Hong Kong, charming city and source of so much Chinese frustration, gloom, pluck and pride. Hong Kong, symbol of more than a century of East meeting West.

"Amid a forest of masts and the sounds of the sea/ visitors from myriad lands arrive on waves and mist/ to a town where the windows have glass of five colors,/ Sikh soldiers' turbans stick out from the crowd/and barbarian officers' commands ring loud each day./ Over the years how the Chinese customs have changed!/ The horns and strings aren't playing the same old tune."

At the end of the Qing dynasty a century ago, Hong Kong's varied and novel scenes left this impression on the Cantonese scholar Zhao Tianxi. Today his poem still holds true. On Hong Kong's broad avenues and back streets, in its pubs and tea houses, you can still find "visitors from myriad lands" who have arrived on the waves and mists. Now as then, it's hard to tell the residents from the visitors, and people's speech, actions, dress, and enthusiasms still reveal some subtle cultural changes. It's just that this time the changes aren't the result of the "barbarian armies" but rather Hong Kong's imminent return to "Mother China."

It seems not long ago that the 1997 handover of power first became hot news. Because of it, some people left for foreign lands, and others made fortunes. The news frightened some and excited others. There were arguments about the Basic Law, and discussions about a new direct train link from Hong Kong to China. Elections were held and human rights laws passed, but somehow, amid it all, it always seemed like something in the far distant future. In fact, it seems just a moment ago that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher tripped up in front of Beijing's Great Hall of the People, and news media were noting the fall of a power: Great Britain was losing the last Eastern jewel in its imperial crown. And now suddenly 1997 is upon us, and Hong Kong is to change flags.

At the end of June, 8000 members of the media from around the world will descend upon Hong Kong. Their reports will come on top of countless others made in the months and weeks leading up to the handover, which is being described as one of the most important events of the 20th century. Yet just why are so many people so concerned about Hong Kong? And what, through the eyes of the 8000 assembled reporters, will we see? A ceremony? Or a public announcement?

It's hard to give definitive answers. On July 1, most interested people can watch it on TV and listen to the opinions of important and relevant persons. But personal feelings for history are what make the event soul-stirring. These are what will keep people watching and even bring some to Hong Kong themselves. Indeed, the deeper one's sense of history and feelings for Hong Kong and China, the more one is moved by the 1997 handover.

Is this not true? In looking toward all of the preparations for the handover, those relating to government-including the establishment of the Basic Law and the holding of elections, the building of the airport, and even the appointment of the special administrative region's chief executive and the arrival of the People's Liberation Army-all have been accomplished. People's private responses to the turnover-including the rush to get second passports, the return flow of emigrants, the real-estate boom-these too have already happened. Will there be big changes in the future? And if so, what will they be? The signs seem to suggest nothing major, but even if great changes are in store, wouldn't they be hard to sense at this moment?

What, then, can we see and sense in Hong Kong today? Most obvious are the '97 handover souvenirs that fill the streets: T shirts, jackets, Swatch watches, stationery, lollipops, toilet paper. Whatever product you can think of, it's a sure bet that you can buy a special '97 edition of it. Hong Kongers have humorously and practically turned obsession with the handover into business opportunities, which just goes to show why Hong Kong is Hong Kong.

Next to those unremarkable mailboxes engraved with the crown stand drab trash bins. When did they get the bauhinia flower that will be the symbol of the new Hong Kong? If you ask, Hong Kongers will tell you that the discrepancy isn't worth making a big deal over. The bauhinia trash bins have been in service for several years already, and bids are being taken from collectors for the old mailboxes.

In comparison to those visiting guests who come with handover mania, what do the Hong Kongers themselves, who live every day amid this atmosphere of excitement and distress, feel? According to recent public opinion surveys, only 22% are excited, 12% are pessimistic and about half have no feelings one way or the other.

Then why is there all this fuss about "old patriots, new patriots and sudden patriots?" Why can a documentary about the June 4 Tiananmen massacre have a two-month run in movie theaters? Why has the issue of Chinese vs. Japanese sovereignty of the Diaoyutai Islands stirred up such strong sentiments? Just exactly what are the people of Hong Kong really thinking? How should those of us in Taiwan look at the situation? And people around the world who are concerned about the handover, what expectations should they have?

Ah, Hong Kong, charming commercial center where traditional and modern, East and West contrast so sharply, yet combine so seamlessly-there's nowhere else like you in the world. You know too many stories to ever tell them all. In the moments before the changeover, people's changing emotions are what elicit interest. Let those readers who care about Hong Kong follow the footsteps of our reporters as they convey images of Hong Kong in the run-up to the handover and as they tell the heart-felt stories of Hong Kong people. Perhaps then when you see the transfer, you will have a deeper feel for it, and the next time you go to Hong Kong, you will get a sense that "the instruments aren't playing the same old tune"!