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In 1998 the new Hong Kong international airport was opened to public at Chek Lap Kok - a piece of land reclaimed from the sea when two small islands were first destroyed and then rebuilt into an enormous flat field, creating enough space for 38 aircraft bays and 20 remote aircraft gates.' The new airport terminal is built of glass to bring in its dramatic surroundings and is one of the largest in the world. An underground train shuttles passengers within the terminal; an expressway and a high-speed railroad cross a series of bridges and islands to connect it to the metropolitan area and provide a most efficient municipal link. Chek Lap Kok may well be the most technologically advanced air hub in the world. Envisaged before the so-called handover to China in 1997 as a guarantee that Hong Kong would continue its forward thrust into the brave new world of global markets even under the mainland rule.
In the spring of 2001, a few months short of four years since the handover, Hong Kong projects an aura of opulence, efficiency, and high-tech competence. It flies high the flag flaunting its trading expertise and global managerial know-how - the skills needed to compete in the twenty-first century. With only 6.7 million people and an area one third larger than New York City, it has US$26,325 per capita GDP, making it one of the richest places in the world, only slightly behind the US and higher than most European states. Its per capita income had already caught up with that of its colonial master, Great Britain by the mid-1980s.2 By 1996, Hong Kong had the world's seventh largest stock market, and was the fifth largest banking center and the world's busiest container port.
Named by the Heritage Foundation "the world's freest economy,"' Hong Kong is almost universally lauded for hard work, flexibility and the rule of law, and its success has been largely attributed to its willingness to transform itself and its ability to harness rather than resist the forces of globalization. As the last 50 years of its uninterrupted growth attest - from a humble trading entry port for China at the end of World War 2, to a low-cost manufacturing center for cheap clothing,...