Li Lin

Biography

A native of Huiyang in Guangdong, Li Lin was born in Hong Kong in 1948 and spent her childhood in Hung Hom’s squatter and resettlement areas. Li Lin’s father worked at China Light and Power (CLP) while her mother was a housewife. As her family was quite poor while she was growing up, Li Lin took on outsourcing jobs from squatter plastic factories from the age of around 10 to help make ends meet. She went on to attend workers’ children schools in Mong Kok and Hung Hom before entering the industrial workforce in the mid 1960s. Back then Li Lin mainly worked in factory buildings in various Kowloon districts, changing jobs and industries many times. During this time, her key means of earning a living included spells in spinning, battery, garment and wig factories in To Kwa Wan. Turning her focus to the leather jacket industry in the 1970s, she made whole piece samples in fashion factories and so secured a stable job and a steady income. After she got married in the early 1980s, Li Lin began to get involved in community work, eventually running in the District Council election for the first time in 1985. She subsequently won an election in the Ma Tau Kok constituency in 1994 and has remained a full-time District Council member ever since.