British Influence on the Hong Kong Government
According to scientists, there has been human activity on Hong Kong since the Neolithic and Paleolithic eras. However, the earliest recorded European man to travel there was a Portuguese man named Jorge Álvares who did not travel there until 1513. For many thousands of years, Hong Kong was subjected to the rule of the dynastic China. However, Britain gained the land of Hong Kong after defeating the Chinese army in the Opium Wars. Today, Hong Kong has a democratic government modeled very much after the British one. How did it get there? Why is it democratic? Why isn’t it included in the Chinese government?
How did Britain come to play a part in a small country on the other side of the hemisphere? Ever since 1699, when the British East India Company made its first successful sea trip to the Hong Kong area. Hong Kong and Britain have depended upon each other as trade partners. After the Chinese defeat in the First Opium War (1839-1842), the British were granted control of the Hong Kong Island under the Treaty of Nanking. After the hostilities of the Second Opium War (1856-1858), Britain was also granted the Kowloon Peninsula at the 1860 Convention of Beijing. Britain used the Hong Kong land as a warehouse for the European trade and the colony flourished as a huge economic success during the 1800’s and 1900’s. After the Second World War, the Chinese government changed to a Communist state. Many of the Mainland Chinese citizens fled to Hong Kong and Taiwan a result. More than 150 years after the British first gained control of the Hong Kong Island, the British gave the rule of Hong Kong back to the Chinese government on July 1, 1997. However, Hong Kong has its own government separate from the People’s Republic of China through the Sino-British Joint Declarement [1]. This is under the system “One State, Two Systems” [8]. Under this, the Hong Kong people are allowed to retain their own political, judicial, and economic systems while participating in
How did Britain come to play a part in a small country on the other side of the hemisphere? Ever since 1699, when the British East India Company made its first successful sea trip to the Hong Kong area. Hong Kong and Britain have depended upon each other as trade partners. After the Chinese defeat in the First Opium War (1839-1842), the British were granted control of the Hong Kong Island under the Treaty of Nanking. After the hostilities of the Second Opium War (1856-1858), Britain was also granted the Kowloon Peninsula at the 1860 Convention of Beijing. Britain used the Hong Kong land as a warehouse for the European trade and the colony flourished as a huge economic success during the 1800’s and 1900’s. After the Second World War, the Chinese government changed to a Communist state. Many of the Mainland Chinese citizens fled to Hong Kong and Taiwan a result. More than 150 years after the British first gained control of the Hong Kong Island, the British gave the rule of Hong Kong back to the Chinese government on July 1, 1997. However, Hong Kong has its own government separate from the People’s Republic of China through the Sino-British Joint Declarement [1]. This is under the system “One State, Two Systems” [8]. Under this, the Hong Kong people are allowed to retain their own political, judicial, and economic systems while participating in
Bibliography: 5. Mount, Steve. Constitutional Topic: Martial Law. 30 November, 2001. U.S. Constitution International Studies Association, Town & Country Resort and Convention Center, San Diego, California, USA, Mar 22, 2006