The Death and Life of Hong Kong: Eating Crow

Twelve years ago, Fortune Magazine roving reporter Louis Kraar wrote a startling cover story that was meant to provoke. "The Death of Hong Kong" issue so stirred up the city's business elite that they set up The Better Hong Kong Foundation, an organization aimed at countering the perception that the 1997 handover of sovereignty over the territory by the British back to the Chinese would mark the end of Hong Kong.

Ten years after the handover, Hong Kong is alive and well and Fortune has now repented for their dire prediction. Sadly, Lou Kraar, who was a wonderful gentleman and great journalist, died a few years ago and is not around to see for himself how Hong Kong has managed to survive. Sure, the city has its problems - the environment is one major one - but on its deathbed? Not on your life!

Here are links to the 1995 story and Fortune's nostra culpa piece written by another veteran Asia hand and author Sheridan Prasso.

Read Lou Kraar's Fortune Magazine story on "The Death of Hong Kong" on cnn.com

Read Sheri Prasso's Fortune Magazine story "Oops! Hong Kong is Hardly Dead" on cnn.com

Handover Hangover: What Were We Doing a Decade Ago?

Ten years ago on 1 July, China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong. We were there - from the firing of the Noonday Gun on 30 June to the firing of the Noonday Gun 24 hours later. Globophobe was the last reporter to leave the Convention Centre - after all the new leaders of the Hong Kong SAR government had boarded their limos to go home around 4 am. We think that the following is the best coverage of the handover produced by any news team at the time (even though a lot of good reporting never made it to print):

http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/97/0620/index.html
http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/97/0711/index.html

Check it out.