Chu Yiu-ming

{{short description|Minister of Chai Wan Baptist Church}} {{Family name hatnote|[[Zhu (surname)|Chu (朱)]]|lang=Chinese}} {{Use Hong Kong English|date=January 2018}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox clergy | honorific_prefix = [[Reverend]] | name = Chu Yiu-ming | image = Chu Yiu-ming (cropped).jpg | caption = Chu Yiu-ming | native_name = {{nobold|朱耀明}} | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1944|01|10|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Japanese occupation of Hong Kong|Japanese Hong Kong]] | death_date = | death_place = | education = | alma_mater = [[Taiwan Baptist Theological Seminary]] | occupation = [[Minister (Christianity)|Minister of religion]] | children = 2 sons, including [[Samuel Chu|Samuel]] | known_for = Co-founder of [[Occupy Central with Love and Peace]] | church = [[Baptist Church]] | ordained = 1 January 1978 }} {{Infobox Chinese|c=朱耀明|j=zyu1 jiu6 ming4|p=Zhū Yàomíng}}

'''Chu Yiu-ming''' ({{lang-zh|朱耀明}}, born 10 January 1944) is a Hong Kong minister of [[Chai Wan]] Baptist Church.<ref name="hkfp_9_April_2019" /> He is one of the founders of the [[Occupy Central with Love and Peace|Occupy Central]] campaign for [[Universal suffrage in Hong Kong|universal suffrage]] in the [[2017 Hong Kong Chief Executive election]].<ref name="Occupy Central seeking support">{{cite web |title=Occupy Central seeking support from women, workers after criticism |last=Cheung |first=Tony |date=30 April 2013 |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1226665/occupy-central-seeking-support-women-workers-after-criticism |website=[[South China Morning Post]] |accessdate=14 March 2019}}</ref>

== Biography ==

===Early life=== Chu Yiu-ming first lived in mainland China, then settled in Hong Kong. Chu Yiu-ming was baptized in Christianity in Hong Kong and worked in a local [[Baptists|Baptist church]] in Hong Kong's poor [[Chai Wan| Chai Wan district]] to help drug addicts and gang members. There Chu Yiu-ming was also a supporter of the creation of public hospitals as well as helped Chinese dissidents after the [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests]].<ref name="la_times">{{cite web |title=With a Hong Kong court as his pulpit, pastor and convicted Occupy leader preaches democracy |url=https://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-hong-kong-democracy-occupy-umbrella-verdict-pastor-20190409-story.html |last=Su |first=Alice |date=9 April 2019 |website=Los Angeles Times |access-date=17 October 2020 }}</ref>

=== Operation Yellowbird ===

After [[1989 Tiananmen Square protests]], Chu led a mission dubbed [[Operation Yellowbird]] to secretly move persecuted dissidents from mainland China to places overseas via Hong Kong.<ref name="Occupy co-founder Reverend Chu Yiu-ming anxious but adamant">{{cite web |title=Occupy co-founder Reverend Chu Yiu-ming anxious but adamant ahead of trial and potential jail term |last=Lam |first=Jeffie |date=17 September 2017 |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/2111546/occupy-co-founder-reverend-chu-yiu-ming-anxious-adamant |website=[[South China Morning Post]] |accessdate=14 March 2019}}</ref>

=== Occupy Central ===

Chu and 8 other activists were convicted on 9 April 2019 for events towards the [[Occupy Central with Love and Peace|Occupy Central]] and [[Umbrella Movement]] protests in 2014. Chu was given a suspended sentence while his other two allies [[Benny Tai]] and [[Chan Kin-man]] were immediately put in jail for 16 months.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news.php?id=126656&sid=4|title=Chu Yiu-ming overcome by jail terms for campaigners |website=The Standard|date=2019-04-24|accessdate=2019-04-30}}</ref>

"We strive for democracy, because democracy strives for freedom, equality, and universal love. Political freedom is more than loyalty to the state. It professes human dignity. Every single person living in a community possesses unique potentials and powers, capable of contributing to society. Human right is a God-given gift, never to be arbitrarily taken away by any political regime", he said during the sentencing hearing.<ref name="hkfp_9_April_2019">{{cite web |url=https://www.hongkongfp.com/2019/04/09/full-i-no-regrets-not-give-umbrella-movement-convenor-reverend-chus-speech-ahead-sentencing/ |title=In Full: 'I have no regrets, we do not give up' – Reverend Chu's Umbrella Movement speech ahead of sentencing |date=9 April 2019 |website=Hong Kong Free Press |accessdate=22 June 2019}}</ref>

==Family== Chu Yiu-ming's son, [[Samuel Chu]], an American political activist, was born in Hong Kong in 1978, and has lived since the 1990s in the United States of America. He is a founder and managing director of Hong Kong Democracy Council, located in Washington, D.C. On 2 August 2020, [[China Central Television]] said that Samuel Chu and five other Hongkongers were wanted by Hong Kong police for allegedly inciting secession and collusion with foreign governments to endanger Chinese security, the crimes cited in the [[2020 Hong Kong national security law|new Chinese law]], enacted on 30 June 2020 by the communist government of China.<ref name=new_law_bbc_june30_2020>{{cite web |title=Hong Kong security law: Life sentences for breaking law |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53238004 |publisher=BBC |date=30 June 2020 |accessdate=30 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200630204643/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-53238004 |archive-date=30 June 2020 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="voanews_2020-08-02">{{cite web |title=US Activist Accused of Breaching HK's Security Law Says He Will Not Back Down |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/east-asia-pacific_us-activist-accused-breaching-hks-security-law-says-he-will-not-back-down/6193812.html |date=2 August 2020 |website=Voice of America |access-date=17 October 2020 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chu, Yiu-ming}} [[Category:1944 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Hong Kong democracy activists]] [[Category:Hong Kong Baptists]] [[Category:Hong Kong Christian clergy]]