MONUMENTS TO 11 years of rule by former governor Lord MacLehose stand all over Hong Kong. Most young Hong Kongers probably give them little thought, so ingrained into daily life are the structures that he helped build, the facilities he helped create and the way of life and work he introduced.
From the Mass Transit Railway to soaring new towns, the Jockey Club at Sha Tin (which he approved), the Academy for Performing Arts (which he encouraged) and the designation of country parks (through which he loved hiking), the policies of Lord MacLehose - who died at his home in Scotland on Saturday aged 82 - changed Hong Kong. The MacLehose Trail is a living memorial to this energetic enthusiast.
But historians will perhaps best remember him as the governor who raised the question of the New Territories' lease with Deng Xiaoping, that eventually led to Hong Kong's return to China. However, he always forcefully denied claims that he had 'given Hong Kong away'.
It was in 1979, when Lord MacLehose made his first visit as governor to Beijing, when for the first time China and Britain discussed what had formerly been unmentionable: what would happen to Hong Kong when the lease expired on June 30, 1997? In an interview in 1994, Lord MacLehose spoke of his hopes for the future of Hong Kong, but also of his sadness - his 'distress and dismay' at the plummeting relations between Britain and China.
When he left Hong Kong 12 years earlier, he said, he was confident that Hong Kong was 'set solidly on a path towards prosperity and integration with China'. The 'one country, two systems' philosophy formed the basis for a sound future, he said, but he felt that moves by then governor Chris Patten to implement democratic reforms had ruined the co-operative relationship.
Did Mr Patten get good advice, he asked? Did he take it? The Patten policies were 'little short of disastrous'.