It is never easy to be a pioneer. When he accepted the invitation to stand for the position of chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa understood that the odds against him were high.
As the first Chinese person to be the leader of a city that had been under the rule of white men for more than 150 years, he knew that there would be invidious colonial prejudices.
Like many outgoing regimes, the last colonial governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, was more interested in utilising the city for self-glorification and political prospects on his return to Britain. Economic historians will one day assess the structural damage and the income inequality that he left behind.
The frenzied, uncontrolled rise in the property and stock markets exhibited the characteristics of irresponsible governance of outgoing colonial regimes.
But unlike many places in the world, Hong Kong's economy has not collapsed, because our chief executive conscientiously spent all his waking hours ensuring that the city would not go under. His courageous and resolute decision to fend off foreign speculators during the financial crisis is enough to win any contest of practical economics against Mr Patten.
Any experienced politician with a reasonable understanding of democratic developments, international diplomacy and ethnic sensibilities would not have acted arbitrarily, without London's knowledge and prior approval. But Mr Patten hoped to introduce a level of representative government into Legco clearly in violation of the Sino-British Agreement. He has left Hong Kong with numerous problems.
Indeed, a politically inexperienced Hong Kong public was evidently mistaken in believing in a white man whose governorship allowed the entire city to speculate on property and the stock market.