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Companies like Disney hoping to capture the huge Chinese market must buck up and understand the cultural and political sensitivities involved even more. Otherwise, in an age of increased tension between China and the West, they might find themselves tripping up over landmines from both sides.

What does Moisés Naím’s 2013 book tell us about power in the modern world and how is this related to the recent high-profile arrests of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai and former member of the Standing Committee of Demosistō Agnes Chow under the Hong Kong national security law? Can China's style of showing power maintain peace in society? How long would its deterrence work in Hong Kong society?

In Wei Da’s view, diplomacy is not rocket science. Diplomacy is conducted to smooth the creases and pave the way for countries to promote peace and cooperation. The devil is in the details on how countries seek to achieve that. In China’s case, Deng Xiaoping had laid out the broad strokes of an overarching strategy more than 30 years ago. While China finds itself in a much more challenging environment today, many of his approaches are still very relevant.

The US has ended Hong Kong’s preferential treatment, sparking some concerns that Hong Kong may not be able to retain its status as an international financial centre. Zaobao journalist Tai Hing Shing examines whether these worries are valid.

Hong Kong political columnist Chip Tsao makes his observations on an emerging group of people who lack sufficient job security and face a sense of uncertainty and precariousness — the precariat. This group is plugged in to social media, which means they have quick access to information, but are also able to make comparisons that might lead to dissatisfaction. Will the civil servants running Hong Kong be able to empathise with this increasingly marginalised group in society?

Heng Kim Song has been the freelance editorial cartoonist

Hong Kong and its uncertain future has become a political metaphor for China-US relations and the future of the world order, says Zheng Weibin. If the passage of the national security law portends that “one country, two systems” is not viable in practice, what else is there left except for an all-out duel between socialism and capitalism?

From the speed and single-mindedness with which Beijing has passed the national security law for Hong Kong, it is evident that it is highly suspicious of foreign intervention and threats to national sovereignty. With the enactment of this law, it may have reaffirmed its authority and returned Hong Kong firmly under its wings, but has it achieved the return of the hearts and minds of the Hong Kong people? And while Beijing believes that it owns Hong Kong, some Hong Kongers and the Western world think otherwise.

Hong Kong returned to China 23 years ago today. Little would it have known then that as it marks this milestone today, a contentious national security law that punishes crimes of terrorism, secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces with sentences as long as life imprisonment has just been passed. With the law in effect, the city has already made its first arrests. ThinkChina brings you on a photo journey through a Hong Kong that will never quite be the same again.