and China began to discuss Hong Kong’s future. Capitalist Hong Kong soon experienced an economic boom, becoming home to a multicultural, international community.Īs the treaty’s expiration loomed, separating the New Territories from the rest of Hong Kong became increasingly unthinkable. Up to 100,000 Chinese found refuge in Hong Kong after the Communist Party took power. Under the terms of the treaty, China would regain control of its leased lands on July 1, 1997.īritish Hong Kong’s trajectory was different from that of mainland China, which became a Communist country in 1949. The final treaty, the 1898 Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory, leased the New Territories to Britain for 99 years. Over the next half-century, the United Kingdom gained control over all three main regions of Hong Kong: After Hong Kong Island came the Kowloon Peninsula, and finally the New Territories, a swath of land that comprises the bulk of Hong Kong today. Defeat came at a high cost: In 1842, China agreed to cede the island of Hong Kong to the British in perpetuity through the Treaty of Nanjing. The war broke out after Qing-dynasty China attempted to crack down an illegal opium trade that led to widespread addiction in China.
The United Kingdom had held Hong Kong as a colony since 1841, when it occupied the area during the First Opium War. But was it the beginning of lasting autonomy for Hong Kong? The sun had finally set on one of the wealthiest modern outposts of the British Empire. It was the end of an era: In July 1997, as the flag of the United Kingdom was lowered over Hong Kong, the prosperous colony was returned to China after over 150 years of British rule.
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