In Hong Kong, people who come from impoverished families but are diligent, professional and successful at work earn great respect, making themselves an example for the masses. Hong Kong natives believe that great oaks grow from little acorns.

Like Donald Tsang, the incumbent Chief Executive of the HKSAR, Leung Chun-ying was also born into a police family. In his childhood, Leung's father's 300-yuan monthly salary could seldom provide for a family of five. To make things even worse, they had to move out of the police quarters after Leung’s father's retirement; public housing was not accessible. To support his family, Leung and his two sisters helped their parents make plastic flowers. The then nine-year-old Leung went to school in the afternoon and worked during the other time of the day. After several years, the family was able to afford an apartment and Leung became a middle school student at King's College. Leung learned to be courageous and self-reliant through these early life experiences.

Leung Chun-ying went to study in the UK from 1974 to 1977, and worked his way through college. He clocked in at a fast food restaurant three nights a week and didn’t return to his dorm until the following morning. To save on traffic expenses, he commuted to school on foot. Even so, he volunteered every Sunday to go to teach overseas Chinese children to learn Chinese. In 1977, he graduated from Bristol Polytechnic with the best scores in his class and returned to Hong Kong. The hardships in his childhood and adolescence helped raise Leung's awareness of society’s lower classes, and is now very concerned about disadvantaged people living in Hong Kong.