The Last Governor 5: Another Balls-Aching Week 7/7

BBC documentary (Final part of a five part series) about Chris Patten, the popular last Governor of Hong Kong before Hong Kong reverted back to Chinese rule, and his democratic reforms which were undone by China.

He was quite possibly the first and only leader Hong Kong ever had (with the possible exception of Sir Murray Maclehose) that put Hong Kong's interests above that of her colonial masters, be that China, Japan or Britain.

It also show the exceptionally shoddy, two-faced and dishonorable nature of Hong Kong's tycoons like Gordon Wu and Li Ka Shing. It shows how willing they were (and indeed still are) to send the Hong Kong people down the river for a few dollars and their shamefully sycophantic attitude towards Beijing (with a few precious exceptions such as Jimmy Lai and Simon Murray) despite having foreign passports and having prospered under British rule.

Since then the Hong Kong people have become more politically embolden, with 500,000 people marching in 2003 calling for full universal suffrage for the Chief Executive and the resignation of Patten's successor Tung Chee-Wah after a series of spectacular policy failures.

Today, Mr. Patten (who left Hong Kong with and %80 approval rating), is welcomed back to Hong Kong with great enthusiasm by the people whenever he returns to visit.

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[remyhaggard12]

great program, thanks for posting!

[therepublicofHK]

Not at all, glad you liked it.

[roulainde]

i have to say its very sad hong kong could not rule itsself i think it should or go back to britian or become a commenwealth state. therepublicofhk are you against the rule of china or do you like?

[therepublicofHK]

A Commonwealth state would be the natural progression of Hong Kong. Sadly, this is not in the cards for us...

[moondogjack1978]

One of the reasons I chose HK to invest in is it's ranking on the 'Index of Economic Freedom'. Hong Kong has been in 1st place on the index since it was started. The PRC has actually fallen from 111th place to 126th.

[therepublicofHK]

Well, economically speaking perhaps, but politically sadly not... But investment is always welcome! Thanks!

[knight7fox2]

RULE BRITANNIA 2.58

[kenjisamuraisamurai]

How sad.

Hong Kong is the city that i was born in.

[andrewshere]

On the subject of colonialism, Chris Patten said in one of his speeches that we would not today seek to do that which we did in another age. He put colonialism in its place whilst acknowledging the present circumstances (at the time of his speech). His actions as Governor were NOT those of a vainglorious man. As for Jimmy Lai..."a free man in this colony"

[therepublicofHK]

2.) Furthermore, during the 60s the Chinese backed leftists led by Yeung Kwong (to whom the SAR govt gave a senior govt posting in '07) were responsible for riots and many terrorist bombings that killed many HK and British people who defended HK. Meanwhile the British admin. set up the Urban Council, set up the ICAC, built public housing, offered free education among numerous other improvements to the lives of the HK people, in spite of, not because of China's disgraceful behaviour.