As every schoolboy would once have known, traditionally the Chinese
have believed that a dynasty reigns because it has been vouchsafed
divine approval--the Mandate of Heaven. According to this belief,
extensive natural or man-made catastrophes demonstrate that the
Mandate has been revoked, and that the reigning dynasty will soon
fall. Natural catastrophes began in Hong Kong the instant the regime
appointed by Beijing to succeed British rule took office in July 1997.
It rained continually for months. Landslides swept away buildings and
imperiled lives. The people slipped into dejection under the
seemingly endless rain pelting down day after day. The business slump
had already begun and was soon to dip--and then plunge--further. But
initially it was the weather, not the economy, that depressed the
people of the new Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's
Republic of China.
That was not a good start. Neither was it the end.
A few weeks later, Hong Kong was afflicted by a virulent influenza
carried by a virus that could leap from its normal habitat in
chickens or ducks to human beings. Naturally fearful, the government
ordered millions of fowl destroyed. The mass slaughter, which all but
impoverished poultry breeders and traders, was not carried out
adeptly. Stray dogs and cats gnawed and clawed at black refuse sacks
containing dead chickens, as well as some that were not quite dead.
Highly efficient under British control, the Hong Kong Civil Service
made a mess of that essential execution under Tung Chee-hwa's aegis.
