ABSTRACT
Towards the end of the so-called “golden years” of the colonial administration (Welsh 1994), the decade of the 1970s, few foresaw the imminent question of Hong Kong’s political future. This was the heyday of Hong Kong’s economic ascendancy, and at a time when China was desperately seeking resources it was difficult to imagine why any of the three parties involved in sustaining the existing political equilibrium (China, Great Britain, and the colonial administration) would have sought to upset the status quo. True, the status quo was always delicate, resting upon a balance of economic and political calculations as well as broader political and strategic concerns of international politics in the context of the Cold War. Yet, it served the interests of all parties (Miners 1981).
