When Tung Chee-hwa wants to discuss something with a policy secretary, he summons them up to his office for a one-on-one chat. That may sound like a perfectly sensible way of conducting business but it is markedly different from the situation that used to exist before the handover.
Back then, Chief Secretary for Administration Anson Chan Fang On-sang sat in on almost all meetings between former Governor Chris Patten and his policy secretaries, thus ensuring that nothing of any importance was discussed without her being present.
Such subtle changes, coupled with the Chief Secretary's ultra-low profile (for instance, she has said little in public during the bird flu saga) have led many to conclude Mrs Chan has lost all her power since Mr Tung took over.
Although her profile will be briefly boosted tomorrow, when she begins her first visit to Beijing since the handover, the long delays in arranging this trip have been interpreted by some as a further sign of Mrs Chan's supposed marginalisation.
There are even occasional suggestions that Mrs Chan will eventually have no choice but to quit. A similarly extreme view was put forward by author Jonathan Dimbleby in The Last Governor, where he quoted one of Mr Patten's aides as predicting that 'she'll be living in Pinner' in London by the end of 1997.
Such suggestions show an ignorance of Mrs Chan's character and the nature of the administration she leads.
The woman who so wanted to become Chief Executive that she actively canvassed for support, and waited until it was clear there was no chance of success before announcing she would not contest the post, is unlikely to give up such ambitions anytime soon. Mrs Chan has publicly declared she does not 'envisage leaving my post before my normal retirement age'. Nor is there any realistic prospect of her being forced out.