A multibillion-dollar bridge to bind Hong Kong to China and showcase Chinese engineering excellence, adoring crowds and banners everywhere welcoming him to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the handover of the former British colony. The Hong Kong that Chinese president Xi Jinping saw on a three-day inspection visit last week was a charming, loyal and thriving place.
No wonder he held up Hong Kong as a key part of his “dream” for the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”.
The problem is that Mr Xi was inspecting a Potemkin village rather than the real Hong Kong. That city is a far more troubled place, where the bridge project has been hamstrung by budget overruns and a corruption scandal, widening social inequality is fuelling opposition to Chinese rule and local leaders have few ideas for closing the vast expectation gap between Beijing and Hong Kongers.