Vines said "It's unfortunate that the people I spoke to when writing this chapter declined to be named: however, I think I have managed to piece together a reasonable picture of how the process of giving Hong Kong back to China began. Part of my research into this matter was published in a lengthy article, which appeared in the Observer newspaper back in 1991. I had hoped that its publication would flush out more information and was pleasantly surprised to find that it did. One of the key participants in the negotiations, to whom I had talked previously, contacted me to say he was unhappy with the thrust of the article, which alleged that Britain had bungled the start of the negotiations with China and this had forced the Chinese government into a position where it had little alternative but to demand the return of sovereignty over Hong Kong. I now feel that the position I adopted in the article was somewhat simplistic and took insufficient account of China's almost obsessive desire to secure that it say as the reunification of the Motherland. My previous views also underestimated China's desire to expunge the humiliation of ceding parts of Chinese territory to foreigners. Therefore I now tend towards the view that China may well have intended to take Hong Kong back but had no very clear plan for doing so until Britain obligingly provided an opening."
We can only hope that Vines and others like him with similar sensitivity and perspective will remain in Hong Kong for a long time and continue to make their views known. His main contribution now is as a correspondent for London's The Independent. I would hope that Steve doesn't spend too much time on his China business ventures. We have all tried at one time or another to get rich in Hong Kong; the place has that effect on you.
But I have never met anyone who tried to become a communist in Hong Kong, (4)
There is a little red sticker affixed to the cover of Hong Kong China: The Red Dawn, "edited by Chris Yeung. The sticker says "A must read for anyone doing business in Hong Kong or China."
Business. There it is again, the B-word; business not only sells books but it is still Hong Kong's strongest selling point and favorite topic of conversation.
One of the many "Doing Business in China" books is bound to out-sell "A Many Splendored Thing" every time.
I strongly recommend this book for the generalist who wants to catch up fast on Hong Kong-across-the-board since the handover.
Former Hong Kong Journalists Association Chairperson Carol Lai and media analyst Andy Ho, a South China Morning Post columnist, get right to the point in their chapter "How Free Is The Press?":
