民政事務總署
For a long time the department was the only channel of communication between the people and the government. It used to be headed by the Registrar General, who was also called the 'Protector of the Chinese'. Fung-Chi Au (; 1847-1914), who was the teacher of Chinese literature for Sun Yat-sen, was the Secretary of the Department of Chinese Affairs (). In 1913 the department was called the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs. After the 1967 riots, the colonial government introduced the City District Officer Scheme (民政主任) "as the first sign of reaching out to the ordinary people" in Hong Kong society. It was renamed the Home Affairs Department in 1971 because, according to the government, the department dealt not only with matters relating to the Chinese. The first Secretary for Home Affairs was Donald Luddington.