The author compares five primitive life forms from the Burgess Shale of over 500,000,000 years ago to five new technologies invented or developed in the first decade of the twentieth century in terms of their development and importance both in the past and for the future. He speculates on some possible alternative courses of history if different events had occurred during the first decade and what effect those alternative courses might have had on our lives today.

Many people have doubts about the return of sovereignty over Hong Kong to China in 1997. They were not optimistic about the "one country, two systems" formula. How should Hong Kong be judged as a Special Administrative Region within China in the first decade of its existence?This book has set out to answer this question. Renowned scholars from outside Hong Kong, largely from countries with close links to Hong Kong's handover or other links, have addressed this question from their perspectives. These views are supplemented by introspective reviews by Hong Kong academics, who examine different sectors that have undergone important changes during this period. It is a major contribution to the study of Hong Kong after its return to the motherland.