【明報專訊】It began as a barren rock, unnoticed and unwanted, before the British turned it into their temporary outpost. Then it became a colony exploited as a gold-rush town but tolerated by the neighbouring regime as a financial go-between. Gradually, thanks to its citizens' perseverance, it had become their motherland as they had accumulated their values. During those years when "Heaven is high and the Emperor far away", these pacifists cherished their freedom while nurturing their dreams. However, in 1997, the advent of a new lordship reduced their home to a pawn, which would be sacrificed for glorifying the unification of a great empire.