Emotional end of an era: 1997 gave Great Britain the colony of Hong Kong to China. 1200 portraits of the Queen were suspended, unscrewed royale mailboxes, the Union Jack finally caught up. that was  festival full of melancholy for people of Hong Kong.

Rarely has a political Countdown was so accurate planning. No detail should be left to chance in 1997, when the colony changed hands, as the capitalist pearl Hong Kong was finally passed after many years of negotiations peacefully at the red dragon – $ 69 billion foreign exchange reserves of the People’s Republic of China included. Months before the big day is the last Hong Kong stamps with the portrait of Elizabeth II. Printed, then the red letterboxes be unscrewed with the crown and suspended the 1200 portraits of the monarch in the offices. Before the event, the Queen is disposed of.

And then run on 30 June 1997 before our eyes everything from how planned out west to the east of the choreographers of the old and new order: In the afternoon, leaving Chris Patten, the 28th and last British Governor of Hong Kong, its seat of government, on its side, the family. He looks anything but relaxed; maybe he thinks that democracy aspirations of the last time but have started a little late, after about 150 years arrogant landlords time; perhaps he also has the most recent abuse of the Beijing government press in the ear, “whore” they called him, under him, deliberately make it difficult to restart.

In the presence of Prince Charles of Union Jack is caught up, playing a bagpipe band in Pattens three daughters, the tears flow. And the new masters sit at the banquet in the magnificent Convention Centre stiff in their seats as wax figures: most notably Jiang Zemin, the President, who was enthroned as Communist Party leader shortly after the massacre of student demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

Like a mantra is repeated this evening, what was agreed – “one country, two systems” is the magic formula, according to the Hong Kong still 50 years to retain its freedoms, its own currency, its own tax system, in a “Special Administrative Region” with far-reaching autonomy , of course an “inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China”. And again and again and Deng Xiaoping soothing words are cited, who is next to Margaret Thatcher as the real architect of the agreement: “The horses will continue to run, the dancers continue to rotate.”

On this last evening of the old time, the six-million city plunges into celebrations. In the narrow streets drink beer and millet liquor workers who can afford it, a gala dinner was booked in one of the hotels that allow unobstructed view of the water and the fireworks at midnight. In our party in the “Regent” of the champagne is flowing, the mood is omitted, as if there were no tomorrow for Hong Kong. The last minute of the colonial power is counted down by all in the ballroom, and as it then “three, two, one” is, itself, we get professional cynic a lump in my throat. For my wife and me was this city from 1980 to 1985 home, our son here High School has made ​​the parting of the Empire from the “Fragrant Harbour” is a must-appointment.

The “Britannia” is running out, with Prince Charles on board, shortly after midnight. We see on the TV screen as he waves back again into the city. Graceful and sadly this is goodbye, the end of the last colonial gem of London. The demise of a former world power, the rise of a new: Ocular can hardly be symbolism. And the sky is crying. It has a fantastic and showered before the transition day. But then open all the locks, it rains for days. Is the Flood a warning from the gods? Joseph Wong, an expert on the Feng Shui of wind and water, predicts bleak: “This bastard, begotten of the British lion and the Chinese dragon, standing before hard times.”

Soon shows how properly Master Wong is: Hong Kong’s first year under the auspices of the People’s Republic Annus horribilis for. The Asian crisis, from Thailand, to crash the stock market. Then the bird flu forces the emergency slaughtering 1.4 million chickens. And finally poison still killer algae fish stocks – “Red Tide” is the plague.
But obituaries prove to be premature: Hong Kong is the place of the permanent reincarnation and has aufgerappelt again soon. Today it is once again one of the most successful cities in the world. And has only lost a part of its charm for someone who knows really well.