Hong Kong in Transition

Hong Kong in Transition offers a perspective on the exceptional constitutional and administrative experiment that has been taking place in Hong Kong, based on a substantial period under Chinese rule. There have been both successes and failures, and a perceptible process of change which is important to document. The book explores major political, economic and legal themes in the life of Hong Kong since the beginning of Chinese rule. It analyses the effects of the Asian financial crisis and Hong Kong's recovery from it, the legitimacy of the new regime - demonstrated in a variety of ways: the response to structural change, the fluctuating fortunes of opposition political parties, and the measurable ups and downs in public support for the government - and the functioning in practice of 'one country, two systems' particularly focusing on issues which have given rise to conflict between two entirely different systems of law. Finally Hong Kong in Transition discusses freedom of speech as a litmus test of 'one country, two systems', notably as it is represented by the behaviour of and constraints on the media in Hong Kong since the handover in 1997. The particular appeal of this volume lies in the fact that it combines a broad overview with detailed study of individual topics. It is multidisciplinary, and its chapters may be read as 'stand-alone' studies or taken as complementary parts of a whole snapshot of Hong Kong in this critical early period. The chapters are pitched at a level to make them accessible both to undergraduates and to the specialist. Some contributors are established scholars with an international reputation; others are younger scholars whom the editors feel have something important to say. Contributors have been drawn from Hong Kong, Macau, the UK, the US, Australia and Germany, reflecting the international interest in the fate of Hong Kong.