HONG KONG, June 27: Even seeing is not believing when it comes to celebration time in Hong Kong. Consider this:

* A British company will spend HK $ 3.9 million (almost Rs two crore) for 20 minutes of fireworks display comprising 19,500 explosions from 6,000 shells;

* Twenty-four hours later Chinese authorities will spend HK $ 100 million for their own fireworks at the same venue - the Hong Kong harbour;

* A ringside view of the Monday night show is available at the waterside Regent Hotel at Rs 10,000 per person. The dinner is appropriately called ``One Country, Two Parties'';

* A top room at the Marriott Hotel now charges Rs one lakh for six nights. (Sorry bookings closed);

* Prices at restaurants and bars are built round the magical numbers of this historic year.

*A cocktail at the Metropole Hotel costs HK $ 19.97 while a three-course dinner at the Holiday Inn Golden Mile is priced at HK $ 1,997.

* At the ceremonial farewell to the British administration, the choreography alone will involve a cast of 2,000, two 70-piece orchestras, 100 drummers for the opening sequence and 2,300 costumes designed and manufactured in Hong Kong;

* A popular local band that has come up is called The Reunification Symphony Orchestra. A TV serial sponsored by China Central Television and titled Voyage Home traces the saga of a Hong Kong family from the Opium War trauma to the current euphoria.

Not impressed?

The very sight and certainly the statistics of Hong Kong's newest landmark must have an effect on the most jaded minds. Officially an extension of the Convention and Exhibition Centre, this gleaming structure reminds one of the Sydney Opera House.

But it's twice as large and in fact looks like a long-winged bird about to take off from the waters of the harbour. It's the venue for the handover ceremonies and, later in September, for the annual meeting of the World Bank.

This dramatic building sits on a man-made island and outshines everything else on Hong Kong's fabled skyline.

It cost about Rs 2,000 crore and was built by some 400 companies from 30 countries.

It already has attracted some superlatives: The world's largest gull-winged roof; the world's longest escalator system if placed end-to-end. (Even without end-to-end, the world's longest escalator is a kind of footpath that takes one from the central business district to the mid-level residential area of Hong Kong); one of the highest glass walls in the world, at 30 meters in the Grand Foyer.

No wonder the handover-reunification gala in Hong Kong will be like nothing the world has ever seen before.

And no wonder that some all-knowing Western commentators are already somewhat at sea. US television anchor Dan Rather took a look at Beijing and said, profoundly, that China was a complicated country to understand. That was like Richard Nixon looking at the Great Wall of China and saying that it was a mighty great wall.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.