End to violence only remedy for HK's ills

Economic difficulties often serve as the blasting fuse for public anger. But in Hong Kong it has been the other way round. The public anger that has been deliberately sparked to create trouble for China has caused trials and tribulations for the special administrative region's economy.

Thanks to the chaos since early June, to the delight of a few and the distress of many, the city has slipped into a technical recession.

Two barometers for the vitality of the SAR's economy offer a grim outlook, as they registered their biggest falls in a single month on record in October. The sales revenue of the city's retail industry dropped 24.3 percent and the number of visitors was down 43.7 percent, compared with the same period last year. Even if the situation were to be settled now, it would take time for the economy to recover.