Hong Kong people naturally like to read about important matters such as this in the papers, but they never let their minds drift far from matters concerning doing business. In recent years, Zhang Yiwei has been operating a pet store, and his wealth of experience has given him a keen nose for business opportunities. He's now trying to rent premises to set up a clothing store.

"See that building. A lot of people want to buy it. In Hong Kong, if you want to have tea, it's hard to find a place. You have to get in line if you want to eat. One look at the lines and you know their business is good,"said Zhang Yiwei, owner of clothing store.

Zhang Yiwei wants to open his shop in Mongkok, Kowloon, a location to which many people from the Chinese interior come to shop. After a lot of effort, Zhang Yiwei's real estate agent, Zhang Hong, has found suitable premises for him. During the SARS outbreak a few years back, many shop sites stood empty for months on end without generating any interest, but these days they're being snapped up as soon as they go on the market.

"For more than half a year, everyone was pessimistic and in low spirits. A property with this much floor space should have gone for about 400,000, but now it's worth 980,000," said Zhang Hong, Centaline Property Agency Kowloon Company.

This picture was taken after the SARS epidemic in 2003. A once vibrant locale had changed as it might in a dream, or perhaps even nightmare. Donald Tsang Am-kuen, then the Administrative Secretary for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, remembers that time like it was just yesterday.

"The unemployment rate in Hong Kong was very high. It had already reached 8%. In addition, our GDP was falling. Falling not rising. This hadn't occurred for many years. The people of Hong Kong didn't have any confidence in themselves, Hong Kong or the future," said Donald Tsang Am-kuen, HKSAR chief executive.

In June 2003 Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao arrived in Hong Kong bringing with him expressions of concern from the people of the nation. On June 29th, 2003, Wen witnessed the signing of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (or CEPA) by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, which represented the central government, and the government of the Hong Kong SAR. In terms of helping Hong Kong out of its difficulties it was an event of enormous significance.

"The real gift we gave Hong Kong was the firm decision by the new central collective leadership that the policies that the central government had already adopted concerning Hong Kong would not change," said Premier Wen Jiabao.

"CEPA was crucial to the restoration of Hong Kong's confidence in 2003. That restoration of confidence bore a direct relationship with the revitalization of the economy," said Tung Chee-hwa, HKSAR chief executive.

The decision to allow residents of the Chinese mainland travel to Hong Kong independently was initiated to stimulate the Hong Kong tourist industry even before CEPA was implemented. The move saw ever-increasing numbers of Chinese mainland residents travelling independently to Hong Kong at a time when people of Hong Kong were struggling through tough times. They could not know that a new and very positive tide was gradually rising.

"From 9:00 am to now the first tour group has finally been coming into sight. We waited all day without seeing a single tour group," said Hong Kong resident.