Monday March 05 2001

EVIAN WONG started practising her Falun Gong exercises shortly after the Hong Kong handover in 1997. Every morning she meets fellow members of the group in a park on her way to work.

Now she has paid a price for supporting an organisation which is legal in the former colony: she has lost her job.

She is a victim of changing official attitudes under pressure from Beijing, which have, in turn, led to a changing approach to civil liberties. Hong Kong is on the way to becoming "just another Chinese city", local experts say.

Her employer at a trading company was worried that his business would be affected if customers and officials found out about Mrs Wong's exercises.

"My boss knew from the beginning that I was practising Falun Gong," she said. "He agreed that it wasn't affecting my work. When China launched its big crackdown, he asked me to practise only at home and not in a park."

Mrs Wong felt she had won the argument after telling her employer: "This is my right." But the situation changed again when the Hong Kong Government came under pressure from Beijing.