Crowds put paid to crafty effort

They were leaving little to chance for Mr Jiang's visit to the Sunshine City shopping plaza in Ma On Shan.

Developer Henderson Land ensured that one handicraft company set up four stalls for the President's 10-minute visit by paying $1,000 an hour for three hours.

The stalls, displaying dragon beard candy-making and weaving, were only allowed to conduct business for the President and his entourage.

Despite the effort, hordes of onlookers prevented Mr Jiang from stopping at the stalls.

'I feel very honoured still, but nonetheless disappointed. I had prepared all the gifts,' said Andy Chin Kwong-hoi, who was employed to set up stalls at last year's handover celebrations and met Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa.

Ten-year-old Hui Ka-wai was the only person to have a conversation with Mr Jiang while shopping in the Aji Ichiban confectionery store.