Earlier this month the Chinese government announced that it was planning to “improve” district administration, an overhaul that would see the number of publicly elected seats slashed. The day after Paul Zimmerman, the vice-chairperson of the Southern District Council, where he represents Pok Fu Lam, a quiet, middle class residential area home to a number of international schools, wrote to the 5,000-odd residents that the changes would “ultimately [be] a loss for everyone – the public, the city, and the government at all levels.”