Still Losing a Harbor

Hong Kong's lowly government offices barely make a ripple among its sea of grand monuments to commerce. The Legislative Council building, a 95-year-old, three-story domed granite structure, is lens dust compared to its neighbors, the knife-edged 70-story Bank of China tower and the 47-story HSBC headquarters. A short distance away the Central Government Complex lies tucked in a hillside. But that official modesty will soon end. By 2010 the Hong Kong government is expected to build, on one of the last open plots of prime waterfront land, a $660 million series of buildings to house its main operations. Humble Hong Kong,...