The experience of suffering and the pursuit of happiness

Mr Stephen Char is a practicing Barrister-at-Law in Hong Kong and an Accredited Mediator.

Due to poverty when he was young, Mr Char lost his opportunity to receive education. However, he was persistent in learning and was awarded a Master of Social Sciences in Criminology and Master of Social Sciences in Counselling from the University of Hong Kong.

Stephen had served in the Hong Kong Correctional Services before joining the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), in which he served in the Community Relations Department as a Community Office in Charge, Operations Department as a Chief Investigator, and Corruption Prevention Department as a Senior Assignment Officer. So far, Mr Char is the only officer with the ICAC who has served all the three functional departments of the ICAC.

He got liver cancer in 1994 and recovered . In 1997, he was elected as one of the Top Ten Regeneration Warriors. In 2004, he ended his 28-year service in ICAC and devoted himself to different community services.

At the invitation of the Alumni Affairs office of the Public Affairs Unit, Counsel and accredited mediator Stephen Cha gave a talk on 'The Experience of Suffering and the pursuit of happiness' on 13 January, which attracted a full house of 350 alumni. Mr. Cha shared his own experience on how to turn suffering into happiness. He explained the sources of suffering from different religious perspectives and pointed out that a healthy body and a peaceful state of mind were the keys to a happy life.