Our staff observed that, as one might expect in a pillar of global commerce, Hong Kongers did not fail to add a commercial twist to the end of colonial rule. Everywhere there were 1997 handover souvenirs for sale, including stamps with the Queen of England, old-fashioned mailboxes, and themed T-shirts. At the same time, our reporters found that politicians were endlessly repeating guarantees that life in Hong Kong would not change, and a documentary on the Tiananmen Incident was still in the middle of a two-month run.
The reports in Sinorama provided in-depth impressions, from multiple perspectives, of Hong Kong on the eve of the handover. One quote from a taxi driver—“Hong Kong will not change, China will change; if China doesn’t change, Hong Kong will be in trouble”—appears, 18 years later, especially insightful, because both conditions are to some degree true: Hong King remains a global economic hub as China’s economy has changed around it, but China has still not changed enough to allow genuine democracy in Hong Kong, and the recent massive protests are one result of that.
Looking at the 1997 handover from Taiwan offered a unique point of view. Sinorama’s coverage included an interview with then ROC foreign minister John Chang to get his analysis of what “one country, two systems” implied for relations between mainland China and Taiwan, and how the handover might affect Taiwan’s diplomatic situation.
The end of colonial rule and the return to China…. The soundtrack to this grandiose drama not only rang out along the banks of the Pearl River, you could hear the echoes across the Taiwan Strait.
In Hong Kong on the eve of the end of British colonial rule, there were 1997-themed souvenir products for sale everywhere you looked. The impending handover certainly didn’t change Hong Kong’s core identity as a pillar of world commerce.
In Hong Kong on the eve of the end of British colonial rule, there were 1997-themed souvenir products for sale everywhere you looked. The impending handover certainly didn’t change Hong Kong’s core identity as a pillar of world commerce.
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