On July 1, 1997, China took back possession of Hong Kong from the British amidst much pomp & ceremony. The event represented many things: nail in the coffin of the British Empire, communist superpower gains capitalist success-story, & the beginning of financial turmoil in the Far East. Stephen Vines is the Hong Kong correspondent for Britain's The Independent newspaper, & is widely acknowledged to be one of the leading experts on the region. What makes Vines even more interesting is that he has also founded several small businesses in the region with the approval of the Chinese government, & this gives him even more insight than the average correspondent.