Sir Christopher Hum KCMG

Christopher Hum was born on 27 January 1946 and educated at Pembroke College Cambridge, where he graduated with First Class Honours and is now an Honorary Fellow. He joined HM Diplomatic Service in 1967 and in 1968 was posted to Hong Kong to study Mandarin Chinese at Hong Kong University.

Some 18 years of his diplomatic career were spent working in or on China, culminating in almost four years as British Ambassador in Beijing (2002-2005). He was also closely involved in the negotiations in the 1980s and 1990s which led to the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997. Other diplomatic postings were in Brussels (European Communities), Paris, New York (United Nations) and Warsaw (as Ambassador, 1996-1998). He was knighted in 2003.

In January 2006, on retirement from the Diplomatic Service, Christopher Hum was elected Master of Gonville and Caius College Cambridge. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the China Policy Institute in the University of Nottingham, and of the Executive Committee of the Great Britain - China Centre.

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