Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor sworn in as Chief Executive of Hong Kong

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was on 1 July 2017 sworn in as the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Lam took her oath before President Xi Jinping, who oversaw the swearing-in ceremony.

With this, Lam became Hong Kong's fifth Chief Executive since 1997 and the first female to hold the post. Lam and her Cabinet swore to serve China and Hong Kong and to uphold the Basic Law, the territory's mini-constitution. The Members of the Executive Council of the HKSAR were sworn in by Lam thereafter.

As a Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Lam is expected to unify the Chinese-ruled city as public resentment swells at Beijing's growing interference in its affairs despite being promised a high degree of autonomy.

She also has to reinvigorate the economy and address growing social inequalities and high property prices. Lam was once the most popular official in the cabinet of former Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, who in 2012 won a similar election restricted to just 1200 voters.

A devout Catholic and a student of sociology at the University of Hong Kong, Lam took part in social activism before joining the government.