From breakfast with a tycoon to tea with a working family

Mingling with old people and visiting a working-class family, Vice-President Zeng Qinghong got a first-hand experience of life in the city and the people he was so eager to charm.

After starting the day by breakfasting with tycoon Li Ka-shing and his sons at the Harbour Plaza Hotel in Hunghom, Mr Zeng visited Sha Tin Racecourse.

Quoting the late patriarch Deng Xiaoping's famous dictum to boost public confidence in the handover, Mr Zeng said: 'The horses have kept on racing throughout the eight years since Hong Kong's reunification, and the more they race, the more the happiness.'

Accompanied by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and Jockey Club officials, Mr Zeng was briefed on facilities being prepared for Hong Kong to host the equestrian events of the 2008 Olympics. When told they were among the world's best, he said the city should work harder to achieve excellence.

'This is a time to strive for cutting edge technology. The level of scientific research should change with the times. Hong Kong needs to fight to achieve more things to become the world's first,' he said.

Then, following the example of Premier Wen Jiabao , who visited a Sars-hit family in Kwun Tong in 2003, Mr Zeng dropped in on the family of a pro-Beijing unionist in the neighbourhood for a chat.

Patting the hand of So Ping-nam, a cargo-terminal worker who greeted the state leader in his small flat for tea and snacks with his twin daughters and his wife, Mr Zeng said people in Hong Kong should help maintain social harmony and support the chief executive.