CHINESE troops preparing to enter Hong Kong when it reverts to China on July 1st are boning up on English, getting used to new uniforms, learning something about pig farming and practising driving on the wrong side of the road.
"The troops are now checking their vehicles and weapons and are being issued new uniforms," said Maj Gen Liu Zhenwu, who will lead the Pcople's Liberation Army (PLA) garrison in Hong Kong.
The Chinese soldiers, used to driving on the right in China, have been issued right-hand drive vehicles for use in Hong Kong, where traffic travels on the left.
"Although the drivers are familiar with Hong Kong traffic signs, they are still working hard to improve their driving skills," Maj Gen Liu told the Xinhua news agency.
The Hong Kong garrison will consist of several thousand PLA troops, all of whom have been given English-language training, as English will remain an official language of Hong Kong, along with Chinese, when it becomes a Special Administrative Region of China on July 1st.
The PLA presence will be financed by Beijing. The soldiers will be based at several barracks to defend the territory from external threats.
To support themselves in Hong Kong, where the average wage is higher that senior PLA officers' salaries, the soldiers will double as market gardeners, pig farmers and fish breeders.
"A large farm with a 13-hectare [32 acre] vegetable garden, a 10-hectare fish pond, and a modern pig farm has been set up at the rear of the PLA base, and their food will come from this," Xinhua said.
Hong Kong's government said yesterday that a dispute between a Chinese general and customs officials at the Hong Kong-Chinese border (the first incident between the PLA and Hong Kong authorities) was due to a "miscommunication".
The deputy Hong Kong security chief, Ms Carrie Yau, told a special meeting of legislators that there was a language problem when Maj Gen Zhou Borong, commander of a 200-member advance party of the PLA Hong Kong garrison, quarrelled with border officials. Also "it was the first time the chauffeur had driven past the border, and he did not know the procedures," Ms Yau said.
"As for the accusation that Major-General Zhou went through the border without a permit it is not true."
The Chinese minister responsible for Hong Kong, Mr Lu Ping, arrived in the city yesterday for private talks with the territory's future chief executive, Mr Tung Chee-hwa. They almost certainly dealt with Beijing apprehensions about the security of Chinese President Jiang Zemin and the Prime Minister, Mr Li Peng, when they arrive in Hong Kong for the handover ceremony some hours before the British depart.
The British government turned down a request from the Chinese side for armed PLA soldiers to take up position before the handover, believed prompted by concerns for their safety. Mr Li is unpopular with Hong Kong democrats for his role in declaring martial law in Beijing before the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.
More than 4,000 VIPs will attend the ceremony on June 30th, including a representative of the Irish Government. Dublin has yet to decide whether it will join Britain and the US in refusing to attend a second ceremony in the early hours of July 1st to swear-in a provisional legislature made up of unelected members which will replace the current partly-elected legislative council.