Leung Chun-ying, new chief executive of HKSAR

HONG KONG - Leung Chun-ying (commonly known as CY Leung) was sworn in as the fourth-term chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on Sunday morning.

Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Leung Chun-ying addresses the swearing-in ceremony of the fourth-term government of the HKSAR, at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center in Hong Kong, July 1, 2012. [Photo/Xinhuanet]

Leung officially announced his bid for the top post of the city in November 2011, and won the elections on March 25, 2012. Three days later, China's State Council appointed Leung as the new HKSAR chief executive.

Leung, with family roots in the Eastern Chinese province of Shandong, was born on Aug 12, 1954 in Hong Kong.

Backed by a five-year scholarship from the Police Force, he went to the King's College, one of the territory's oldest government secondary schools before being admitted to the Hong Kong Polytechnic to study surveying.

Between 1974 and 1977, he studied Estate Management at Bristol Polytechnic, the United Kingdom. He has been awarded honorary doctorate degrees by four universities in the UK, Hong Kong and Shandong.

After graduation from Bristol, he returned to Hong Kong. In 1977, Leung joined the Hong Kong office of Jones Lang Wootton, one of the largest British real estate consultancy firms. Five years later, he became an equity partner, the youngest partner of the firm in its history of 200-odd years.

In the late 1970s, Leung joined a group of professionals - lawyers, accountants, engineers, architects, planners and surveyors - who set up the Association of Experts for the Modernization of China aimed at advising Chinese mainland officials on issues such as urban planning, land auctions and property rights.

Leung traveled regularly to Guangdong province since 1979, months after the mainland embarked on its reform, opening-up and modernization drive, to discuss with the locals on land use and development. His recommendations on dealing with expiring leases on the New Territories, the part of Hong Kong closest to the mainland, eventually found their way into the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong.

He founded his own surveying company - real estate consultancy CY Leung & Co in 1993, and then merged with DTZ, a global real estate adviser headquartered in London, in 2000. He was a key player in the firm's expansion into the mainland, where it now has 18 offices. The property veteran had been chairman of DTZ's Asia- Pacific business since February 2007 till relinquishing the post in November 2011.

File photo of Hong Kong's chief executive Leung Chun-ying. [Photo/Xinhua]

Leung has also been extensively involved in the process of Hong Kong's return to China.

He was secretary general of the Basic Law Consultative Committee (1988-90), leader of the Political Sub-Group of the Preliminary Working Committee (1993-95), vice-chairman of the Preparatory Committee for the HKSAR (1996-97) and member of the Provisional Legislative Council (1997-98).

Since 1999, Leung had been convenor of the Non-Official Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong until he resigned the post in October 2011 to stand for the election.

Leung was also a member of the Standing Committee of the 10th and 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) before his resignation request was approved by the 18th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 11th CPPCC National Committee in June 2012.

Leung, married to Regina Leung Tong Ching-yee, has two daughters and a son.