Less than 16 months ago, at the end of 156 years of colonial rule by Britain, a tearful Mr Chris Patten sailed away from Hong Kong on HMS Britannia, seemingly never to return. But today the territory's last colonial governor arrives back in what is now an enclave of communist China, seeking to profit a little from his experience.
Mr Patten and his wife, Lavender, fly in to the new airport at Chek Lap Kok, and enter Chinese-ruled Hong Kong via the plush VIP lounge.
He will proceed to the five-star Conrad Hotel in the heart of his old fiefdom in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes-Benz S320L rather than the governor's Rolls-Royce with its GB1 registration.
The limousine and all expenses are being provided by Macmillan, publisher of East and West, his book on Asia which Mr Patten is touring the region to promote.
With 15 book signings in Hong Kong in four days, the former governor will shake as many hands as when he was virtual mayor of the city of six million people who came under Chinese sovereignty on July 1st, 1997. The former governor, now chairman of the board reviewing the RUC, will be received by his successor, Mr Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong's Chief Executive.
This is a civil gesture by the former shipping magnate who could lose face if Mr Patten's undiplomatic excursion into his former territory results in nostalgic displays of support for the ancien regime at a time when Mr Tung's ratings are low. Indeed, to say the Chinese are displeased at his presence is putting it mildly.
The official China Daily, published in Beijing, criticised Mr Patten as a "narrow-minded, retired politician who vents his spleen over those who opposed his perverse actions" - mild stuff for someone once described by Beijing as the "whore of the east" and the "tango dancer".
In a commentary it said the book echoed Cold War ideology and was imbued with deep-rooted prejudice against China. By vilifying the Chinese leaders and toadying to those who spread the "China threat", the "retired governor has done everything he can to hurt the feeling of the Chinese people with extremely provocative language," the paper said.
Mr Patten is getting no less than he has given. His book describes China as the "last evil empire". The ex-governor used quotations from the revered Chinese scholar Confucius to confound his antagonists, and the China Daily found one to throw back in his face: "Clever talk and a pretentious manner are seldom found in the good."
In Australia last week, Mr Patten commented: "If Confucius were alive today, he would have been locked up and allowed out just before [China's] Olympic bid."