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Coins, newspaper clippings, photographs - seal them in a container and you have instant archaeology.

  As Hong Kong entered its new era as a Special Administrative Region of China, students at Quarry Bay School lovingly sealed their personal 'relics' inside a time capsule and buried them in the school grounds.

 Sealing the capsule was one of the highlights of a special day of handover celebrations at the school.

 Principal David Harrison said: 'The handover is a great event for our students, even though they are studying at an international school and come from throughout the world.'   He said he felt non-Chinese students living in Hong Kong could still appreciate and understand the significance of the historic event.

  Students selected to bury the capsule were Ji Sun-choi, Kirsten Foster, Joseph Breen and Alex Higgins.

  It will be opened 30 years from now, enabling students in 2027 to learn about how their predecessors had lived and learned.

  Officiating at the capsule ceremony were School Council chairman Michael Waters and council members Betty Mair and Andrin Blaauw.

  Ms Mair and Ms Blaauw, who attended the school in the 1930s, both left mementos in the capsule, and so those students prising it open will get a taste of the school's life over 100 years or so.

 Hundreds of students and staff donated a wide variety of items for the capsule, the sealing of which marked the end of British sovereignty.

   These included a handover souvenir bow-tie, a key-ring, an envelope featuring Queen Elizabeth stamps, newspaper clippings, pictures of the school and its principal, a letter from Mr Harrison, a photograph of Government House and coins.

  Students and staff wore T-shirts featuring the national flags of Britain and the People's Republic of China, plus a bauhinia, Hong Kong's symbolic flower which represents the transition of the territory to the 'one country, two systems' policy.

  Eleven-year-old Kirsten believed she would still live in Hong Kong 30 years from now and was optimistic about the territory's future.

  'It will remain unchanged and still be a very nice, fine place to live,' she said.

  Sun-choi, also 11, said she intended returning to help dig up the capsule.

  She predicted Hong Kong would change a lot in the ensuing years - in a positive way.

  'Hong Kong will transform into a high-tech place where there will be more skyscrapers and more inventions,' Sun- choi said.

 Mr Harrison pointed out that when the capsule was prised open in 2027 the youngest students at the sealing ceremony would then be 35 years old. The oldest current staff member would have turned 90.

  'We have all agreed that we will try to return,' he said.

   'I hope that at least one of us [staff] will be present, and what a fine reunion that will be!'   Students from St Stephen's School and Ma On Shan Primary School also joined celebrations at Quarry Bay School, taking part in a performance with traditional Chinese instruments and in a lion dance.



Relics sealed with a kiss e