If anyone still has any doubts that Hong Kong is in trouble, they need only listen to Tung Chee-hwa, the territory's chief executive.

"Our economy is facing difficulties unprecedented since World War II," the city's grandfatherly leader said in his annual policy speech on Wednesday. The economy was in the throes of restructuring that would take a long time, he said, before adding weakly: "But that does not mean we should be pessimistic."