The committee also decided to place this alongside a new symbol for the future Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong - the Bauhinia flower, which the writer Jan Morris once described as "a sterile hybrid which produces no seed".
So Hong Kong will march into the future under the symbols of an endangered species and sterility.
The fate of the white dolphin is poignant. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, only 80 are left in the waters around Hong Kong. Their extinction is being hastened by vessels entering the bustling container ports and killing them, and by the destruction of their habitat during the construction of the territory's new airport.
"If nothing is done to save them," says Alex Yau of the WWF, "the species cannot go on for more than three years."
The committee preparing the celebrations seems oblivious to this. Its convenor, Raymond Wu, believes the friendly dolphin will appeal to everybody, especially children. Its leaping movement, he says, symbolises Hong Kong's vibrancy.
The sterile Bauhinia became Hong Kong's national flower during the colonial period. It will replace the royal crest and other imperial symbols which still litter the colony.Reuse content