Hong Kong won't fly the Chinese flag until July 1st, but high-rolling business deals are already shaping the city's future. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the business invasion of Hong Kong and China's growing economic power. Also, Chinese dissident Harry Wu tells why he risked his freedom to return to China.

SEGMENT 1

China-watcher Ed Friedman talks with Judith Strasser about the changes that are taking place in Hong Kong - which reverts to Chinese control on July 1. Communist economics and corruption in the Chinese government have already transformed the city's politics. Friedman teaches political science at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

SEGMENT 2:

Dissident Harry Wu, a Chinese-born American citizen, once spent nineteen years in a Chinese gulag. His goal now is to expose the system of labor camps where millions of Chinese are currently imprisoned and to remind companies eager to do business in China of the continuing civil rights problems there. Wu has published a memoir called "Troublemaker: One Man's Crusade Against China's Cruelty." Also, writer Bette Bao Lord recalls the early days of Communist rule in China in her novel "The Middle Heart" and in this conversation with Steve Paulson.

SEGMENT 3:

Peter Conn, author of "Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography" tells Jim Fleming about his efforts to rescue this Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning author from her current obscurity.

Distribution dates:

• week of 01/12/97 - hour 1