East Asia is now struggling to get back to normal after a week celebrating the Lunar New Year. For most parts of the region, The Year of the Tiger has come in not with a roar but with a whimper. Many people are too preoccupied with the economic crisis and the threat of losing their jobs to celebrate too heartily. In Hong Kong the first New Year under Chinese sovereignty has been a subdued event - characterised more by gloom than optimism. Jill McGivering has been watching the change of year.

In the middle of the Lunar New Year holidays, I came across a crowd of about 100 people solemnly lining the concrete walkways, staring down at the road below. I thought at first they were waiting for a New Year parade to pass by - but the fluttering blue and white police cordons changed my mind. Down on the ground, depressed policemen were crunching their way across a road, littered with shards of broken glass. In the middle of the flyover, a double-decker bus lay marooned on its side, its roof sliced off, its rows of brightly coloured seats given a sudden exposure to the winter sunlight. The watching faces were grim but clearly determined not to leave, transfixed by some morbid fascination with disaster. Welcome to the Year of the Tiger.

Being gloomy is fast becoming addictive here. Hong Kong's population has been traumatised in the last few months, first by the mysterious avian flu which led to the mass slaughter of Hong Kong's 1.5 million chickens, then by crashing stock markets and collapsing local companies.

The lack of fresh chicken posed a peculiar dilemma. Traditionally poultry is a favourite dish for the New Year holiday, and pieces of chicken are offered at ancestral shrines to bring good luck in the year to come. But despite frantic attempts, the authorities didn't manage to start the re-import of live chickens in time for the holiday. Local experts in Chinese customs said offerings of frozen chicken would be just as acceptable to the spirit world, but there was a general peevishness, particularly amongst the older, more superstitious generation.

On the economic front, Hong Kong isn't suffering on the same scale as some of its Asian neighbours, but it somehow seems to think it is. The political uncertainties of the handover, seven months ago, suddenly seem naive, almost fond memories. No one knew then that the real villain of the piece, economic disaster, was lurking just around the corner.

About 5,000 people have lost their jobs here in recent months. Many more redundancies are expected to follow as the collapse in consumer spending forces local businesses to their knees. The stock market crash sliced through local savings at all levels. Rising mortgage rates have added an extra burden.

The first newspapers after the New Year break said it all. The obligatory picture of exploding fireworks in the harbour sat side by side with a story that the chief executive's popularity ratings have fallen to a record low. Tung Chee-hwa's old-fashioned, grandfatherly style of leadership may have served him well in dealing with Beijing, but it's proving too passive a style to inspire a community hit where it hurts - in their wallets.

Even his own hand-picked legislature is rebelling. The pro-business Liberal Party is now pressing Mr Tung publicly to do more. "Wait and see was all very well three months ago," they say, "now we have seen and it's time for some concrete action." Many of the legislators are now offering to take paycuts themselves in the interests of the public purse. "If the government is telling people to tighten their belts," said one legislator, "we should set an example."

There's also pressure on the government to cut taxes in the forthcoming budget, as a way of easing the impact of the economic crisis on ordinary people. This, they argue, would be a powerful symbol that the government cares. But so far the government has failed to show enthusiasm about a plan which would cut its own revenue.

Turning round the climate of despair won't be easy. Counsellors say the number of people seeking help is rising sharply, and about one in three new clients is suicidal. As families come under pressure, domestic violence and child abuse are both on the increase, and in the rush to economise some parents are pulling their children out of kindergartens to save on fees.

Going to the cinema is one of the few ways of escaping the gloom. And one film in particular has transfixed Hong Kong. It's already becoming the top-grossing film of all time here. It's an epic Hollywood production which seems to have tapped perfectly into the local mood. Perhaps you've seen it. It's called Titanic.
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