Back in the PRC -- Version 4.0

So its been a couple of years now since I last set foot in the People's Republic, since then, the Country has not sat idle; becoming not only the largest U.S. creditor (surpassing Japan), but also further leaping into the financial headlines by virtue of home-grown Internet start-up Ali Baba making history as the largest IPO (25 Billion) in U.S. Stock Market history.

But its not all dollars and cents that has grabbed headlines this past year.  While not as evident in the Mainland media, other seismic events have shaken and stirred the Country's ruling Party officials from a source seen previously not as restless.

China's Special Administrative Region (SAR) of Hong Kong, with it's "Umbrella Revolution" became  the most recent focus of news organizations the world over; hungry for the flavor of this mashup of Tiananmen Square and Arab Spring protests; would blood flow and craniums be smashed when militia moved-in on the assembled masses?

In the end, other than some shady goons recruited from local Triads, there was little carnage; and other  than disrupting Hong Kong's "Golden Week", essentially a compressed Christmas shopping season, there was very little trouble to speak of.  Barriers were removed and protestors decamped; only a recent quiet protest march provided any evidence of this once burgeoning democracy push against the central government.

This chronicle will examine what is happening in the once Crown Colony of Hong Kong, as well as China's other SAR -- gambling and entertainment mecca Macao -- the former Portugese colonial outpost; as I explore these unique locales and examine the PRC's "one Country, two systems" approach to these entities.  Finally, I will make my return to the Mainland, once again taking-up temporary quarters in Beijing; much to the delight of my wonderful in-laws.

Stay with me, tune-in; and enjoy the ride as I show no fear of China's elite platoon of Cyber Warriors, breaching their defenses and issue my ongoing communiques from behind the "Great Firewall"!