Hong Kong: 10 Years after the British Left

By Peter Maize

CBN News

July 17, 2007

CBNNews.com - Ten years ago, Hong Kong threw a huge party marking the end of British rule. When the celebration ended, the people of Hong Kong resumed their daily lives as if nothing had changed. And officially -- it hadn't.

That's because Beijing promised to basically keep life the same under the doctrine of "one country - two systems."

Now, 10 years later, many ask "has the concept been successful?" Well, it depends on who you ask and how you measure success.

Economically, Hong Kong's stock market is hitting record levels. And the property market is surging.

For the general public, people seem to be less concerned about Chinese rule than they were during the handover.

"After 10 years I think people are more and more at ease," Brett Hilliard of Evangelical Community Church said. "They're more in a rhythm; the Chinese government is more predictable in some ways. And so I don't think the general ethos of people living and working in Hong Kong is one of fear in any way."

Certainly, the worst fears were not been realized. Chinese leaders have not blatantly interfered in Hong Kong's affairs. But perhaps that is because they do not have to.

"But I do think you've seen more self-censorship from business leaders, perhaps, political leaders, and the media," Chris Justice of Guam Financial Services.

Critics say that Hong Kong's elite kowtows to the Chinese government in order to remain in Beijing's good graces. The Vatican's top man in Hong Kong gives an example of what he says is a widespread problem.

"There's so much self-censorship in the media. People used to say in Hong Kong there were two microphones," Cardinal Jopseph Zen said. "Now the two microphones have been silenced and many papers, newspapers which used to good now are not that good because the boss is a friend of Beijing.

When it comes to letting Hong Kong forge its own destiny, Beijing draws the line at democratic development -- firmly. Efforts to directly elect Hong Kong's leaders have gone nowhere. That worries people like Cardinal Zen.

"Now, without democracy, we can't guarantee our freedoms.. But without democracy, we can have no guarantee of our freedoms," he said.

But when it comes to religious freedoms, Beijing has left Hong Kong alone.

"I think that most people would say that the situation is better than most expected it to be," Scott Lawson of Community Church said.

"I find at least in terms of religious freedom, we're able to do things that we feel compelled by the Gospel to do. We're not inhibited in any way to do that," he said.

Hong Kong's Christians are not worried, because China is seeing a surge of Christianity on its own shores.

"I can tell you from my experience over the last 6 years or so, in China, having seen churches grow in cities in eastern China with congregations of thousands of members, new churches being built, and that is something that would have been pretty unheard of 5,6, 7 years ago," Justice said.

"Certainly at the time of the handover that would not have been the case," he added.

One byproduct of Hong Kong's return to China has been closer ties between Christians on both sides of the border.

"Now the communication between the Christian leaders are more frequent so that in this sense we can provide and give more opportunity to provide and give opportunity to provide better service to them," said Isaac Man, pastor of North Point Atlantic Church.

"The answer is not how we do it, but who we are," he added.

After 10 years of trying out this unique and often unwielding system, the general verdict is that it has worked. It is not perfect and key issues like democratic development will bedevil both Beijing and Hong Kong for years to come. But resilient and frenetic Hong Kong has survived intact with plenty of promise for the future.

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