Memories of the American woman who organized the handover ceremony of Hong Kong to China

Maureen Earls witnesses the historic moment from the control area of ​​the handover ceremony of Hong Kong to China.

Maureen Earls, an American who participated in organizing the handover ceremony of Hong Kong to China. Photo: SCMP.

Maureen Earls, an American, first came to Hong Kong in 1992 and fell in love with the city. Three months later, she decided to move from New York and start a family here.

Because of his love for the city, Earls, who was then working for a multinational company, wanted to participate in the ceremony of Hong Kong's return to China, according to SCMP.

"I kept writing to government agencies and asking them, 'Have you thought about the ceremony script?'

Earls was delighted when her team won the bid and was put in charge of the event. The handover ceremony took place from the afternoon of 30 June 1997 to the evening of 1 July 1997. A farewell ceremony for Hong Kong at sunset was held on 30 June with a parade of British soldiers. The lowering of the British flag, the raising of the Chinese flag and the new Hong Kong flag were held at midnight on 1 July.

While everything went according to plan on June 30, bad weather was an uninvited guest at the sunset farewell ceremony.

"We were informed that it might rain and we had an emergency meeting to discuss how to cope," she said.

When it rained heavily during the ceremony, Earls was impressed by Prince Charles's calm. "He continued his speech without flinching. I think in that situation, many people would have stopped speaking."

She was also impressed by the resilience of local students performing in the rain. "Three hundred students could not have performed, but they still insisted on doing so, which shows the strong Hong Kong spirit and their dedication to the ceremony," Earls said.

As the flag-raising ceremony was held at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, Earls sat at the control panel with two colleagues and two representatives from mainland China.

While her colleagues focused on making sure everyone was in place and everything was going according to plan, her eyes were focused on the flag.

"As I watched the flag slowly rise to the top of the pole, I knew it was in the right place as planned, because I heard a colleague whisper 'it's okay'.

"I prayed for the flag to open perfectly," she said. "I was so excited that I accidentally let out an exclamation, which was the only sound in the quiet control area of ​​the organizing committee."

The Chinese officials then came to hug Earls. "They were probably thinking, 'Who is this American woman? What is she doing here?'" Earls joked. "But when they hugged me, I felt like every second of my work was worth it."

"I remember there was a huge applause from the audience. It seemed like everyone was pleased to witness a historic moment," Earls said.

According to VNE