Letter to BS: Hong Kong district council elections show all is not lost

It is only because the government of China decided to deepen its control on the erstwhile city-state that all hell broke loose

Compliments for your editorial “Signals from Hong Kong” (November 29) beautifully analysing the ground realities in the country.  Hope the authoritarian Chinese regime is listening. Hong Kong's unique attributes, which have been honed over centuries just can't be replicated in a year or two — as indeed the Chinese government has learnt through their efforts in Macao and Shanghai. Macao's beautiful casinos have managed to attract gamblers — especially from the sub-continent —  but that, as you say, means only "limited success"; not even a small fraction of what Hong Kong has been doing. 

During the 22 years since the UK