FOR the past two years Chinese-Canadian writer Evelyn Huang has been shuttling between her Toronto home and Hong Kong on a highly delicate mission.
Tycoons Li Ka-shing, Sir Run Run Shaw, and Cheng Yu-tung have been involved. So have Baroness Dunn, the Chief Secretary Anson Chan Fang On-sang and fashion guru Joyce Ma. Former legislator Elsie Tu put in an appearance at one stage along with Democratic Party leader Martin Lee Chu-ming, Wang Gungwu and industrialist Chiang Chen. Five of the Harilela brothers agreed to participate.
In all, Hong Kong-born Mrs Huang persuaded 26 of the territory's elite to agree to her plan: to record in pictures and words the people who have made Hong Kong into the international powerhouse it is today.
The result, released this weekend, is Hong Kong: Portraits of Power, a collection of top-class photographs by Lord Snowdon and anecdotal histories of Hong Kong's top movers and shakers, recorded by Mrs Huang and her co-writer Lawrence Jeffery. The local launch will be followed by releases in North America and Southeast Asia.
Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule adds to the appeal, Mrs Huang believes, since those portrayed might become even more powerful after 1997 - with the exception, perhaps, of Martin Lee.
Lining up the services of Lord Snowdon as photographer undoubtedly helped to reach many of the territory's top personalities, many of whom prefer to keep a low public profile.
