Hongkong's return to China:AN INTERNATIONAL PORT’S SUCCESS

Source:beijing olympic [ Big Normal Small ] Comment

Inside this building something historic is happening.



For I took this pic of Hong Kong Island’s Wanchai Convention Centre on June 30 1997 from the star ferry that connects the island with Kowloon- Hong Kong’s section of the Chinese mainland. Inside is being conducted the ceremony to mark Hong Kong’s return to China. Long dubbed “a borrowed place living on borrowed time” British colonial rule was about to end and Hong Kong was being christened a Special Administrative Region of China. For the 1984 Joint Declaration provided the institutional framework for “one country, two systems”. I had resided in Hong Kong for over a decade and it was a fascinating experience enjoying its unique combination of East and West. We loved to catch the ferry from the old Star Ferry building on the left of this picture taken during the Spring Festival fireworks display.



- many were upset when it was torn down last year. Or take a traditional Chinese junk to have a seafood meal on a nearby island such as Lantau. I was one of about a hundred thousand foreign professionals working there, and a similar number worked as domestics, usually women from adjoining Asian countries who had to forego their own family lives for financial reasons. Westerners were called “gweilos” or “white ghosts”, but it was a live and let-live situation. The local Chinese had enthusiastically embraced some of the sports that the British had brought with them. Especially horse racing! Its racetracks at Happy Valley and Shatin would be packed on Wednesday nights and Sunday afternoons respectively. Betting turnover was much higher than found in western countries and the huge revenues continue to fill the coffers of the Jockey Club’s charitable fund for community work. December sees an international racing carnival.