ABSTRACT
Keywords Hong Kong; social change; social conflict; trust; alienation.
When China regains its sovereignty over Hong Kong on 1 July 1997, the Basic Law, the mini-constitution of Hong Kong which stipulates the territory's political structure and core public policies will be put into effect. The primary objective of the Basic Law is to implement the principle of 'one country, two systems' in Hong Kong, the crucial component being the preservation of Hong Kong's economic and social status quo. Article 5 of the Basic Law explicitly states that '[t]he socialist system and
policies shall not be practiced in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the previous capitalist system and way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years.'1 The enshrinement of the socio-economic system as of 1984, when the Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong, which sealed the political future of the territory, was signed by China and Britain, is thrashed out in minute detail in the Basic Law. The preponderant raison d'etre of the Basic Law as a political contract between China and the people of Hong Kong is to allay the latter's anxieties and fears, the most glaring of these being that the status quo will be drastically changed to the detriment of their interests.
