Hong Kong pastor Reverend Yuen Tin-yau dies aged 71; remembered for ‘father-like kindness’
- Yuen was chairman of Hong Kong Christian Council, Methodist Church president and campaigner for greater democracy
- He appealed to Christians to speak up against injustice and once said that ‘having no opinion was an opinion’
Yuen Tin-yau, known for his devotion to opposition causes and who crossed a police cordon to talk to students at a university campus fortified as a last-stand bastion during the 2019 protests, has died aged 71.
The Methodist Church said Yuen was taken to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital on Saturday after he suffered a stroke and he died at 8am in the company of family members.
Yuen, who was a chairman of the Hong Kong Christian Council, a past president of the Methodist Church and a campaigner for democracy, had also battled cancer over the past year, the church said.
Yuen joined the Methodist Church in 1978, was its president from 2012 to 2015, retiring in 2016.
He was among a group of church and university leaders who entered Polytechnic University during one of the most violent episodes of the unrest to convince protesters to leave the campus, which was locked down by police after they declared a riot.
He told the Post at the time that Christians might now have different expectations of churches.
“Society has changed,” he said. “People are getting richer and they don’t just want services. They want to build a fair and righteous society, and this is particularly what the young generation wants.”
Yuen was praised by pro-democracy groups in 2014 for opening his Wan Chai church to protesters during the 79-day Occupy movement, a civil disobedience campaign that brought parts of the city to a standstill.
He highlighted the importance of Christians speaking up against injustice.
“In politics, there is no neutrality,” he said in 2014. “Having no opinion is an opinion. And, more often than not, having no opinion would be taken as support and leverage for the ruling group.
“Equality and justice are core teachings in Christianity and for that reason Christians tend to support democratic development … It shouldn’t be a small group of people controlling the power to manage society.”
Friends of Yuen on Sunday offered their condolences to his family.
Filmmaker Kiwi Chow Kwun-wai said Yuen had shown him “father-like kindness” and admitted he burst into tears when he met the cleric for the first time two years ago.
Chow said when the 2021 Cannes Film Festival announced last-minute that they would screen Chow’s Revolution of Our Times, a documentary about the 2019 protests, he was overwhelmed by the news and a pastor offered him support.
Chow said he went to a prayer circle and Yuen showed up to join in.
“Reverend Yuen had spoken out for Hong Kong, justice and love in the past, and I had admired him for a long time. The first time I saw him in person, I was overwhelmed by my emotions,” said Chow in a Facebook post.
“Maybe it’s because I believed that he understands me, perhaps I felt that he was walking alongside me. Maybe it’s because he is my father’s age. His father-like kindness touched me. When he prayed for me and hugged me, I immediately broke down into tears. In his embrace, I felt the love of our Father God.”
Shiu Ka-chun, a former opposition lawmaker and democracy campaigner, said he was also moved to tears when he learned that Yuen had opened the doors of his Wan Chai church to people affected by tear gas during the 2019 protests.
He said Yuen and Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing were the “two rays of God’s light” at the height of the protests when the pair walked into PolyU to convince protesters to leave the campus.
Veteran social worker and founder of equal opportunities campaign group Hong Kong Unison Fermi Wong Wai-fun said she was shocked at news of Yuen’s death.
She explained she met him for the first time in 2018 at a post-film event and had worked with him on several occasions after that.
“I was deeply moved by his sense of justice, benevolence and courage to speak up,” she wrote in an Instagram post offering condolences to his family. “He is truly a respectable pastor.”
Additional reporting by Fiona Sun
