For more than a decade before 1997, a jittery Hong Kong was repeatedly reassured that everything would stay the same after the handover. The Basic Law's pledge of '50 years, no change' was repeated literally thousands of times.
But, over the past 12 months, such promises of stability were all but forgotten as the SAR Government's second year of existence was marked by a mad dash to introduce wide-ranging reforms.
From the slashing of welfare benefits to the radical overhaul of the civil service, and the advent of a more interventionist economic policy, long-standing assumptions were cast aside. The cautiousness of Tung Chee-hwa's first year as Chief Executive was replaced by a rush to stamp his mark upon Hong Kong.
Nor did he make any secret of the reason for embarking on such a rapid pace of reform, repeatedly referring to the 'opportunity' afforded by the recession. What this meant was that discontent with the dismal state of the economy made the public more willing to support changes for which it would normally be more difficult to win widespread support.
That is a situation unlikely to last for long. 'This is a window of opportunity for the Government,' said political scientist Anthony Cheung Bing-leung of the City University. 'If they wait until the economy recovers then they'll stand no chance of being able to do all these things.' Nor would such sweeping changes have been possible if the administration had remained so accident-prone as it was in the first year after the handover. But on that count, Mr Tung and his team can look back on the past 12 months with some satisfaction.
While its opinion poll ratings remain abysmal - something almost inevitable for any government caught in the midst of a recession - there have been no more big blunders since last July's chaotic opening of Chek Lap Kok. Instead, on issue after issue, officials seem to have caught the mood of the public.
