They say you can take the boy out of the county, Africa in this case, but you can't take the country out of the boy. One Johannesburg native, Richard Green, may have made Hong Kong his home for the past five years, but his heart is still in South Africa.

"I'd love to work there again if the opportunity came up," sighs the 30-something Green, noting, "There are so many of us outside the country and that's not a good thing for development."

Green was born to an English furniture manufacturer and a South African teacher and spent his growing-up years traveling back and forth between the two countries. And, because his mother never adjusted to the English climate, they eventually settled in Johannesburg. He now returns about twice a year to visit his retired parents.