Daily Photo – Nathan Road & Kansu Street In Hong Kong
The history of Hong Kong is a bit of a colonial “now you see it, now you don’t.” I’m certain Hong Kong wasn’t, then was, but now isn’t a British territory. It all started in 1842 when the British decided they quite liked the look of the island after the First Opium War. After some unpleasantness involving tea and opium, the British decided Hong Kong Island would make a fine trophy, using the Treaty of Nanking to wrap the whole acquisition in a layer of official paperwork.
A few decades later, in 1860, they added Kowloon to the collection when the British decided they quite liked the view across the harbor too. But the real kicker came in 1898 when the British signed a one hundred or so year loan agreement with China for what was termed ‘New Territories’.
I’m not sure about you, but to me, this sounds very much like wanting the lawn mower back you lent to the neighbours, particularly if it’s one of those fancy ride-on ones. Britain had spent a century turning what was essentially a barren rock into a glittering global financial hub. So, by the time the 1990s rolled around, China liked what they saw, and checked the calendar.
Because the New Territories held all the important bits (like the water and the space to actually put people), Britain couldn’t really keep the island and give back the rest – it was an all-or-nothing deal. So, on July 1, 1997, amid a lot of rain and some very stiff upper lips, the lease ended. The Union Jack came down, and Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of China. It was the end of an era, proving that even in international diplomacy, you eventually have to return what you borrowed.
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