The new Hong Kong

On 1 July, Hong Kong marks the 10th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule after 156 years of British administration.

I must say the Chinese have handled their takeover very well. "The river erodes the mountain" as they say. They are gradually moving their cadres into positions of power and adopting a softly-softly approach in reducing human rights there. This contrasts with their heavy-handedness in Tibet and the blood-letting that accompanied Tiananmen Square.

In the recent 2-3 years, the biggest changed I found is the press. I have the feeling that 90% of the press is going through a self-scrutiny process as to avoid publishing anything that may anger Beijing. Many news that make China look bad such as mining accidents, official corruption, and the recent slavery issue I found in AP, CNN or Reuters were not even mentioned in many Chinese language news publications in Hong Kong. I think 'freedom of the press' is slowly eroding in Hong Kong.