Even if it is a natural human instinct to categorise people into binary types, society must resist this ‘with us or against us’ mentality if it is not to lose the richness of the complex real world.

Sham Shui Po has potential for tourism, like other gritty areas around the world which have become hip neighbourhoods. But it’s still early days for a district more closely associated with cheap gadgets than trendy shops.

As the government plots the city’s future, it should not neglect the potential of the arts to promote Hong Kong as China’s, and Asia’s, cultural centre.

The elusive road to soft power success will not come by sticking to the straight and narrow, but by taking risks.