Hong Kong order of precedence

Part of a series on the Orders of precedence
Argentina Australia Bangladesh Barbados Belgium Brazil Brunei Canada Alberta British Columbia Manitoba New Brunswick Nova Scotia Ontario Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan Yukon Chile China Hong Kong Denmark European Union Finland France Germany Greece Guatemala Holy See India Indonesia Ireland Ireland (1897–1922) (hist.) Israel Italy Japan Jamaica Lithuania Malaysia Johor Kedah Kelantan Malacca Negeri Sembilan Pahang Penang Perak Perlis Sabah Sarawak Selangor Terengganu Malta New Zealand Nepal Norway Pakistan Poland Poland-Lithuania (hist.) Portugal Philippines Romania Russia South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Singapore Sweden Switzerland Thailand Turkey United Kingdom England and Wales Scotland Northern Ireland Isle of Man United States
v t

The Hong Kong order of precedence is a nominal and symbolic hierarchy of important positions within the Government of Hong Kong.^[1] Administered by the government's Protocol Division, the hierarchy does not determine the order of succession for the office of Chief Executive, which is instead specified by the Basic Law of Hong Kong.

As a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong maintains autonomy on all affairs other than defence and foreign relations. Reflecting that status, the order of precedence does not include state and party leaders of the Central People's Government. Government officials from mainland China are generally treated as special guests when attending Hong Kong government functions.^[2]

Hong Kong SAR order of precedence[]

1. Chief Executive (Carrie Lam, GBM, GBS)^[3]
2. Chief Justice of the Court of Final Appeal (Andrew Cheung)
3. Former Chief Executives
   1. Tung Chee-hwa^a, GBM
   2. Donald Tsang, GBM
   3. Leung Chun-ying^a, GBM, GBS, JP
4. Chief Secretary for Administration (John Lee, SBS, PDSM, JP)
5. Financial Secretary (Paul Chan, GBM, GBS, MH, JP)
6. Secretary for Justice (Teresa Cheng, GBS, SC, JP)
7. President of the Legislative Council and Members of the Executive Council:
   1. President of the Legislative Council (Andrew Leung, GBS, JP)
   2. Convenor of the Executive Council (Bernard Charnwut Chan, GBS, JP)
   3. Other members of the Executive Council:
      1. Laura Cha, GBM, GBS, JP
      2. Arthur Li, GBM, GBS, JP
      3. Chow Chung-kong, GBS, JP
      4. Fanny Law, GBS, JP
      5. Secretary for the Environment (Wong Kam-sing, GBS, JP)
      6. Jeffrey Lam^b, GBS, JP
      7. Ip Kwok-him, GBM, GBS, JP
      8. Tommy Cheung^b, GBS, JP
      9. Martin Liao^b, SBS, JP
      10. Joseph Yam, GBM, GBS, JP
      11. Regina Ip^b, GBS, JP
      12. Ronny Tong, SC
      13. Wong Kwok-kin, SBS, JP
      14. Secretary for Labour and Welfare (Law Chi-kwong, GBS, JP)
      15. Secretary for Transport and Housing (Frank Chan, JP)
      16. Secretary for Food and Health (Sophia Chan, JP)
      17. Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development (Edward Yau, GBS, JP)
      18. Lam Ching-choi, BBS, JP
      19. Secretary for Development (Michael Wong, JP)
      20. Secretary for Education (Kevin Yeung, JP)
      21. Secretary for the Civil Service (Patrick Nip, JP)
      22. Kenneth Lau^bc, BBS, MH, JP
      23. Horace Cheung^b, JP
      24. Secretary for Innovation and Technology (Alfred Sit, JP)
      25. Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs (Erick Tsang, IDSM, JP)
      26. Secretary for Home Affairs (Caspar Tsui, JP)
      27. Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury (Christopher Hui, JP)
      28. Secretary for Security (Chris Tang, PDSM)
8. Other principal officials:
   1. Commissioner, Independent Commission Against Corruption (Simon Peh, SBS, IDSM)
   2. Commissioner of Police (Raymond Siu Chak-yee, PMSM)
   3. Director of Audit (, JP)
   4. Commissioner of Customs and Excise (Hermes Tang, CDSM)
   5. Director of Immigration (Au Ka-wang)
9. Other members of the Court of Final Appeal and Chief Judge of the High Court:
   1. Permanent Judges of the Court of Final Appeal:
      1. Robert Ribeiro
      2. Joseph Fok
   2. Non-Permanent Judges of the Court of Final Appeal:
      1. Frank Stock GBS, JP
      2. Kemal Bokhary GBM, JP
      3. Patrick Chan Siu-oi GBM
      4. Robert Tang GBM, SBS, JP
      5. The Lord Hoffmann GBS
      6. The Lord Millett GBS
      7. Murray Gleeson GBS AC
      8. The Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury GBS
      9. The Lord Walker of Gestingthorpe GBS
      10. The Lord Collins of Mapesbury
      11. The Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers
      12. William Gummow AC
      13. Robert French AC
      14. The Lord Reed of Allermuir
      15. The Baroness Hale of Richmond
      16. Beverley McLachlin
      17. Jonathan Sumption, Lord Sumption
      18. Patrick Hodge, Lord Hodge
   3. Chief Judge of the High Court (Jeremy Poon)
10. Other members of the Legislative Council
11. Consuls-General (Foreign country diplomats to Hong Kong)
12. Religious leaders:
    1. Archbishop of Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (Andrew Chan)
    2. President of the Hong Kong Buddhist Association (Kuan Yun, MH)
    3. Catholic Bishop of Hong Kong (vacant^e)
    4. President of the Confucian Academy (, SBS)
    5. Chairman of the Chinese Muslim Cultural and Fraternal Association (, MH)
    6. Chairman of the Hong Kong Christian Council (Eric So)
    7. Chairman of the Hong Kong Taoist Association (, MH)
13. Recipients of the Grand Bauhinia Medal
14. Heads of universities
    1. President of the City University of Hong Kong (Kuo Way, JP)
    2. President and Vice-Chancellor of the Hong Kong Baptist University (Alexander Wai)
    3. President of the Hong Kong Shue Yan University (Henry Hu^d)
    4. President of the Lingnan University (Leonard Cheng, BBS, JP)
    5. Vice-Chancellor and President of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Rocky Tuan)
    6. President of the Education University of Hong Kong (Stephen Cheung, SBS, JP)
    7. President of the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong (Simon Ho)
    8. President of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Jin-Guang Teng)
    9. President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Wei Shyy, JP)
    10. President of the Open University of Hong Kong (, SBS, JP)
    11. Vice-Chancellor and President the University of Hong Kong (Xiang Zhang, JP)
15. Other members of the High Court:
    1. Justices of Appeal of the Court of Appeal
    2. Judges of the Court of First Instance
16. Public commissioners:
    1. Chairman of the Public Service Commission (Rita Lau, GBS, JP)
    2. The Ombudsman (, PDSM)
17. Consuls-in-Charge/Honorary Consuls (Foreign country diplomats to Hong Kong)
18. Permanent Secretaries, Under Secretaries and Officials of Directorate Grade 6 Rank and above
19. Judges of the District Court:
    1. Chief District Judge (Justin Ko)
    2. Principal Family Court Judge ()
    3. Other District Judges
20. District Council Chairmen
21. Recipients of the Gold Bauhinia Star
22. Justices of the Peace
23. Members of District Councils
    1. District Council Vice Chairmen
    2. Other District Council Members

