Samuel Yang wrote:
'Returning to the motherland'

Stan was a high school student in 1997, and later emigrated to Australia for higher education. For him at that time, July 1 was just another public holiday in Hong Kong.

"There was a lot of news saying that Hong Kong was returning to the motherland. The [local] government was celebrating, setting up events to celebrate this historic event," the now 37-year-old, who asked not to disclose his surname, said.

"I think in 1997 people were quite optimistic, especially the younger generations.

"China was growing rapidly. There's still some good news about China."

But Stan said he noticed that many of his high school friends started moving overseas after 1997.

"For every class, you can see at least four or five people actually migrated to either the United States, Canada or Australia," he said.

"It was sad because people were leaving. But now after 23 years, you can actually see why people [were] leaving."