606 { China’s Quest
earlier, Tiananmen had evoked bitter memories. Now those were blurred by
passionate nationalist joy.
Jiang Zemin led the PRC delegation to Hong Kong for the reversion cere-
monies. Other leading members of the delegation were Li Peng, Qian Qichen,
and Deng Yingqiao, Zhou Enlai’s widow. The PRC delegation skipped the
British banquet, but attended the formal midnight handover ceremony with
its highly symbolic flag lowering and flag raising to the tune of the respective
national anthems. Jiang Zemin gave a short speech, saying in part: “The re-
turn of Hong Kong to the motherland after going through a century of vicis-
situdes indicates that from now on, the Hong Kong compatriots have become
true masters of this Chinese land.” Hong Kong’s reversion, along with that of
Macao two years later, left Taiwan the only major territory remaining explic-
itly slated for “return to the Motherland.”