Hong Kong: Ten years of Beijing rule.

July 1, 2007 marked the tenth anniversary of Britain's return of Hong Kong to Chinese rule. The anniversary was observed in Hong Kong with a massive fireworks display and other celebratory events. The occasion was widely reported by numerous outlets.

The celebration was remarkable for what did not happen during Hong Kong's first decade as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. The turnover was negotiated by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher some 13 years before the 1997 deadline. According to a June 23, 2007 story distributed by the Associated Press (AP), "The deal was that the city could keep its capitalist ways and civil liberties for 50 years."

But in 1997 there was almost universal gloom about what would actually happen in Hong Kong. The AP story points out that two years before the turnover, Fortune Magazine (New York) published an article with the headline, "The Death of Hong Kong."

"There were fears Chinese troops would be goose-stepping down the streets, muzzling any whisper of political dissent," says the AP.

Today, Hong Kong is a thriving financial center. Its stock market recently replaced New York's as the second most popular place for corporate Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) (after London.) Its world class port facilities are busy with the traffic generated by the Asia Pacific region's rapidly increasing export/import trade.

And according to International Monetary Fund (IMF) statistics, by the end of 2008, Hong Kong will have the fifth best per capita income in the world (after Luxembourg, Ireland, Norway and the United States.)

Worries, however, persist about what could happen in Hong Kong. The AP reports that, "Hong Kong is far from fully democratic." The city's legislature is only partly elected by the people of Hong Kong. The majority of legislators are permanently answerable to the government in Beijing. "Media critics say some formerly outspoken newspapers now pull their punches to avoid angering China," says the AP.

But a professor from Oxford University, quoted in the AP story, thinks Beijing's meddling is constrained by economic realities. "They can't afford to have the [Hong Kong] government fail," he said.

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