In June 1992 Chris Patten went to Hong Kong as the last British governor.
Over the next five years he kept a diary, describing in detail how Hong Kong was run as a British colony and what happened as the handover approached. Unexpectedly, his opponents included not only the Chinese themselves, but some British businessmen and civil service mandarins, for whom political freedom and the rule of law in Hong Kong seemed less important than keeping on the right side of Beijing. Lord Patten offers an account of what has happened in Hong Kong since the handover and reflections on how to deal with China – then and now.