ABSTRACT
Until recently the Hong Kong-China border has performed two important functions: it has served as a unique bridge between China and the outside world, and it has acted as a barrier between Hong Kong and the effects of mainland policies and events. Even during China's most isolationist years, the border remained open to some degree of trade and contact between Hong Kong and China; this permeability has been in the interests of both China and Hong Kong. Insulation from Chinese events has been far from absolute, but the border has shielded Hong Kong from China's political, economic and legal systems, and has fostered in the territory a stability markedly absent from modern China. Since China's economic reform programme began in 1978, Hong Kong has expanded vastly its role as a link between China and capitalist countries. Over the past fourteen years the nature of the boundary relationship has begun to change.
