Jimmy Lai trial is latest sign of Hong Kong’s heartbreaking descent

Hong Kong is a special sort of place. A tiny enclave on China’s flank, it rose in the course of a generation from steamy colonial port to modern economic dynamo – a magnet for struggling migrants from mainland China, a financial hub for East Asia, a bustling entrepôt with trading links around the world.

When I arrived there in the early 1980s to work on a regional newsmagazine, signs of its rising wealth were all around. Skyscrapers were going up left and right. Rolls-Royce limousines carried freshly minted millionaires through the clogged streets. Even the tin-roofed shanties that spilled down the hillsides boasted new television sets.