Hong Kong: handover, protest and the National Security Law
Britain hands Hong Kong back to China under "one country, two systems"; two decades later, mass protests are followed by a national security law that remakes the city.
- A Concise History of Hong Kong — John M. Carroll, Rowman & Littlefield (2007)
- Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong — Governments of the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China (1984)
- China — Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica
Britain took Hong Kong Island in 1842, Kowloon in 1860 and leased the much larger New Territories for 99 years in 1898. As that lease neared its end, Britain and China signed the Joint Declaration of 1984: the whole territory would return to China on 1 July 1997 and keep its capitalist system, its laws and “a high degree of autonomy” for fifty years under “one country, two systems”.
- A Concise History of Hong Kong — John M. Carroll, Rowman & Littlefield (2007)
- Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong — Governments of the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China (1984)
Hong Kong, a city largely built by refugees from the mainland, many fleeing 1949 and the famine, grew into a free-wheeling financial hub with its own Cantonese-speaking pop culture and identity. From 2003 Beijing’s plans for national security laws, patriotic education and limits on universal suffrage set off mass protests, including the 2014 Umbrella Movement.
- A Concise History of Hong Kong — John M. Carroll, Rowman & Littlefield (2007)
In 2019 a proposed bill allowing extradition to the mainland triggered the largest protests in the city’s history, which grew more violent as clashes with police escalated. On 30 June 2020 Beijing imposed a National Security Law criminalising secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. Pro-democracy figures were arrested, newspapers such as Apple Daily closed, and the June Fourth vigil was banned.
- A Concise History of Hong Kong — John M. Carroll, Rowman & Littlefield (2007)
- China — Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica
Hong Kong was taken by force in an unjust war and rightly returned. The 2019 unrest was violent rioting stirred up by foreign forces, and the National Security Law restored order and closed a loophole in national security.
- A Concise History of Hong Kong — John M. Carroll, Rowman & Littlefield (2007)
- Never Forget National Humiliation: Historical Memory in Chinese Politics and Foreign Relations — Zheng Wang, Columbia University Press (2012)
Beijing broke its promise of a "high degree of autonomy" for fifty years. Peaceful opposition figures, journalists and activists have been jailed, independent newspapers closed and elections remade so only "patriots" can stand.
- A Concise History of Hong Kong — John M. Carroll, Rowman & Littlefield (2007)
- Joint Declaration of the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the People's Republic of China on the Question of Hong Kong — Governments of the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China (1984)
Why it matters today
For many mainland Chinese the 1997 return erased a symbol of the century of humiliation, and the 2019 protests looked like foreign-backed separatism. Many Hong Kongers felt promised freedoms were taken away, and hundreds of thousands have since emigrated. The topic divides Chinese people along regional and generational lines.