China and Hong Kong

The British Crown Colony of Hong Kong reverts to the possession of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) on July 1, 1997. The colony will become a Special Administrative Region (SAR), which will continue to enjoy an open, capitalist economy, and a degree of political freedom, unique in the PRC. Hong Kong, with one of the most unusual histories of all Western colonies, carries a political and economic legacy from its 155 years as a British colony. Under the British, the tiny island became one of the most important banking and commercial centers in the world. Despite its thriving economy, and the imminent departure of the British, however, the colony did not develop along the same parliamentary-democratic lines as most British colonies. Instead, the governors of Hong Kong, with the aid of a strong bureaucracy, and the colony's elites retained control over most aspects of Hong Kong's domestic and economic policies almost to the end. This was partly out of deference to the PRC, and partly because non-democratic management of the colony had long been essential to Hong Kong's economic success.

Thus, the legacy of British rule is a major factor in the unusual nature of the transfer of the colony to China, and has led to various political and economic arrangements that are not typical of the directions usually taken by the Chinese government. Though the Chinese attitude toward democracy and capitalism in Hong Kong has hardened somewhat, it is unlikely that the most pessimisti

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imately 133 pounds each) of opium were imported into China each year. But, once the British arrangement had been established, the number of chests imported annually reached 45,000 by 1838 (Schell and Esherick 25). The imperial government responded by seizing and destroying British opium. But the British responded with force, and, in the Opium Wars (1839-1842), the Chinese were consistently defeated. In 1842 the Treaty of Nanking became the first of many "unequal" treaties the Chinese were forced to sign with the British and the other European nations (Li 617). In the infamous Nanking treaty the British were granted trading privileges at five Chinese ports (instead of one). They also obtained the right of extraterritoriality, which entailed the right of British citizens to be subject only to British jurisdiction, rather than to Chinese justice. This right was later extended to, or taken by, the United States and almost every European nation. The third principle concession of the 1842 treaty was the ceding of the island of Hong Kong to the British. In the next century, the colony grew, as the British (and others) continued to wage or threaten war with the Chinese whenever an expansion of European trading opportunities was

Category: Foreign - C