MsAdaWongYing-kay,JP.PDF

Ms Ada Wong Ying-kay, JP - Citation - Ms Ada Wong Ying-kay, JP, was born and raised in Hong Kong, and graduated with a BA in Foreign Languages (French and German) at Pomona College in the early 1980s. This experience gave her the strong foundation in languages and the arts and in liberal arts education per se that made her the dynamic and perceptive person she is today. Initially her dream was to pursue a career as a journalist, but as the eldest child she entered the family business, and worked her way up from humble clerkly duties to a position of seniority. In the pursuit of her initial career goal she took a one-year conversion law course in London, and gained professional qualifications as a solicitor. Upon her return to Hong Kong in the mid-‘80s, Ms Wong practiced law as a solicitor and is a partner of the law firm, Philip K H Wong, Kennedy Y H Wong Co. She was also China-appointed Attesting Officer and Civil Celebrant of Marriages. Feeling the call of public service, she became an elected member of the Urban Council in 1995, representing the constituency of Wanchai East until the Urban Council was abolished in 2000. She then became a District Councillor for Wanchai and subsequently its Council Chair in 2004, a position she held until the end of 2007, carrying out her duties with great distinction. During the same period, she managed to earn a master ’s degree in education at the University of Hong Kong with distinction; following this she continued doctoral studies in education at the same university. Amid her many roles in education and politics, she actively promotes the cause of the arts and culture, which is especially laudable in our sometimes excessively materialistic society of Hong Kong. Her present roles as a member of the