Zhou Wangqing had only just celebrated her thirtieth birthday, and she was still only a Senior Inspector in the Police Force.
Her prospects for promotion within the Police Force could hardly be called brilliant, but they were still better than those of the vast majority of police officers.
Reaching the position of Police Force Senior Assistant Commissioner at thirty, as the current Number One had done.
That was probably in a class of its own in the Police Force's chronicles, whether in the past or in the future.
Zhou Wangqing's career represented the normal promotion path for most officers in the Police Force.
Since the establishment of the Hong Kong Island Police Force, even including the era of the foreign Governors, no one had matched the current Number One, Sir Kwan, in the speed of his rise.
His personal ability and methods had played an important part in bringing him to his current position, but more crucially, the times had made the hero.
Without his illustrious service record and his arrangements for Hong Kong Island's National Security System, Zhou Quan could never have secured his position as Police Force Number One by now.
But the most important point was still the change in sovereignty over Hong Kong Island in 1997.
Over the preceding decade, Mainland China had needed the Hong Kong Island Police Force to become one of the Disciplined Services with steadfast loyalty, convictions, and political allegiance.
That was why the times had propelled Zhou Quan, a Police Force Number One with impeccable political roots who could even be said to enjoy the highest leadership's personal favor, onto his current stage.
Below Zhou Quan, no matter how rapidly other police officers rose through the ranks.
For instance, Pang Yik-hang, sitting opposite Zhou Wangqing, as well as the absent Yeung