Who qualifies as 'loving China and Hong Kong'? Those who keep the toilets clean, do not damage the toilet-flushing system, do not litter the streets, protect public property and love to see Hong Kong and China prosper? That is easy, if these are really the criteria China uses to define 'loving China and Hong Kong'. But they are not what China has in mind, they were just the conditions spelt out by Urban Council chairman Ronald Leung Ding-bong after meeting Chief Executive-designate, Tung Chee-hwa, on Monday.
The question of 'loving China and Hong Kong' popped up during Mr Tung's meeting with Urban Councillors and District Board chairmen as the leader-in-waiting declared that those allowed to serve on the provisional councils would have to meet Beijing's criteria of 'loving China and Hong Kong'.
While Dr Leung's own criteria - of observing cleanliness - were meant jokingly, local democrats, who may be banned from joining the provisional councils, also have the concept of cleanliness in mind when pondering Mr Tung's declaration - political cleansing is really what they fear.
They worry that Mr Tung is going to flush them down the waste-pipe of political history.
The status of a 1997 through-train for the municipal and district bodies has never been clear. All the controversy was mainly about the provisional legislature.
The Preparatory Committee and its predecessor, the Preliminary Working Committee (PWC), have spent a lot of time discussing the present legislature, but the question of the regional bodies hardly drew their attention.
At that time, Beijing was expected to be more lenient towards the membership of the regional bodies, and would allow democrats in both the municipal and district bodies to continue to serve through 1997.