Look for a senior job in Hong Kong these days on LinkedIn and you’re unlikely to find any openings unless you’re a speaker of Cantonese or Mandarin, or both. “That’s a big change,” confides a longtime British expat in the territory. “It’s understandable. But it’s a big change.”The evolving jobs market is just one of the visible signs of the tilt to mainland China that promises to redefine Hong Kong’s role as a global financial centre.

Beijing’s growing influence on the former British colony — evident in four years of security crackdowns and tough Covid lockdowns — has raised existential questions about the sustainability of the territory’s role as Asia’s unparalleled bridgehead to global finance.

With Covid restrictions now finally lifted, though, and travel links with the mainland reopened last week, Hong Kong is feeling upbeat again. The local chamber of commerce is forecasting 3.8 per cent growth this year, after last year’s recession. But make no mistake. Hong Kong is at a crossroads: will “Chinafication” be redoubled; or can it make another push to revive its international credentials?