Hong Kong order of precedence until 1997[]

Office holders on 1 June 1997 in brackets:^[4][5]

1. Governor (Chris Patten)
2. Chief Justice (Noel Power (Acting))
3. Chief Secretary (Anson Chan, CBE, JP)
4. Commander British Forces in Hong Kong, if of the rank of major general (Major-General Bryan Dutton, CBE)
5. Heads of Churches
   1. Bishop of Hong Kong (Bishop Peter Kwong)
   2. Roman Catholic Bishop of Hong Kong (Cardinal John Wu)
6. Financial Secretary (Donald Tsang, OBE, JP)
7. Attorney General (Jeremy Fell Mathews, CMG, JP)
8. President of the Legislative Council (Andrew Wong, OBE, JP)
9. Members of the Executive Council
10. Other members of the Legislative Council
11. Diplomatic Officers
    1. Commonwealth Commissioners and Consuls-General de Carriere
    2. Acting Commonwealth Commissioners and Acting Consuls-General de Carriere
    3. Honorary Consuls-General
    4. Senior British Trade Commissioner (Francis Cornish, CMG, LVO)
12. Heads of Universities
    1. President of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Woo Chia-wei, CBE)
    2. President and Vice-Chancellor of the Hong Kong Baptist University (Daniel Tse, CBE, JP)
    3. President of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (Poon Chung-kwong, OBE, JP)
    4. Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong (, CBE, JP)
    5. President of the City University of Hong Kong (Chang Hsin-kang)
    6. Vice-Chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Arthur Li)
13. Judges of the Supreme Court
    1. Justices of Appeal
    2. Judges of the High Court
14. Knights
15. Heads of Public service units
    1. Commissioner of police (Eddie Hui, QPM, CPM)
    2. Chairman of the Public Service Commission (Haider Hatim Tyebjee Barma, CBE, ISO, JP)
    3. The Ombudsman (Andrew So, OBE, JP)
    4. Commissioner, Independent Commission Against Corruption (Lily Yam, JP)
    5. Chairman of the Urban Council (Ronald Leung, OBE, JP)
    6. Chairman of the Regional Council (Daniel Lam, JP)
16. Consuls de Carriere who are Heads of Post
17. Honorary Consuls who are Heads of Post
18. Other Secretaries and Heads of Group I Departments
19. Chief of Staff and Senior Naval Officer (Commodore , CBE)
20. Hong Kong Commissioner in London (Sir David Robert Ford, KBE, LVO, JP)
21. Other Members of the Urban and Regional Councils
22. Administrative Officer Staff Grade "A" and Heads of Departments of similar status
23. District Judges
24. District Board Chairmen
25. Companions, Commanders, Officers and Members of Orders of Chivalry
26. Justices of the Peace

Notes[]

a.^ Also the Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and will be treated as a guest at SAR functions.

b.^ Also a member of the Legislative Council

c.^ Also a District Council Chairman.

d.^ Henry Hu appeared in an earlier precedence as a recipient of the Grand Bauhinia Medal.

e.^ The most recent holder of this position, Michael Yeung, died on 3 January 2019.

See also[]

• Hong Kong honours system

References[]

External links[]

• Protocol Division Government Secretariat