When Hong Kong is reunited with China on 1 July 1997 China will face a great challenge: to preserve the prosperity and stability that Hong Kong has achieved under the British legacy of a democratic free-enterprise system and an efficient but noninterfering government. China proposes to link its own traditionally socialist economy and communist political system with Hong Kong under a 'one country-two systems' plan. Cultural and historical forces suggest that this marriage of opposites may well succeed.