Music critic Jim Svejda, writing in 1999:

Although he was speaking about weddings, Goethe said something that clearly applies here: "One should only celebrate a happy ending; celebrations at the outset exhaust the joy and energy needed to urge us forward and sustain us in the long struggle." And if he was correct in adding, "And of all celebrations a wedding is the worst; no day should be kept more quietly and humbly," then what is one to make of celebrating the fact that the world's most vibrant city was returned to the tender care of the people who brought us the Tiananmen Square Massacre? As far as it goes, Tan Dun's Symphony 1997 is colorful and cleverly made and is further enhanced by memorable appearances by Yo-Yo Ma and twenty-four-hundred-year-old ceremonial bells. As one who loves Hong Kong passionately, I'm afraid I can't listen to this admittedly skillful hackwork without an involuntary shudder, wondering what might actually be celebrated a few years from now.

--The Insider's Guide to Classical Recordings, sixth edition, 1999