After more than a decade of 'gau-tsat' ('97) jitters, there was a sense of 'so far, so good' in the days immediately following the handover.
'All of a sudden, the inception of the SAR coincided with the eclipse of politics in Hong Kong,' Professor Lau Siu-kai wrote in the book The First Tung Chee-hwa Administration. Hindsight shows that it was the calm before a long spell of stormy political weather.
Triggered by the Asian financial turmoil, Hong Kong's economic miracle was shattered. Stock and property markets slumped. Unemployment shot up. The popularity of Mr Tung and the government nosedived in the wake of a host of policy blunders and the mishandling of crises. Chief among these, official arrogance in handling the legislative process of the Article 23 national security law in 2003 unleashed pent-up frustration and sparked a protest march by 500,000 people.
Citing sore legs, Mr Tung stood down two years later, launching the reign of Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, who last Monday received a letter of appointment from Premier Wen Jiabao for his second term.
Groomed in the colonial administration, Mr Tsang - who became chief secretary in 2001 when Anson Chan Fang On-sang took early retirement - underscored the importance of a change of style and mind-set in governance.
'We can no longer just follow the rules. We must embrace change and embrace the future ... The government decision-making process inherited from the colonial era must change,' he said.
