Hong Kong and Macau_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 14th Edition) - Andrew Stone [12]
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HONG KONG POST-1997
Almost as soon as the euphoria of the 1997 handover faded, things started going badly in Hong Kong. The financial crisis that had rocked other parts of Asia began to be felt in Hong Kong at the end of 1997. A strain of deadly Avian Flu, which many people feared would become a worldwide epidemic, saw Hong Kong slaughter more than one million chickens.
The credibility of the SAR administration was severely damaged in 1999 when the government challenged a High Court ruling allowing residency rights for the China-born offspring of parents who became Hong Kong citizens after 1997. The ruling was based on certain clauses of the Basic Law – Hong Kong’s mini-constitution – that made 1.6 million people from the mainland eligible for right of abode in the territory. The SAR administration appealed to the standing committee of the NPC, China’s rubber-stamp parliament, to ‘reinterpret’ these clauses. The NPC complied, and ruled according to what the law drafters ‘meant’ but had somehow failed to write into law.
The mainland stands accused of interfering in Hong Kong’s independence via what appears to be intrusion into the city’s legal system, and the apparent withholding of universal suffrage from Hong Kong citizens.
Clearly the mainland government wields huge influence, both benign and malign, but in most cases still prefers to tread lightly, honouring the spirit of the handover agreement to a great extent. A measure of just how successful the handover has been came in a 2007 BBC interview with Margaret Thatcher. Marking the 10th anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China, Thatcher, to her own surprise, deemed China’s overall performance a success.
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THE TRIADS
Hong Kong’s Triads, which continue to run the territory’s drug, prostitution, people-smuggling, gambling and loan-sharking rackets despite the change of government, weren’t always the gangster operations they are today.
They were founded as secret and patriotic societies that opposed the corrupt and brutal Qing (Manchu) dynasty and aided the revolution that brought down that dynasty in 1911. The fact that these organisations had adopted Kwan Tai (or Kwan Yu), the god of war and upholder of righteousness, integrity and loyalty, as their patron, lent them further respectability. Unfortunately, the Triads descended into crime and illicit activities during the civil war on the mainland, and came in droves to Hong Kong after the communists came to power in 1949. Today they are the Chinese equivalent of the Mafia.
The communists smashed the Triad-controlled drug racket in Shanghai after the 1949 revolution. The Triads have long memories and, before the handover, many Hong Kong–based hoods have moved their operations to ethnic-Chinese communities in countries such as Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, Canada and the US. Since 1997, however, many Triads have moved back into Hong Kong and have even expanded their operations onto the mainland, establishing links with corrupt officials.
The definitive work on the Triads is Triad Societies in Hong Kong by WP Morgan, a former subinspector in the Royal Hong Kong Police.
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There’s much debate about how much influence the mainland is bringing to bear overtly or covertly in Hong Kong. The fact remains, however, that true democracy still looks to be a long way off. Chinese people might now rule the roost, but more than a decade on from colonial days, the LegCo remains essentially toothless and ultimate power rests with the chief executive (and his masters), just as it did with the British governor.
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THE CLAMOUR FOR DEMOCRACY
Tung Chee Hwa had, increasingly, come to be seen as Beijing’s lackey, often dictatorial and aloof but strangely weak and indecisive in times of crisis. Despite his poor standing in the polls, Tung was returned for a second five-year term