No one has quite done this before. Oh, yes, the British are long practiced in the solemn rites of lowering the imperial flag. For the 68th time this century, the Union Jack will slide permanently down a colonial flagpole, amid skirling Black Watch bagpipes, phalanxes of Gurkha soldiers and the measured paces of the Prince of Wales. But for all its high-toned honorability, the midnight ceremony on June 30 handing Hong Kong over to the People's Republic of China leaves the West feeling guilty, ignoble and very anxious. In those 67 prior cases, the world's greatest modern empire was setting free...
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