Editor’s note: 2023 has been a year to remember — beginning with the early days, when the borders reopened with great anticipation amid the buzz of normalization. Since then, the vibrant city of Hong Kong has embarked on a journey of hope and revival. Through the lens of China Daily, we look back on the year — from the solidarity that withstood the once-in-a-century wrath of nature, to the smiles and joy ignited by the charm of visiting giant rubber ducks, as well as the serious events that resonated in every corner of the community. This is the first chapter in a three-part series, through which we revisit local news, spotlight special features, and relive the thrilling pulse of sports achievements in Hong Kong.

Travelers stow their luggage inside a cross-boundary coach before embarking from Hong Kong for the Chinese mainland on Jan 8, 2023, the first day of quarantine-free travel. (ANDY CHONG / CHINA DAILY)

Crowds converge at Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point in the early morning of Jan 8, 2023, as quarantine-free cross-boundary services resume after three years. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)

A man with his mask removed takes a break in front of a theater-drama advertising billboard in Tsim Sha Tsui on Feb 28, 2023, the last day that the mask mandate was in effect in Hong Kong. (ANDY CHONG / CHINA DAILY)

A pedestrian walks by uprooted trees damaged by Super Typhoon Saola in Tai Po, Hong Kong, on Sept 2, 2023. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)

A Hong Kong police officer helps a taxi driver escape from his submerged vehicle in a flooded street in Tai Po on Sept 8, 2023. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)

A subway in Tseung Kwan O is flooded by a torrential downpour on Sept 11, 2023. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

Two journalists brace against the howling winds of Super Typhoon Saola under Signal No 10 in Sai Ying Pun late on Sep 1, 2023. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

A basketball court at Yiu Tung Estate in Shau Kei Wan is buried in silt, in the aftermath of a landslide on Sept 8, 2023. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

Police escort a 29-year-old woman on June 5, 2023, after she was accused of suffocating her three daughters, aged two to five, inside a subdivided flat in Sham Shui Po. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu (second from right) and election officials empty a ballot box in the early morning of Dec 11, 2023, at a counting station, after polls ended for the 2023 District Council Ordinary Election. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)

People wave the Chinese national flag and the regional flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region during a flag-raising ceremony held on July 1, 2023, at Hon Wah College, Siu Sai Wan, marking the 26th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland. (CALVIN NG / CHINA DAILY)

Onlookers at Tamar Park, Admiralty, witness the reinflation of the iconic rubber ducks on June 12. Part of the Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s art installation, the ducks graced Victoria Harbour from June 10-18, 2023. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)

Lightning dances across the sky above Tsing Ma Bridge in Hong Kong on July 27, 2023, as Super Typhoon Doksuri draws near, bringing with it a tempest of winds and rain. The Hong Kong Observatory had issued Standby Signal No 1 the previous evening. (ANDY CHONG / CHINA DAILY)