[国际新闻] 《时代》25页篇幅认错:回归没令香港死亡

美国权威杂志《财富》(《Fortune》)于1995年一度预言,回归将令香港死亡。但回归十年后,最新出版的《时代》周刊,终在十三年后为此言论来了个迟来的大平反,不仅承认其姊妹杂志《财富》当年报道错误,更直认香港比从前更有活力。$ Y6 d% v7 x* O0 b# n, g+ {

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7 r1 |2 X- L' {9 s# z. |8 b  最新出版的《时代》周刊,以25页的篇幅探讨回归十年香港的变化,并以“阳光灿烂中见阴霾(Sunshine with Clouds)”为点题。对于《财富》杂志当年惊世的《香港之死》报道,《时代》坦诚认错,承认姊妹杂志完全是“错误地”及“差劣地”作出推测。《时代》解释香港过去十年经历金融风暴、禽流感、SARS、市民为基本法廿三条上街示威等……当世人以为香港贵为福地的气数已尽,香港却一一熬过来。rs238848.rs.hosteurope.de! G9 `1 M( z3 y; m3 o
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  离回归十周年尚余三个星期,《时代》指出香港近期的股市屡创新高,物业格价亦稳步上扬,正值阳光灿烂时,不过晴空之中却有阴霾:香港前景仍受许多不明朗因素影响。
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( {1 T/ L' k4 K! y2 KJuly 1, 1997: After 156 years of British rule, China resumes sovereignty over Hong Kong.
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Feb. 19, 2002: Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, appointed by Beijing in 1997 to serve as Hong Kong's first post-colonial leader, is reelected.
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' J8 d0 ~( v+ i: y9 M, M7 NMarch 10, 2005: After weeks of rumors, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa abruptly resigns, citing his declining health. rs238848.rs.hosteurope.de9 B; N5 s  f+ ^& I$ f3 `
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The Expat Exodus
/ P0 Q0 \  ]: [; o9 T4 W人在德国 社区On July 1, 1997, as Hong Kong waved goodbye to its colonial rulers on board the HMS Britannia, pessimists predicted the city's expatriate professionals would follow. 4 c0 a( ]3 L4 Z  G  M

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Emigration
" g; w' }: F: k& S人在德国 社区Jittery about political crackdowns and economic slowdown, thousands of Hong Kong residents left town in the years before the handover.   N' i6 Q7 M* @# P4 c- G& Q

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3 \9 M# e% J+ K$ N' j5 u. M5 \人在德国 社区  《时代》分析,香港人仍在身份认同及定位上感到迷失。港人对祖国又敬又怕,进而希望争取民主独立,这种心态却令政策陷于胶着状态。保守派与民主派的对立,造成政治麻痹:上至经济下至污染的议题,双方都不愿妥协。
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  《时代》称,港人在争取民主方面的想法过于“实际”。有权投票选行政长官的八百名选委,大部分来自商界,他们普遍认为普选特首会引入平民领导人、令香港变成福利社会;另一方面又怕惹怒中央,影响自身利益。
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  t, i+ R1 C8 O" ~. d0 @rs238848.rs.hosteurope.deThe People's Liberation Army
) h' t* x1 U0 X1 ^1 X# h人在德国 社区A 1995 Fortune magazine article famously predicted the "Death of Hong Kong" following the handover, prophesying that PLA soldiers would be a visible, ominous presence on Hong Kong's streets. 人在德国 社区- M' B0 {6 ~! w* I! A
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  \5 z  K; @3 eVictoria Park. Queen's Pier. Stanley. While many symbols of British rule vanished overnight after the handover — teams of workmen removed the royal seal from post offices, police stations and institutions like the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club — Hong Kong's colonial place names endure. 8 v( R0 W' B, p) q

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, c! f/ B9 c+ \% kMilton Friedman, the late Nobel Prize-winning economist, predicted that within two years of the handover China would introduce capital controls and replace the territory's currency. Wrong.   X- S) @) \0 M3 X* u0 C

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With its black robes and horsehair wigs, Hong Kong's court system is an obvious inheritance from Britain. Little has changed since the handover.人在德国 社区7 U3 ?/ ?4 M7 J, `7 K
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Hong Kong made itself fabulously wealthy by acting as the lone conduit between China and the world, funneling goods and investment in both directions. 1 Z4 a1 r5 b9 f+ l9 q# D0 \
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* J$ ~( f$ y% k& M: Krs238848.rs.hosteurope.deContrary to dire predictions, Hong Kong hasn't yet lost its economic edge to cheaper cities on the mainland or to cleaner, more orderly Singapore.

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