In June 1995, two years before this longtime British colony and its 6 million crown subjects were due to be handed over to communist China, Fortune Magazine printed a famously controversial — and widely panned — cover story titled “The Death of Hong Kong.” It predicted that once business-friendly Hong Kong became infected with China’s culture of corruption and patronage, this glittering international finance hub would become just another typical mainland city. “In fact,” the article declared, “the naked truth about Hong Kong’s future can be summed up in two words: It’s over.”
