Word: lee
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...obviously painful," he says of his ban from the mainland. "As a Chinese citizen, I'm not allowed back to my own country even though I'm welcome in every other country in the world." In 2000, Lee became the first non-European to receive the Schuman Medal for peace and human values, awarded by the European People's Party and the European Democrats in the European Parliament...
...Lee failed to reach his goal of establishing full democracy in Hong Kong, but he stresses that he and the Democratic Party he founded in 1994 have achieved one thing: "No one today in Hong Kong will say that democracy is bad for Hong Kong," he says. "The only dispute is the timing." Hong Kong's Basic Law, the mini-constitution enacted in 1997, proposed the introduction of universal suffrage as early as 2008. In 2004, Beijing postponed that date until at least 2012. Then last December, Beijing announced that Hong Kong voters will have to wait until...
...height of his popularity, Lee helped lead half a million marchers through the streets of Hong Kong on July 1, 2003, forcing pro-Beijing lawmakers to abandon a controversial anti-subversion bill. Since then however, the number of marchers in the annual protest has steadily dwindled. Lee doesn't seem worried. "When there's a good reason again, they?ll come out," he says. "Never discount Hong Kong people's enthusiasm...
...sixth of seven children, Lee was born in Hong Kong but was raised in nearby Guangzhou, on the mainland. He earned his B.A. from the University of Hong Kong before studying law at Lincoln's Inn in London. After returning to Hong Kong to practice law, he was elected to the Legislative Council in 1985 and became a member of the Beijing-appointed committee to draft Hong Kong?s Basic Law. But when Beijing cracked down on protestors in Tiananmen Square in 1989, Lee's role in leading protests in Hong Kong led to his ouster from the Basic...
...Though he is stepping down from the Legislative Council, Lee plans to continue campaigning for democracy and working as a lawyer. Still, he says, "I will not be satisfied until we have in place a genuinely democratic system." He'll have to wait 12 more years to see if Beijing's promise...