Hong Kong people have long watched and waited for July 1, 1997 - during the past 13 years of difficult transition, this tiny enclave in southern China has braced through challenge after challenge, and now the historic day of reunion with the motherland has come.
For many Hong Kong people, especially local Chinese, we have departed British colonial rule with mixed feelings and greeted the new era under communist China with ambivalence.
Regardless of how the imperialists started the colonial chapter of Hong Kong, on the very day it withdrew, Britain had indeed left a fine legacy to the territory - the rule of law, the values of a free society and an efficient bureaucracy. These are important elements that made Hong Kong stand out as a world economic miracle Embracing the future, many of us share that rationally, after 156 years of separation, rejoining our compatriots in the mainland and to be part of the family again joyous. But psychologically, we also feel apprehensive about the challenges that lie ahead.
Will the 'one country, two systems' concept work? Will Beijing really honour its promise of 'Hong Kong people running Hong Kong'? Will the central Government genuinely commit to granting Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy? These will remain the questions that linger in many people's minds in the early days of the SAR notwithstanding the repeated assurances from senior Beijing leaders.
Until Hong Kong people see concrete examples that Hong Kong's fine system and traditions have indeed remained intact, 'one country, two systems' is still an experiment that has yet to yield any result.
Our ancestors would have found it unthinkable that Hong Kong could have achieved what it has. From a small fishing village sleeping under the knee of the Middle Kingdom, we have surprised the world time after time.
History is full of ironies. The opium traders who triggered the Opium War under the name of free trade could have hardly expected that Hong Kong would become the world's top model of free trade. We rank second as the world's most competitive place and we are honoured by renowned international institutions as the ideal place to do business.