Legislator Christopher Chung had some bold words for Scholarism's Prince Wong about her English skills. Can he back up these challenges?
Prince Wong Ji-yuet is now in her first year of studies at Lingnan UniversityDAB lawmaker Christopher Chung Shu-kun holds a PhD and is a member of the University of Hong Kong’s court – but he’s more famous for his Chinglish. Yet on Sunday, he challenged a university freshman on her English skills.
On a Cable TV chat over whether Hong Kong youth are “losers,” Scholarism’s spokeswoman Prince Wong Ji-yuet, who just started her first year at Lingnan University, made the statement: “Nowadays even with poor Chinese and English, you can still become a legislator.”
Chung replied: “Being a legislator is about serving people, it’s not about taking English exams, it’s not about taking HKCEE … If we were to take an English exam, you wouldn’t do better than me – have you ever made grammar mistakes? Of course you have.”
Nicknamed Tree Gun – a direct translation of “Shu-kun” – by Cantonese-speaking netizens, Chung has been widely criticised online.
“Serving people? He only serves the Party and the rich,” users wrote on Prince’s Facebook page. Others made fun of Chung’s English, referring to his poor grammar when he questioned former MTR chief executive Jay Walder at a Legco inquiry last year.
But one user on Hong Kong Golden suggested what we were all thinking: an IELTS–off: Prince vs Chung!