There were no flags, no banners, no T-shirts. The people of Hong Kong - mothers and sons, schoolgirls, men with video cameras, young lovers, old men in shorts - did not need such trappings to show their support for the Beijing bid as they watched the announcement on the big screen in Times Square.
Instead, they raised their fists and their voices as the winner was announced - and there was no mistake this time. The cheering was so loud one little boy resorted to sticking his fingers in his ears.
'My country!' said Stella Zhu, a wine merchant from Guangzhou making the thumbs-up sign. 'I'm very happy.'
She was not the only one.
The crowd, numbering in the hundreds, spilled out across the street.
They had stood patiently watching the sort of spectacle that would normally be considered very dull television - men in suits speaking foreign languages, talking about pushing buttons on boxes, sort of like the Oscars without the stars or the dresses.
