鄧永鏘（David Tang）中國會、上海灘創辦人
Last month, I had lunch with Chris Patten, tea with the Chinese Ambassador in London, and dinner with Margaret Thatcher. It all reminded me of 1997. That fateful year was indeed history in the making. Perhaps not as dramatic as, say, the Independence of India. Nonetheless, the world focussed on the voluntary handover of a free society to a Communist regime, in an age when the exact opposite was happening. From Britain’s point of view, it signal led the virtual collapse of her empire. In just 50 years, Britain’s colonial population went from 700 million to just 700,000! It was indeed, like the Roman Empire, a decline and fall. But Hong Kong has not declined nor fallen. We remain a thriving community, although I cannot help feeling that some of the excitement has vanished. When we were a British Colony, we were a hugely interesting hybrid. Millions of Chinese, shadowed by another billion or so, ruled by a British Governor in a funny hat answerable to remote Britain. For years, we Chinese were all deferential to the British rule. I remember a very senior member of the judiciary asking me to introduce him to the then Lord Chancellor because he wanted to be the first Chinese Chief Justice of Hong Kong. I remember quite a number of tycoons asking me to guide them through the path to a gong（荷蘭水蓋）. I even remember a very prominent member of Hong Kong asking me to see if, through a donation to the Conservative Party, a member of his family could have his prison sentence pardoned. As late as 1996, many Hong Kong friends of mine, all now fervent Chinese patriots, would jump at the chance of meeting the British Prime Minster of the day. I still have a photograph often very prominent Hong Kong faces with me, standing in front of No.10 Downing Street, having just had lunch with John Major. We now seem to forget what utter anglophiles we all were.
But everything changed overnight. That deference shifted to the Chinese leadership. Those rich enough simply dumped their past British masters and began in earnest oiling up to any Chinese living in Zhong Nan-Hai（中南海）. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose. All of us have come to expect and realize the realities of power. It was, however, sad to witness these abrupt and unctuous changes of face. Loyalty and live-long friendships seemed to count for nothing. For the wealthy in Hong Kong, as long as the system remained for them to make more and more money, that is all they cared. So we really should be thankful of the handful of people who have cared more about protecting and enhancing our civil liberties and all the freedoms which Britain, understandably, tried to safeguard for us. Yet, these so-called “democrats” have been demonized by the oligarchs of wealth, who gutlessly shun political confrontations and the fear of welfarism. If the truth be known, we in Hong Kong have been practising one of the best and unique welfare systems in the world: over half of our population live in subsidized housing. That programme of providing shelter to everyone, started by Murray Maclehose, ensured that the poorest had a roof over their head and allowed them to seek work and excel. It is a testament of the strength of Hong Kong people that so many of them, given a simple shelter, rose to succeed and make Hong Kong into what it is today. And they are precisely the ones who have enabled fortunes to be made by others.
I hope I am not over nostalgic about British colonialism. But Hong Kong was a shining example of what it could do and did. Even for India, a country which threw the British out with considerable violence, it was extraordinary that they should have asked the Queen of England a few years ago to return for the celebration of the country’s 50 years of independence! I wonder if any of us Chinese would ever remember the British on the 30th June 2047. I shouldn’t imagine the present Queen would still be alive, nor even King Charles-so might King William be invited to Hong Kong? Who can tell? Remember when Chou En-lai, in Paris for the Vietnamese peace talks, was asked what he thought of the French Revolution?He replied, “It’s too early to tell”. For 2047, it’s certainly too early to tell.