A housing estate badly hit by Sars in 2003 received a pleasant surprise from Beijing yesterday - a hand-written letter signed by Premier Wen Jiabao.
Residents at Amoy Gardens in Kwun Tong - which hosted the premier in June 2003 soon after the severe acute respiratory syndrome broke out in the city - said last month that they would be happy to receive him again.
Wen responded by sending a letter written in traditional Chinese characters - a form commonly used in Hong Kong but not on the mainland.
He wrote of the deep impressions that the city had left on him: 'Hongkongers have shown a spirit of unity and [readiness to] help one another in difficult times, while professionals displayed a spirit of selfless sacrifice.'
Wen was referring to his only visit to Hong Kong as premier, in 2003, when Sars killed 299 people in the city. The health scare emptied hotels and shops, saw millions don surgical masks and caused the quarantine of residents in an entire block at Amoy Gardens as 329 residents were infected and 42 died.
On the sidelines of the National People's Congress last month, Wen expressed his wish to revisit the city: '[I want] to see residents of Amoy Gardens and interact with students of the University of Hong Kong.'
Wilson Yip Hing-kwok, chairman of the Amoy Gardens owner committee, then wrote a letter to Wen on April 8, and Chief Executive-elect Leung Chun-ying passed it to Wen in Beijing.