About a decade ago， Hong Kong's return to China on July 1， 1997 sparked great celebrations all over the country. ShortIy after the handover， thek.outbreak of the Asian financial crisis shocked this beautiful island andwoke up its people from a jubilant mood. In the following 6 years， Hong Konghas undergone a long and hard period of economic recovery fighting against theresulting problems and difficulties including steep decline in the property andstock markets， stagnation and slump of its economy， bad turns of governmentfinance， and roaring unemployment rate.