Education
San Francisco State University.
San Francisco State University.
Of Hakka ancestry, Gary Fan is a graduate of San Francisco State University. He joined the Democratic Party after returning to Hong Kong. He and vice-chairman Chan King-ming, who both belonged to the Reformist faction, were suspected of involving in spying activities of China in an investigation by the Mainstream faction.
He and Chan King-ming as well as other Reformists quit the Democratic Party in December 2010.
Before that they had already formed the Neo Democrats political grouping. He held the position of one of its four convenors from 2010 to 2012.
Gary Fan has taken an anti-immigration stance in the Legislative Council, which was different from other pan democrats who are considered friendly with the new arrivals. Fan has been calling for the government to take back the approval rights on One-way Permits from Chinese authorities and to reduce the quota of such permits.
Fan also refers to immigrants from mainland China and the quota of 150 daily permits as "the root of the housing problem".
In September 2013, Gary Fan co-sponsored a controversial ad which claimed that reducing immigration would help the people of Hong Kong to get to the bottom of the housing problem, while rejecting claims of bias or discrimination against mainlanders, despite condemnation from the Equal Opportunities Commission. Fan later introduced a motion on adhering to the need to "put Hong Kong people first" in formulating policies, but the motion was ultimately defeated. He was first elected as District Councillor in the Sai Kung District Council for Wan Hang in 1999.
He was re-elected by a comfortable majority on 22 November 2015.
As a District Council member he serves on various committees:
District Facilities Management Committee
Social Services and Healthy and Safe City Committee
Housing and Environmental Hygiene Committee
Traffic and Transport Committee
Finance and Administration Committee
As well as being a district councillor, Fan is also a part-time tutor at the Open University of Hong Kong.
Fan opposed to the party"s stance on the Five Constituencies Referendum movement and support of the constitutional reform package in 2010.
Fan was a leading member of the Democratic Party, including membership of the standing committee of its central committee.