Published by: World Tibet Network News, Wednesday, July 10 1996

By Liz Sly

The Chicago Tribune

BEIJING (July 8, 1996) -- Yang Wei, a young aerospace engineer, stood before a panoramic view of Hong Kong's opulent skyline with a look of respect and awe on his face.

"It looks like a paradise," he sighed, gesturing at the photograph of a place he has heard so much about, but never seen. "To think that soon it will be part of China makes me so happy and proud."

Yang was one of a stream of curious visitors to a Hong Kong exhibition that opened last week in Beijing to mark the countdown to the territory's final year as a British colony. The exhibition offers a detailed account of Hong Kong's history, while photographs lavishly display aspects of Hong Kong's glamorous lifestyle that are virtually unknown to mainlanders.

Nowhere, however, is there any mention of Hong Kong's recent democratic reforms, nor of the clamor by Hong Kong's democracy activists for the reforms to be preserved after China takes over.

The absence underlines a key question not often asked about the looming handover. "Most people are wondering whether China will change Hong Kong," said a Western diplomat. "But maybe they should also be asking how Hong Kong will change China."

Though many residents of Hong Kong are apprehensive about their future under Chinese rule, there are no such reservations among their Chinese mainland cousins.

As far as China is concerned, Hong Kong is an integral part of China.

Its return next year represents nothing less than a vindication of 150 years of humiliation at the hands of the British: a cause for celebration, not trepidation.

"It's the end of the insult," said a Foreign Ministry official.

"The sons and daughters of China will feel a warm glow in their hearts" upon Hong Kong's return, proclaimed the People's Daily in a typically lavish editorial last week.

For China's leadership, the handover offers an unrivaled opportunity to rally nationalistic sentiment around a popular cause, with few of the hazards associated with the trickier question of the re-integration of Taiwan.

No one disputes China's right to take back Hong Kong when Britain's colonial-era lease expires next year, and China will be able to indulge its national pride in the occasion without international controversy or censure.

That pride is apparent on several public and private fronts. As the giant electronic clock in Tiananmen Square marking the days left till Hong Kong's return clicked forward to the number 365 last week, the propaganda blitz kicked off with a glitzy live TV pageant about Hong Kong's history, featuring scores of costumed dancers, followed by the launch of a 12-part TV documentary.

Meanwhile, entrepreneurs are getting ready to cash in on 1997 fever, with a "1997" brand of cigarettes and a "1997" vintage wine among the souvenir items being prepared. The government is planning nationwide celebrations for next July 1, and an epic movie depicting Britain's cruel treatment of China in the 19th Century is scheduled for release that day.

Ordinary Chinese seem to be buying the sunny scenario. Visitors to the exhibition in Beijing last week refused to discuss Hong Kong politics, and seemed more interested in Hong Kong's wealth.

"The money made in Hong Kong went to Britain, but now it will belong to us," said Chen Yi Ming, a retired factory worker, who plans to vacation there as soon as Hong Kong becomes part of China.

Tang Qiang, a hotel worker, also plans to go, to look for a job. "I've heard there are so many opportunities there because the people are so rich," he said.

He, and many others hoping to share in Hong Kong's wealth, may be disappointed. According to China's plans, Chinese citizens will need special permission to reside in Hong Kong, just as they do under British rule.

Indeed, the odds are that the lives of most ordinary Chinese will barely be affected by Hong Kong's return. Hong Kong is a pinprick on the map compared with mighty China, its 6 million residents heavily outnumbered by their 1.2 billion mainland cousins.

But the fact remains that a year from now, a place infinitely richer and freer than China will become part of China, with promises, on paper at least, that Hong Kong will be allowed a high degree of autonomy.

China has many incentives to keep those promises, not least of which is Taiwan. Government officials emphasize that China is determined to see the "one country, two systems" concept work in Hong Kong because it wants to use the example to lure back Taiwan.

But if it works for Hong Kong, and maybe even for Taiwan, why not Shenzhen, or Shanghai? If some inseparable parts of the Chinese motherland are seen to be flourishing with relative autonomy, why not Tibet or Xinjiang, which have separatist inclinations?

That is why Hong Kong's democracy activists are gloomy about their future; they don't believe China can afford to allow Hong Kong's freedoms to flourish without provoking demands for similar freedoms elsewhere.

It is a problem that has been noted by Chinese officials, said Raymond Wu, a Hong Kong doctor and adviser to China on cultural aspects of the transition. "Of course they are worried that Hong Kong's free spirit might contaminate China, but for the bigger goal they are willing to take that risk," he said.

China already has spelled out one subject that will be taboo in post-colonial Hong Kong: independence, whether for Hong Kong, Taiwan or Tibet. "It's a game of give and take," Wu said. "They will let Hong Kong remain as it is as long as Hong Kong doesn't impose its views on China."

There is plenty of room for mutual misunderstanding on that point. That was underlined last week when some Hong Kong democracy activists seeking to petition Beijing authorities were refused permission to disembark at Beijing airport. Chinese police also detained about 20 journalists, thereby ensuring far more publicity for activists' demands.