Home From Home | Memories of the 1997 Hong Kong handover: rain, excitement, hope, sadness and uncertainty
- Cliff Buddle, who covered Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule, recalls the events of June 30, 1997, the hopes and fears – and all that rain
Memories of Hong Kong inevitably fade after moving away. But my recollection of that historic day 27 years ago, when the city returned to China, remains vivid.
The last day of British rule was marked by an intoxicating mix of excitement, optimism, some sadness and much uncertainty. We had no idea what was going to happen. The answer, it turned out, was not a lot, at least in the early days.
Much has changed since. But Hong Kong’s often wet summer weather has not. The day the sun went down on this part of the British Empire, on June 30, 1997, everyone got drenched.
The speech of Prince Charles, as he was then, was barely audible amid the sound of rain pummeling umbrellas.
I was sent to cover then British prime minister Tony Blair’s meeting with Chinese president Jiang Zemin in Hung Hom. I stood in the pouring rain, watching the lowering of the British flag at midnight – on television, through the window of a bar. It was not how I had imagined myself marking the long-awaited moment.
After arriving back home in Mui Wo in the early hours, I watched on TV as the main PLA contingent rolled across the border. It was greeted by flag-waving patriots. But the sight was unfamiliar and a little scary.
