Hong Kong: China Reclaims Hong Kong

On the stroke of midnight on the night of June 30, 1997, the port of Hong Kong, officially a British colony since 1898, reverted back to complete Chinese control for the first time since the middle of the 19th century. Officials from the governments of the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom--including Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, former British governor of Hong Kong Christopher Patten, and Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne--attended the ceremony celebrating the historic transfer of power. The transfer of power over Hong Kong was symbolically sealed with the lowering of the flag of the United Kingdom and the raising of China's red flag in the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Center--the site of the transfer ceremony.
 
The transfer of power over Hong Kong brought to an end more than 150 years of British economic and political control of the small region that, during its modern history, emerged as an international economic hub. Britain first gained control of part of Hong Kong in 1842, following the First Opium War between Britain and China. Sparked by the Chinese government's decision to ban the import of the debilitating narcotic opium--a lucrative trading commodity in the eyes of British traders--the First Opium War raged from 1839 to 1842. As part of the peace agreement ending the war, the victorious British Empire demanded and received control of the island of Hong Kong. Trade issues sparked a Second Opium War that raged from 1856 until 1860.
 
Having defeated China for a second time, British officials demanded control of Kowloon, a port region on the southern tip of the Chinese mainland across the bay from Hong Kong. British control over the port of Hong Kong and its surrounding territories was reaffirmed in the year 1898, when Britain negotiated a lease for the island of Hong Kong, the Kowloon area, and the islands known as the New Territories. Under the terms of the lease, Britain agreed to return control to China in the year 1997.
 
Following the Chinese Communist revolution in 1949, however, China's leaders denounced the accord of 1898, claiming that the lease for Hong Kong was a treaty forged from imperialism and signed under duress. Despite their protestations and occasional political agitation, Chinese officials ultimately decided to allow time, and not force, to settle the issue of Hong Kong, waiting patiently for the lease's end to once again unify mainland China. In 1984 the British and Chinese governments began preparations for the 1997 transfer of power, scripting a set of legislation known as the Basic Laws designed to provide a framework for the governance of Hong Kong after China resumed control of the port. Under the terms of the Basic Law, the Chinese government agreed to allow Hong Kong to maintain a large degree of economic autonomy after British withdrawal. Chinese officials vowed to leave Hong Kong's capitalist-style economic system in tact, despite the fact that it directly contradicted the official Communist dogma of mainland China. Chinese officials explained this special treatment for Hong Kong as a policy of "one country, two systems," meaning that Hong Kong enjoy limited autonomy from the mainland's governance.
 
Left to British control, the port of Hong Kong emerged as one of the chief financial centers of Asia. While British officials implemented laissez-faire economic policies to promote Hong Kong's financial growth, they proved less willing to extend equally liberal civil rights policies to their colonial possession. British officials sharply revised this position in 1989, following the Chinese crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in that year. In 1992, Christopher Patten, the newly appointed British governor of Hong Kong, announced an expansion of civil rights legislation throughout the colony. Civil rights laws were expanded again in 1995 to allow for greater political freedom, including a provision allowing Hong Kong's residents the right to assemble freely. In the months prior to the transfer of power in 1997, the Chinese government announced that it would not recognize those civil rights that had been extended to Hong Kong following the establishment of the Basic Laws of 1984.
 
China's pronouncements on the curtailment of Hong Kong's civil rights led to speculation in Hong Kong and across the international community that the government in Beijing might ultimately resort to autocratic measures to keep the Hong Kong province under tight control. Numerous political analysts predicted that the Chinese incorporation of Hong Kong would have a directly opposite effect. These analysts suggested that the incorporation of the financial center of Hong Kong into China would provide further impetus to the pro-free market economic reform policies of Chinese leader Jiang Zemin.
 
Early indications seemed to support the more optimistic outlook for the renewed relationship between China and Hong Kong. On the eve of the transfer of power, Jiang also took steps to reassure Hong Kong and the world that the Chinese government had little intention of interfering directly with the day-to-day operations of the province. Jiang, in his first official address to the 6 million people of Hong Kong, stressed that the government in Beijing would continue to respect Hong Kong's economic and judicial autonomy. President Jiang also reiterated his intention to form a new independent popularly elected legislature for Hong Kong in 1998. 

China Reclaims Hong Kong: CNN Special Report

HONG KONG (CNN) -- In one part of town, there was a carnival atmosphere. In another, a somber rally and march followed by a candlelight vigil. It's clear that one year before China takes control, the people of Hong Kong are divided in their feelings. A period of more than 150 years of British colonial rule ends at midnight on June 30, 1997 when Hong Kong and its six million people will be handed over to China.

Most of Sunday's activities were overwhelmingly pro-Chinese. Beijing supporters celebrated with games, traditional lion- dancing, a countdown clock to July 1, 1997, and promises of a brighter tomorrow. Holding a different view were pro- democracy demonstrators who denounced China's plans to disband the British colony's elected legislature. 

Illuminated by candles spelling out the Chinese character for democracy, about 300 activists singing "we shall overcome" spent Sunday night and early Monday morning huddled outside Hong Kong's Legislative Council, where Beijing's supporters had rallied earlier to herald the coming reunification with China. 

Despite a warning that they will not be allowed to enter China, seven elected Hong Kong officials vowed to go ahead with a trip to Beijing on Monday. They'll be carrying a 50,000-signature petition protesting China's plans to replace the legislature with an appointed body. 

"We are afraid that our free lifestyle, the rule of law, will not be preserved after 1997," pro-democracy legislator Emily Lau told the cheering, clapping crowd. Gov. Chris Patten urged Hong Kong residents to stand up for their freedoms. 

"There's a limit to how much reassurance, to how much confidence-building I can do when the reason for people's lack of confidence is things that have been said and done by Chinese officials," he said on Hong Kong's ATV television network.

The range of events held by China supporters suggested a concerted push to recapture some of the ground they have lost to the pro-democracy camp. Thousands of people turned out for music, children's games and other festivities.

"Every Chinese wants to see a unified China. It is like a family. None of its members want to see it broken up," said Wan Long, a recent immigrant from Shanghai, who came with his 13-year-old daughter. The handover -- negotiated in a 1984 treaty -- is also eagerly awaited in China, where a clock above Tiananmen Square counts the seconds to Hong Kong's return.

Hong Kong Island was a collection of sleepy fishing villages and pirate hangouts when Britain seized it in 1840 after defeating China at war. Expanded in later years into the Kowloon Peninsula and New Territories of the Chinese mainland, its population swollen by waves of Chinese refugees, Hong Kong has become a jewel of skyscrapers, industry and high finance, with 6.3 million people. 

Next year's handover is predicated on a promise by China's Communist leaders to keep Hong Kong highly autonomous and capitalist under the slogan "one country, two systems." 

But an opinion poll reported by ATV said 58 percent of Hong Kong people expect democracy to diminish after 1997, while 27.3 percent expect no change. The findings are similar to other polls in recent years.