Annie Wu (businesswoman)

Annie Wu Suk-ching, SBS, JP (Chinese: 伍淑清; pinyin: Wǔ Shūqīng; born 1948) is a Hong Kong businesswoman of Taishan, Guangdong origin. She is the eldest daughter of Dr James Tak Wu, founder of Maxim's Catering, and is a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Background

Wu was born and grew up in Hong Kong, and studied at Sacred Heart Canossian College and then (1968-70) at Armstrong College in Berkeley in the United States.[1]

Wu has never married and has no children.[2]

Business activity
Wu started Beijing Air Catering, the first joint venture company in mainland China since 1954, on 1 May 1980

Wu is honorary president of Beijing Air Catering Ltd, the first sino-foreign joint-venture company to be set up in the People's Republic of China.[3] She is managing director of private firm Hong Kong Beijing Air Catering Ltd.[4]

Opposition to 2019 Hong Kong protests

In September 2019, Wu attracted attention when she criticised the pro-democracy Hong Kong protest. She drew praise from Beijing mouthpiece the People’s Daily shortly after competitor (in mooncake sales) Garic Kwok had been praised in Hong Kong but criticised by many in China for supporting the protests, harming sales there of his family's Taipan Bread & Cakes brand.[5] Later the same month, as "supervisory consultant" of the staunchly pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Women, Wu took her views to the United Nations Human Rights Council, igniting protests directed at her father's Maxim's restaurant chain.[6]

Wu also put pressure on the Chinese Foundation Secondary School, which she founded in 2000, to punish staff and students who supported the protests.[7]

Other roles and awards

As a member of the CPPCC, Wu is one of the 1200 people whose votes determine the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.

Wu received the HKSAR's Silver Bauhinia Star in 1999. She was made an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree by Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota in 2009.

She is the Honorary Consul of the United Republic of Tanzania in Hong Kong and Macau. [8] She is also the Chairperson of AMTD Group's Global Advisory Committee.[9]

Wu helped establish the Hong Kong Federation of Women, an organisation formed under the direction of Beijing to align pro-China forces.[10]

Wu is Chair of the Chinese History and Culture Educational Foundation For Youth and the Hong Kong Soong Ching Ling Children's Foundation Ltd.[11][12][13]

References
  1. Luo, Weiteng (7 September 2018). "A momentous journey to nation's future". China Daily.
  2. "Annie Wu Suk-ching: Originator of China's First Joint Venture". Women of China - 2011 NPC & CPPCC Annual Sessions. 25 February 2011.
  3. "Deng Xiaoping asked 'Can he make croissants?'". South China Morning Post. 23 November 2018.
  4. "Wu, Annie Suk Ching 伍淑清". Webb-site. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  5. "Beijing over the moon as cake maker slams Hong Kong protests". South China Morning Post. 8 September 2019.
  6. Chan, Holmes (25 September 2019). "Hong Kong uni students boycott Maxim's caterer after founder's daughter blasts pro-democracy protesters at UN". Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  7. "Hong Kong catering group Maxim's wins respect in Chinese mainland, in sharp to Taipan boycott". World Times. 8 September 2019.
  8. "We want investments, high-end tourists from Hong Kong: Tanzania". South China Morning Post. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  9. "Hong Kong FinTech - Latest News - Hong Kong Polytechnic University Teams Up With AMTD to Launch AMTD FinTech Centre of Business Faculty". Hong Kong Fin-Tech. Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  10. Lee, Eliza Y W (January 2004). Gender and Change in Hong Kong Globalization, Postcolonialism, and Chinese Patriarchy (PDF). Hong Kong University Press. p. 14. ISBN 9789622096585.
  11. "Genesis - Announcement".
  12. "亞洲週刊".
  13. "Newsletter". Sacred Heart Canossian College Alumnae Association. November 2002.
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