This is a handbook about the future of Hong Kong, and since events in China will determine Hong Kong's future, it is also a guide to the future of China. It addresses many issues such as: who will succeed Deng Xiaoping?; what role will the People's Liberation Army play in Hong Kong's affairs?; will corruption overwhelm the rule of law?; will Hong Kong's free-market economy and budding democracy survive China's Communist party?; will academic, press, and religious freedom disappear?; and can the international community successfully intervene to protect Hong Kong's freedoms? The authors of this book feel that China's promise that Hong Kong will enjoy a high degree of autonomy in its social, economic, and political affairs is empty. They surmise that Hong Kong will gradually lose its economic vitality, and its mainly Chinese residents will probably lose their individual liberties, and they predict that Hong Kong's bright past will give way to a cloudy and uncertain future.
