When Hong Kong passed from British to Chinese hands in 1997, Tung Chee-hwa became the human embodiment of a political experiment that had never been attempted before. Appointed chief executive of a territory promised autonomy it had yet to define, he spent his tenure translating an abstract arrangement into daily governance — answering to Beijing while seeking the consent of a population that had grown accustomed to distance from mainland authority. He died at 89, leaving behind not a resolved question but a framework that continues to shape how Hong Kong understands itself. His life was the f