Patriotism is ‘in my blood’, Hong Kong’s commerce chief says about family line

Hong Kong commerce minister Algernon Yau Ying-wah has said his views have been influenced by his revolutionary grandfather, a man closely intertwined with cross-strait relations at an important time in Chinese history.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Post on Friday, the secretary for commerce and economic development shared details about his family’s role in politics over the decades.

A major influence on Yau was his grandfather, Qiu Fengjia, a Chinese politician, educator and poet born in Taiwan in 1864, who was known for supporting the nation during the First Sino-Japanese War in the 1890s.

Yau, who was born in Hong Kong in 1958, said he had followed in the footsteps of his patriotic family and hoped Taiwan would one day be reunited with mainland China.

“He loved Taiwan,” the minister said about his grandfather.

“He would have liked to see Taiwan come back to China, and that’s why he told the next generation, when we set up his grave, the grave has to face the south. That means facing Taiwan. So he wished to see Taiwan return to the mainland.”