Chief Executive John Lee, a judge at the Court of Final Appeal, medal-winning local athletes at the Tokyo Olympics and broadcasting legend Uncle Ray are among a record 889 people awarded with honours by former chief executive Carrie Lam.

According to the 2022 Honours List, seven people are awarded with the top Grand Bauhinia Medal. They are Chief Executive John Lee; executive and legislative councillor Tommy Cheung; Roberto Ribeiro, a permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal; chairman of the University of Science and Technology Council Andrew Liao; chairman of the Arts Development Council and the Film Development Council, Wilfred Wong; businessman and chairman of the Trade Development Council, Peter Lam; and local Fujianese community leader Ng Leung-ho.

Lee is praised for his dedicated and distinguished public service over the past 44 years, particularly his contributions as security minister and chief secretary. "[Lee] assisted the then chief executive in rising to the challenges and played an instrumental role in co-ordination in policy formulation and implementation, making significant contributions to Hong Kong," said a government spokesman.

Twenty-five people were given the Gold Bauhinia Star, including former and current senior government officials, chairman of the MTR Corporation Rex Auyeung and veteran actress Liza Wang.

Twenty-eight people made the Silver Bauhinia Star list. On top of current and retired senior officials, they include swimmer Siobhan Haughey, fencer Cheung Ka-long and cyclist Sarah Lee who won medals in the Tokyo Olympics last year, as well as retired RTHK disc jockey Uncle Ray who was praised for promoting local pop music and providing entertainment to the community in a career spanning 70 years.

Police constable So King-cho, who was wounded in a knife attack outside the Sogo department store in Causeway Bay on July 1, 2021, was awarded a Medal for Bravery (Silver).

In all, 890 awards are given out this year, the highest number since 1997, and almost 500 go to people who have made significant contributions in fighting Covid-19.

An awards presentation ceremony will be held later this year.

However, the government revised the honour's list late Tuesday night, just a couple of hours before it was made public at midnight.

It struck one person off the list – the former chief executive of China Everbright, Chen Shuang, who came under anti-graft investigation on the mainland. The probe into "suspected disciplinary violations" was announced earlier on Tuesday.

Speaking on radio after the list was published, the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui, said the recipients were decided based on their contribution to Hong Kong, and their professional connection to Hong Kong's development. He stressed that the government has adhered to the existing awards mechanism to select suitable candidates.

The Honours List is usually announced on July 1, but was postponed this year after the government said it wanted to focus on preparing the activities relating to the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the SAR.
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Last updated: 2022-07-27 HKT 12:49