Hong Kong is glamour and misery. It has always been a place of such stark contrasts but in the last generation the space between the extremes of mega-wealth and destitution has been filled increasingly by a better educated, more confident middle class. The city-state's present position in the international order owes a great deal to the energy of the sons and daughters of those who escaped from China after the war. The recent prosperity of the territory has enabled hundreds of thousands to join, however perilously, the ranks of the more fortunate in a manner that was almost inconceivable only thirty years ago. By a host of standards, material, technological and cultural, the lives of many, perhaps the majority, of the residents in Hong Kong have shifted from gaining the basic necessities of existence to joining the growing ranks of the bourgeoisie.