Red lanterns and posters declaring a “new era” of stability decorated main roads and walkways close to the harbour front convention centre where the last colonial governor, Chris Patten, tearfully handed Hong Kong back to China at a rain-drenched ceremony in 1997.
After arriving in Hong Kong on Thursday afternoon, Xi said the city had overcome its challenges and “risen from the ashes”. Xi’s trip to Hong Kong is his first since 2017, when he swore in the city’s first female leader, Carrie Lam, who oversaw some of the territory’s most tumultuous times marked by anti-government protests in 2019 and the COVID epidemic.