Second, the continuity of prosperity hinges on China's willingness to respect the integrity of Hong Kong's legal structure and judicial system, which has always been an indispensable support for the city's economic vitality.

It is suggested that local businesses are already making adjustments in their operating practices to deal more hospitably with the sometimes-corrupt bureaucracy of the mainland. Corruption stands, as always, as the archetype of all bureaucratic evils of communist China.

Lastly, a concern which is perhaps of more relevance to Americans, is the issue of how Hong Kong should enter the relations between the U.S. and China. Should Hong Kong merely be a pawn on the U.S.-China chess board? Or does Hong Kong deserve its own game?

The Clinton administration raises China's human rights violations as an apologetic caveat to the "bigger picture" it wants to complete. That is, the U.S. is looking for friendly, constructive engagement with China, but it realizes that the gap between human rights standards is always the missing piece in the relationship.

Business with China is risky business. Dissociation of human rights and trade means that, if Hong Kong's freedom comes under attack after 1997, the U.S. has the option of turning a blind eye. Of course, this will contradict previous American commitment to ensuring Hong Kong's international status. But can the U.S. justify inaction?

I believe in American engagement with China is the only means to ensure the future of Hong Kong. As the U.S. should realize by now, its presence in Hong Kong's economy is a critical gesture engaging Hong Kong in the U.S.-China picture, an engagement that gives the U.S. a stake in Hong Kong's stability.

The transition of Hong Kong has great symbolic importance for the Chinese people. It signifies the unbreaking of a broken landscape, geographical and political. It is the first step toward a "Greater China," so to speak, a revival of a brand of Chinese nationalism. "Hong Kong now, Taiwan next" is the idea, as many Chinese officials would put in explicit terms. But the matter at hand is whether Hong Kong can retain its strong position in the world in the midst of the identity shuffling it will endure in years to come.

Kit Mui is a junior living in Dunster House. He was an undergraduate organizer of Harvard Asia Pacific Business Conference 1997.