Sun, Buildinga Robust Trademark Fair Use Mechanism in China, $540,500, 36 months 
• Albert Chen, Constitutional governance in ‘Greater China’ and the Unfinished Project of Chinese Constitutionalism, $491,980, 24 months 
• Peter Chau, Examining non-instrumental justifications for tort compensation, $260,000, 24 months 
• Shitong Qiao, Eminent Domain in Chinese Courts: An Empirical Study, $450,653, 36 months 
• Lusina Ho, Legal Reform of Enduring Powers of Attorney: A Comparative Analysis, $434,298, 24 months 
• Richard Wu, An Empirical and Comparative Study of Law Students’ Perceptions of Their Values in Four Emerging and Transitional Economies: China, Russia, South Africa and Kazakhstan, $918,160, 36 months

RGC Awards $8.5 Million in Research Grant Funding to HKU Faculty of Law

The Faculty of Law has performed exceptionally well in the 2017-2018 round of research grants awarded by the Research Grants Council (RGC).  The RGC awarded more than HK$8.46 million in funding to 10 General Research Fund (GRF) projects and 3 Early Career Scheme (ECS) projects. This is more than double the amount awarded for the 2016-2017 year.  The success rate for this year was 71% (GRF) and 100% (ECS) respectively.  The projects tackle important issues in constitutional law, trust law, human rights law, legal education, legal history and theory, and land law.  Some are inter-disciplinary.  The largest grant of more than $1 million went to Professor Hualing Fu for his project on police power in transition societies including China.  Congratulations to the following 13 colleagues:

• Po Jen Yap, Courts and Democracies in Asia, $736,600, GRF, 36 months
• Hualing Fu, Police Power in Transition Societies: China in Comparative Perspectives, $1,058,488, GRF, 36 months
• Rebecca Lee (Co-I: Lusina Ho), The Modern International Trust Under Siege: Legislature, Judiciary, and Theoretical Implications, $361,675, GRF, 24 months
• David Law, The Language and Ideology of Constitutions: A Computational Linguistics Analysis, $784,538, GRF, 36 months
• Lusina Ho (Co-I: Rebecca Lee), Developing Compensatory Remedies for Breaches of Trust and Fiduciary Duties, $512,198, GRF, 24 months
• Eric Ip, The Constitutional Foundations of Free Markets: Economic Provisions of the Hong Kong Basic Law in Comparative Perspective, $892,484, GRF, 36 months
• Kelley Loper, International human rights law and refugee protection in Asian states not party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, $563,640, GRF, 24 months
• Jianlin Chen, Law, State and Emerging Natural Resources: Theoretical Perspective and Case Study of Climate Resource Management in China, $570,000, GRF, 36 months
• Richard Wu, An Empirical and Comparative Study of Law Students’ Perceptions of Their Values in Four Fastest-Growing Asian Countries: China, India, Thailand and Philippines, $844,880, GRF, 36 months
• Michael Ng, Freedom of Expression, Media Censorship and the Rule of Law in British Hong Kong (1850s-1980s), GRF, 36 months
• Daisy Cheung, Finding the Right Balance: Constructing a Theoretical Approach for the Assessment of Guardianship Systems for the Mentally Incapacitated in East Asia, ECS, $446,560, 36 months
• Dan Matthews, The Aesthetics of Sovereignty in the Age of the Anthropocene, $289,032, ECS, 24 months
• Shitong Qiao, National Laws and Local Land Reforms: The Spectrum of Legality, $555,400, ECS, 36 months.

Li Yahong Partners in HK$1.44M ARC Project on Digital China

The Australian Research Council has awarded a HK$1.44M Discovery Project to Professor Michael Keane of Curtin University of Technology for the inter-disciplinary project "Digital China: from cultural presence to innovative nation". The project investigates how digital platforms and technologies are enabling Chinese culture and ideas to reach the world. It argues that while China's global cultural presence has increased it is yet to be seen as an innovative nation. The project examines how the Chinese government’s internet+ strategy is changing power dynamics among political institutions, commercially motivated digital companies, and online communities. Through investigating internationalisation strategies and consumption of Chinese culture on digital platforms in China, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea the project contributes to understanding the implications of China's digital ascendency and the lessons for Australia in the post-resources boom era.  Li Yahong is a partner investigator to this project which involves institutions from Australia, Hong Kong and Mainland China.  The project will run for five years starting from 2017.

New Law Projects Funded by HKU Seed Funding for Basic Research

Congratulations to our nine colleagues who recently obtained grants from the HKU Seed Funding for Basic Research.  A total of more than $0.5 million was awarded in funding.  The project topics range from crowd-funding, China's anti-monopoly law to the law and policy of creative industries and innovation in Hong Kong.  The details of the awarded projects are as follows (in no particular order):

1.  The Case for Crowd-Funding in Hong Kong, Alexa Lam

2. Dispute Resolution in China: Litigation, Arbitration, Mediation, and their Cross-Interactions, Weixia Gu  

3. Analysis of Intellectual Property Licence Refusals under the Chinese Anti-Monopoly Law, Kelvin Kwok 

4. Should Directors Be Accountable to Shareholders?: A Critical Reassessment, Ernest Lim

5. How Can Copyright Law Best Promote the Public Interest? Perspectives from the Google Digital Library Litigations in China and the United States, Haochen Sun

6. Asian Courts in Dynamic Democracies, Po Jen Yap 

7. A Comparative Study of Civil Sanctions Against Money Laundering, Simon Young

8. Professionalism, gender and culture - empirical and comparative study of professional attributes using standardized clients in professional legal education, Wilson Chow

9. A Study of the Law and Policy for Creative Industries and Innovation in Hong Kong, Richard Wu