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LATE Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, architect of one country, two systems, insisted horseracing and ballroom dancing would continue after the handover.
Ballroom dancing may be fading, but music promoter Andrew Bull is planning to make good on the late leader's promise.
Mr Bull has been instrumental in improving the territory's music scene for a quarter of a century.
The managing director of Arena Group Limited, concert and dance promoter Mr Bull, 41, is staging the Unity party planned for 28 June.
The alternative pre-handover party, costing $3 million, will feature nonstop music from two different stages for 12 hours.
Boy George, Grace Jones and Gene are billed for the event along with the Japanese reggae dub techno band, Audio Active.
DJs Adrian Sherwood, Paul Oakenfold and Pete Tong will also play a mix of alternative, rock and reggae music.
Mr Bull says the event was put together because larger projects were not going anywhere - bogged down by logistics and requiring too many approvals.
Armed with his contacts and knowledge of the scene, he decided to organise an alternative, small-scale event free of major logistical problems.
A team of decorators has been hired to transform the 75,000-square foot conference hall at the HK International Trade and Exhibition Centre in Kowloon Bay into a massive club with tiered stands complete with strobe lights, DJ booths, music stage and bar area.
The event will be broadcast live on 97.99 FM BBC Radio 1 and is touted as the biggest disco ever in Hong Kong, providing music from 10 pm to 10 am.
Organisers expect a full house. About 3,000 tickets have already been purchased with Internet bookings from ravers from the US, Japan, Holland and Singapore.
Even a commemorative double CD, Unity, featuring tracks at the upcoming event has been released.
``Alot of people in Hong Kong want to experience the best at that time. So we decided to build the biggest disco club Hong Kong has ever had,'' Mr Bull says.
Seems like a major task, but not for Mr Bull, who, in his early days in the territory, spun tunes to packed houses. In later years he opened up clubs and discos around town, like the Canton Disco in Tsim Sha Tsui.
But Mr Bull is now concentrating on promotions.
``Disk jockeying was one phase of my life. It was a natural progression.''
Mr Bull believes the territory is ready to dance into the new era and are attuned to music because of fashion and its relation to music.
``People in Hong Kong are quite fashion-driven, it's not just a music scene but a fashion scene with a distinctive image,'' he says.
He has seen music and disco fever evolve in clubs from the days of the hustle and bump with Chinese PR hostesses to the current hip-hop, rave scene.
``All the action was in Tsim Sha Tsui back then. Wan Chai was quiet, the Hong Kong side had very little.''
The enterprising Englishman came to the territory with his parents but decided to stay and spin tunes as an angst driven adolescent of 17.
That evolved into stints as a DJ for Commercial Radio and RTHK and voiceovers for TVB and ATV weather reports.
Later, Mr Bull opened up many trendy dance clubs and even a record store.
He also played music for discos in five star hotels like the Good Earth at the Sheraton, the Polaris at the Hyatt Regency, the Scene at The Peninsula, the Taipan Club at the Furama.
He would ask his friends in the fashion industry who stayed at the Peninsula and often flew to New York to help him bring back the latest albums.
``The Scene in the Peninsula only played records. Middle class Chinese would ask for their money back if there was no band,'' Mr Bull says.
``They were not used to having the sound of records and the lights.''
But the disco trend eventually caught on.
Today, Mr Bull has his ear tuned in to the mainland market demand for dance and concerts.
``It should be business as usual after the handover. I am optimistic that it would be better with the market potential for concerts and dance events in China.
``In the last 10 years, we have been building up our relations in China.
``There's been nine stage rock events in China in the last 2,000 years. I have organised seven of them.''
Mr Bull has been responsible for bringing such names as Paul Simon, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Manhattan Transfer, Air Supply, Bjork and Paula Abdul to stages in Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai.
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