A resident of Hong Kong phones an insurance company to ask if its life insurance policies cover death at a "political struggle session" after Hong Kong is taken over by the Communists in 1997.

What may seem like a joke has recently become a fact: one Hong Kong insurance company has included just such a clause in its policies.

The Hong Kong people's anxiety over the 1997 deadline is no secret, and smart businessmen are taking advantage of it.

"We're making a buck by helping others," explained an employee at an emigration consulting firm founded two years ago. The firm's services include providing immigration information from the various consulates and assisting clients in drawing up overseas investment plans.

According to statistics of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force, nearly 40,000 people applied for "references of good character" last year, 99 percent of them for purposes of emigration.

Plans to emigrate and transfer capital didn't begin with the September 1984 joint declaration saying that Hong Kong would be turned over to mainland China in 1997. Many companies started packing their bags as early as 1982, when the negotiations first got under way.

In March 1984, Jardine Matheson Co., the original "noble house," which has operated in Hong Kong for over a century, announced that it was moving its headquarters to Bermuda, citing "old wounds" as one of the reasons.

"When the Communists seized the mainland in 1949, Jardine's was forced to hand over 10 million British pounds in capital, despite a promise that 'nothing in Shanghai will change,'" the Taiwan magazine Commonwealth reported in an in-depth article on the company.

Similarly, many other firms that have got rich doing business with the mainland have begun transferring capital to the U.S. and Canada. "The people who were scared most to hear that the Communists were coming were their buddies," a Chinese born and raised in Hong Kong remarked. "That's because they know best what kinds of things can happen."

Still, since capital in Hong Kong is highly mobile and can be transferred out practically overnight, many people are seizing that chance to make a quick buck before the big date arrives.

"It's clear that nobody is making long-term investments anymore," said a tobacco businessman named Cheung, who already holds a U.S. passport. "A lot of companies are buying cheap machines and just writing it off if they break down."

Some businessmen are hoping to get a piece of the action with the mainland. "If it doesn't work out, they can take off whenever they feel like it," a psychology professor at the University of Hong Kong commented. Others, who are reluctant to leave the place of their roots, have sent their families or their capital overseas first, themselves remaining behind while they can.

These people--called the "toothbrush set" because they're ready to pack quickly and take off--are in no way blamed by the majority who have no way of getting out.

"If you can go, then go," urged a magazine editor who said he is one of the ones who can't. "If you're able to go and don't--that's what people would think is weird."

Regardless of whether they can or can't leave, a minority of educated Hong Kong people are more idealistic. They're the ones who have formed political groups campaigning for residents' interests and for one man one vote, hoping that a democratic system can be put in place before the mainland takes over.

"Unfortunately, their influence with the Communists is negligible," a professor at the University of Hong Kong lamented. The groups' enthusiasm has waned considerably since the joint declaration, and few have persisted in their efforts.

In addition, ever since an article satirizing the Communist leaders was pulled from the Ming Pao Daily News last year, the unwillingness of the press to offend the Communist authorities has become increasingly apparent. One publisher of a major magazine worries that publications after 1997 will lose their independence and become mere mouthpieces for the authorities.

In the midst of all the upheaval, the most placid seem to be lower and middle class workers. "They can't get out, so they've just had to accept reality," explained Lou Tsi-shek, a spokesman for the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Commission, adding that their initial fear has turned into a sense of helplessness.

Lou has been leading the Hong Kong workers in their demands for a "central provident fund," demands which have been the subject of some contention there recently. Only three or four thousand of Hong Kong's 60,000-plus companies have pension plans, and the workers are afraid that if the fund isn't implemented soon, the owners later may threaten to pull out to force the Communists to veto the idea.

Of course, if the mainland really wants to veto the fund, it wouldn't matter even if it were on the books right now. Admitted Lou: "Our efforts are all subject to one presupposition: that the Communists really will preserve the capitalist system here for fifty years."

People in Hong Kong are chasing after "desperate hopes," said one recent college graduate who plans to study in England. Travel is popular, and young people are spending whatever they make.

One couple, who prefer not to have children in view of 1997 and who recently returned from their first trip to Britain, said that even though their chances of getting out are small, they still keep asking friends overseas about channels for leaving.

What are the Hong Kong people worried about? Teng Hsiao-p'ing has guaranteed that Hong Kong will remain capitalist for fifty years after 1997 without change. But the people have their doubts. "Their so-called 'fifty years without change' is hard to take seriously," a journalism student at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said, pointing out that the mainland itself is in constant change. "Just look at Hu Yao-pang; what happened to him?"

A series of incidents since the joint declaration has done nothing to decrease the anxiety. One of these was the Communists' decision, in disregard of the population's united opposition and a petition with over a million signatures, to start construction this August on the Da Ya Bay nuclear power plant.

Another was the Hong Kong government's announcement this February of an amendment to its public order ordinance which the newspapers protested with frontpage headlines declaring "press freedom is dead."

A new advertisement has appeared on Hong Kong television recently. It shows a group of friends dressed like upper-level administrative personnel drinking and chatting together, and as dawn begins to break in the east these words appear: "Hong Kong is so good, how can you bear to leave?"

How can you bear to leave? How can you bear not to?

[Picture Caption]

Hong Kong's clean, quick subway is a big help to the densely populated city.

The top of Victoria Peak is one of Hong Kong's most popular tourist spots.

This satirical "Lord's Prayer" appeared in a Hong Kong magazine.

Leonard L. Chu, chairman of the journalism department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, believes that Hong Kong is a place where people respect the law.

A pedestrian overpass leads in all directions.

Hong Kong's newsstands are full of colorful magazines and tabloids.

The middle and lower classes generally live in old buildings on the hillsides.

Hu Chu-jen, the editor of a popular Hong Kong magazine, is worried about the future of the city's media.

Double-decker buses are another important tool in relieving the city's traffic congestion.

Hong Kong has a lively, prosperous air. Wedding banquets and birthday parties are being held on the second floor here.

Hong Kong is the world's second largest transshipment port.

Residents hung out the ROC flag last year on Double Tenth Day. (photo by Yao Hsing)

Ha Kung's article satirizing the Communist leaders was pulled from the papers last year.

Hong Kong has lots of job opportunities. These are help wanted ads.

The boat people, who have no right to reside on land, are another aspect of Hong Kong found nowhere else.

Hong Kong's clean, quick subway is a big help to the densely populated city.

The top of Victoria Peak is one of Hong Kong's most popular tourist spots.

A pedestrian overpass leads in all directions.