Films that best retain a Hong Kong style, Kerr maintains, likely carry "Category III" (under 18 not allowed) ratings: Movies that are "grown up and smart, " she says.

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Maxim's is arguably the most famous dim sum spot in town, a 32-year-old restaurant in the middle of packed Central district that serves classic Hong Kong-style dishes to locals and visiting dignitaries.

WSJ: The Best Dim Sum in Hong Kong | In Search Of

Shanghai's Pudong district, across the Huangpu river from the old foreign bank buildings on the Bund, shows just how serious China is: a Hong Kong-style skyline of towering buildings, including one housing the largest stockmarket trading-floor in the world, all of it built in just the past decade.

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Last summer, Benetton employees from India and Hong Kong began an assessment to ensure New Wave Style had the capacity to fulfill an order and deliver it on time, according to the senior Benetton executive.

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Despite his Wharton degree and his stints with Chase Manhattan Bank in Hong Kong and Bangkok, Pin is more Thai than Western in style.

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But in Hong Kong little stays the same for long, and in recent years chefs have begun taking fresh approaches to native-style dim sum, bringing a dash of extra excitement to a meal that wasn't exactly lacking in popularity in the first place.

WSJ: The Best Dim Sum in Hong Kong | In Search Of