A rather dry joke is doing the rounds of the diplomatic cocktail circuit these days. It concerns the massive Chinese Foreign Ministry building, now under construction in Mid-Levels as a gift to Beijing from tycoon Li Ka-shing.
'When the Chinese learnt the British were building their own consulate at Admiralty, they had to have their own larger building,' the joke-teller says to a crowd of stiff-lipped senior diplomats.
'When they were aware the British were going to have upwards of 150 staff, the Chinese had to have 300. The only problem is they now have to find something for them to do.' It usually elicits slight chuckles and occasionally some consulate officials will stare down darkly into their drinks.
Standing like a sentinel on the hillside overlooking Admiralty and the harbour, the Foreign Ministry building remains wrapped in a green shroud of bamboo scaffolding and netting.
Just as its appearance to the public below remains a mystery while the covers remain, so does its function in the Special Administrative Region.
This is provoking concern in Hong Kong's normally docile consular corps.
As they sit at their desks writing cables and pondering future life under Chinese rule, the view of the edifice is disturbing some diplomats.