On the Communist mainland, one hears constant complaints about "Chinese laziness," but in Hong Kong this myth is put to rest; laziness and zip are clearly functions of economic systems, not ethnicity.

Washington abided by this fiction both before and after it switched U.S. recognition from Nationalist Taiwan to the Communist mainland in 1979.

Hong Kong is also a major source of transshipment for goods between the Communist mainland and nationalist Taiwan, as well as between China and the United States.

During the 1980's Taiwan was swept by fears of domination by mainland China, and Hong Kong today is just three years from reintegration with the Communist mainland.

From time to time, she patrolled the Taiwan Straits to insure Taiwan was not threatened from the Communist mainland of China.

Hong Kong's bustle clearly demonstrates that laziness - a major concern on the Communist mainland - is a function of economic systems, not ethnicity.

China's leaders are going to be judged on how they manage the fragile enterprise of incorporating the free and vibrant society of Hong Kong into the much larger body politic of the Communist mainland.

That historical intrusion is complicated by the burst of Maoist radicalism in China known as the Cultural Revolution, which affects Hueyin when she returns to the Communist mainland to visit her grandparents.

That would help reinforce the democracy, which so clearly distinguishes the island from the Communist mainland.

Much of Hong Kong's success depended on the enormous pool of cheap labour from China, often directed by entrepreneurs seeking refuge from the Communist mainland.