Chinese students from various universities express their jubilation under the official "countdown clock" in Beijing's Tiananmen Square a few seconds after midnight on March 23. Several hundred students gathered under the clock (background) to celebrate midnight and the final countdown of only 100 days until the British colony of Hong Kong is handed back to the Chinese on July 1. The numbers under the digital "100" are the number of seconds left until the handover.

CHINA COUNTDOWN