[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。
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3 i# j3 m- _4 ?: M" g4 ?/ F  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。7 e7 `5 Q! A  R0 E( f( C

/ I3 v5 j9 v  m9 ~( V3 |; l  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。8 B4 h1 p9 @/ @
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. F0 _/ ?: V: ^+ d; C+ [5 T3 CJuly 1, 1997: After 156 years of British rule, China resumes sovereignty over Hong Kong.& l# k: @1 g3 f' o9 _

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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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( F$ O) `6 D7 w3 i4 Srs238848.rs.hosteurope.deMarch 10, 2005: After weeks of rumors, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa abruptly resigns, citing his declining health.
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$ U! f9 O9 m$ K1 G; }# G( xrs238848.rs.hosteurope.deThe Expat Exodus rs238848.rs.hosteurope.de1 j; S1 f5 z" g  ]
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.
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Emigration
/ w8 T( L* B3 d4 x5 sJittery about political crackdowns and economic slowdown, thousands of Hong Kong residents left town in the years before the handover. # U0 }5 H2 p, I: j; n6 O- x5 y

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  《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。: }/ G; X7 u& }3 J

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. r6 x0 r( k  j/ pThe People's Liberation Army
9 _- ]; e! y6 h7 d! LA 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. : F! g, p2 {# J' y

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. }2 P" k+ \+ U2 R4 s人在德国 社区Victoria 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 {; a: s5 k) H& J3 l0 m5 w3 \" P# B
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5 e$ y" `4 V; Y% x* @Milton 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. 1 ~; A, V( P% ?
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" ^: F' F" n+ r1 _2 i- o( |( {7 R, Frs238848.rs.hosteurope.deWith its black robes and horsehair wigs, Hong Kong's court system is an obvious inheritance from Britain. Little has changed since the handover.
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, ~) }/ d# C' a9 w; x& Krs238848.rs.hosteurope.deHong Kong made itself fabulously wealthy by acting as the lone conduit between China and the world, funneling goods and investment in both directions. ) g8 j6 }4 ~8 ^, i( x( E) ?
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, P  I( f' T- _0 CContrary 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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