Letters | To friends who loved her, Leung Chai-yan was kind, brilliant and brave
Readers pay tribute to the late daughter of former chief executive Leung Chun-ying, and discuss ways to promote pet-friendly transit, making air quality information more accessible, and Chinese soldiers involved in the Ukraine war
Chai-yan was both intelligent and studious, with the potential to pursue whatever career she wanted. She was multitalented: a phenomenal mathematician and linguist; a gifted harpist and pianist from a young age; and someone who could bring down the house in a comedic school play. Her sense of humour was singular and sometimes misunderstood. It lives on in the photos, videos and voice notes still shared between us, each one a reminder of how sharply funny and creative she could be. We’ll treasure them always.
To us, Chai-yan always emphasised her deep respect and love for her family and her pride in their many accomplishments. She was a devoted and admiring sister. She was excited to give us updates on the impressive international work of her sister Chung-yan, with whom we were also at school.
Her true children were her pets: she was a devoted dog lover and poured herself into taking incredible care of her own fur babies and other rescues, including Rusty, Speedy, Guju, Lafite, Bond, Scotty, Charlie and Belle. She was a loyal friend, always cheering on those she loved and finding genuine joy in their successes. We will miss the deep meaningful conversations on dog walks.
Chai-yan was a patriot and loved Hong Kong and Chinese culture. Without fail, she would wish all her British friends a Happy Lunar New Year, reflecting her thoughtfulness and pride in where she came from. She taught some of us Chinese language at school, enabling one in our friendship group to go on and co-found a business in China, sparked by Chai-yan’s generosity of spirit all those years ago.