July 1,1998, marks a bitter first birthday for post-colonial Hong Kong. Since the handover to China, the city's unemployment rate has crept up to 3.9%, a 14-year high. After peaking in the euphoric weeks before the 1997 handover, Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index of stocks has plummeted 50%. Property prices are down 30% to 50%. And GDP growth in the first quarter of 1998 came in at minus 2%, pushing Hong Kong's economy to the brink of recession.
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