It was as if only yesterday when Hong Kong became the Special Administrative Region of China. How time flies, it’s already 10 years since 1997 when Hong Kong was returned to the rightful owner, China. As Hong Kong prepares to mark a decade since Chinese rule, the local government’s pulling out all the stops to make the celebrations a smashing success.

President Hu Jintao arrived here Friday at the start of three days of celebrations marking Hong Kong’s historic first decade after returning to Chinese rule. The Chinese leader is expected to kick off his visit with an informal dinner with Chief Executive Donald Tsang on Friday before a packed weekend of events to mark the 10th anniversary of the handover on July 1.

Sunday’s celebrations will be in stark contrast to those 10 years ago, when Hong Kong’s former colonial governor Chris Patten fought back tears as the British flag was lowered for the last time, in the presence of Prince Charles and Britain’s then Prime Minister Tony Blair. No foreign dignitaries have been invited to attend the carefully choreographed timetable of events. Instead, the events will celebrate Hong Kong’s closer ties with the mainland, including the symbolic opening on Sunday of a new bridge linking Hong Kong with the booming southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, and the ceremonial raising of the Chinese flag on July 1.

Another highlight of the celebrations – 10,000 students from Hong Kong, the mainland, Macau and Taiwan will attempt to nab a Guinness World Record for the largest simultaneous percussion performance.

Many Hong Kong people talked about emigration since the the military crackdown at Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. Most people who can afford had migrated to popular destination such as Canada, New Zealand or Australia pre-1997, only to return later and found that Hong Kong was more or less the same after the handover, in terms of living standard, freedom, and many other areas. In fact the economy of China has great impact on the prosperous of the “One Country Two Systems” that majority of them have return to their hometown of Hong Kong in one way of another.

What about those people who had migrated out of Malaysia to elsewhere? If you’re reading this article, have you consider returning to Malaysia? If yes, what made you decided to do so at the first place? If no, why not consider coming back to your hometown?

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June 29th, 2007 by financetwitter

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