The most efficient companies in China are new privately owned domestic firms, which make an average return on equity of 19%, according to research by the City University of Hong Kong.

ECONOMIST: Infatuation��s end

S. Cheng, City University of Hong Kong Press.

ECONOMIST: Sources and acknowledgements

"In terms of hardware, I don't worry, and I think that Hong Kong is the best-prepared city in the world, " said Justin Wu of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, one of the doctors on the front lines during the SARS crisis.

WSJ: Hong Kong Steps Up Bird-Flu Measures

"Hong Kong has a stair culture which is typified by a certain slowness and rhythm that has defined a way of life and attitude in the areas of the city with steep topography, " said Melissa Cate Christ, an associate professor of landscape architecture at the University of Hong Kong.

WSJ: Hong Kong's Escalators Give Areas a Lift