British Hong Kong
Hong Kong was a colony and later a dependent territory of the United Kingdom from 1841 to 1997, apart from a period of Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945 during the Pacific War. The colonial period began with the British occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841, during the First Opium War between the British and the Qing dynasty. The Qing had wanted to enforce its prohibition of opium importation within the dynasty that was being exported mostly from British India and was causing widespread addiction among the populace.
Hong Kong香港
- Crown colony
(1843–1941; 1945–1981) - British Dependent Territory
(1981–1997)
Sir Henry Pottinger (first)
Chris Patten (last)
George Malcolm (first)
Anson Chan (last)
Victorian era to 20th century
26 January 1841
29 August 1842
18 October 1860
9 June 1898
25 December 1941 –
30 August 1945
1 July 1997
6,217,556[1]
5,796/km2 (15,011.6/sq mi)
1996[2] estimate
$154 billion
$23,843
1996[2] estimate
$160 billion
$24,698
51.8[3]
high
0.808[4]
very high
- Hong Kong dollar (from 1937)
- Trade dollar (1895–1937)
- Spanish dollar (until 1895)
- Chinese cash (until 1895)
英屬香港
英属香港
Yīngshǔ Xiānggǎng
Yīngshǔ Xiānggǎng
ㄧㄥ ㄕㄨˇ ㄒㄧㄤ ㄍㄤˇ
Ying1-shu3 Hsiang1-kang3
Ying-shǔ Sianggǎng
Yīng suhk hēung góng
jing1 suk6 hoeng1 gong2
The island was ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Nanking, ratified by the Daoguang Emperor in the aftermath of the war of 1842. It was established as a crown colony in 1843. In 1860, the British took the opportunity to expand the colony with the addition of the Kowloon Peninsula after the Second Opium War, while the Qing was embroiled in handling the Taiping Rebellion. With the Qing further weakened after the First Sino-Japanese War, Hong Kong's territory was further extended in 1898 when the British obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories.
Although the Qing dynasty had to cede Hong Kong Island and Kowloon in perpetuity as per the treaty, the leased New Territories comprised 86.2% of the colony and more than half of the entire colony's population. With the lease nearing its end during the late 20th century, Britain did not see any viable way to administer the colony by dividing it, whilst the People's Republic of China (PRC) would not consider extending the lease or allow continued British administration thereafter.
With the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984, which stated that the economic and social systems in Hong Kong would remain relatively unchanged for 50 years, the British government agreed to transfer the entire territory to China upon the expiration of the New Territories lease in 1997 – with Hong Kong becoming a special administrative region (SAR) until at least 2047.[5][6]