What is Hong Kong?

Officially, it is a “special [[administrative]] region” of China on China’s southeastern coast. It has a population of 7.5 million people and it has been one of the world’s most important financial, trade, and manufacturing centers for decades.

[caption id="attachment_15177" align="alignnone" width="1216"] Map from Public Domain courtesy Wikimedia Commons.[/caption]

What is Hong Kong known for?

Today, Hong Kong and its many islands are known as a highly advanced, cosmopolitan territory with great financial [[prosperity]]. It is home to the highest number of billionaires in Asia and the most skyscrapers in the world.

The predominant language is Cantonese, but English and Mandarin are also widely spoken. Hong Kong is famous for being a global melting pot, a place where both Eastern and Western cultures co-exist. It is technologically advanced but it has successfully [[preserved]] its rich history. Those massive modern towers mix with temples that are centuries old. With past and present colliding, the region is a popular destination for tourists and business travelers alike.

What is Hong Kong’s history?

Hong Kong is forever connected with its British past. In 1839, Britain invaded China and wrested control of the islands off China’s southeastern coast where Hong Kong is located. This was [[dubbed]] the First Opium War. The British [[colony]] soon grew into a commercial trading hub for southern China. And, in 1898, the British assumed 99 years of rule over Hong Kong and its 235 islands under the Second Convention of Peking.

In 1937, with the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, Hong Kong became a [[refuge]] for thousands of mainland Chinese fleeing the advancing Japanese army. By 1941, Japan occupied Hong Kong. [[Subsequent]] food shortages caused many residents to flee to mainland China, and the population fell dramatically from 1.6 million to 650,000 by the end of World War II.

Britain reestablished its authority over Hong Kong in 1946 with a new government, prompting hundreds of thousands of former residents to return to their homeland. [[Refugees]] from China’s civil war between Nationalists and Communists also began pouring into the region. In the 1950s, economic activity rebounded, and Hong Kong [[flourished]], mainly through textile production and other light industries.

When did China [[intercede]] again?

In 1984, after years of negotiations, the British and the Chinese signed a formal agreement approving a 1997 turnover of the region to China, with China promising to preserve Hong Kong’s capitalistic and democratic system. China is overseen by an [[authoritarian]] [[regime]] run by the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. Tung Chee Hwa, the chief executive of the new Hong Kong government, assembled a government policy based on the concept of “one country, two systems.” This arrangement preserved Hong Kong’s role as a major trade and finance capital in Asia.

What is going on now between China and Hong Kong?

In recent years, Beijing has broken its promise to allow Hong Kong some degree of [[autonomy]]. China has gradually tightened its authoritarian grip over Hong Kong, resulting in widespread protests and dissent from thousands of pro-[[democracy]] [[advocates]]. Massive demonstrations against law enforcement authorities in 2019 sometimes turned violent, causing China to push harder to control Hong Kong by asserting more dominance over its partially elected government.

Today, Beijing controls a committee that selects Hong Kong’s leader, Communist Party “Patriots” make up the vast majority of the territory’s [[legislature]], and 19 pro-democracy politicians were [[ousted]] or resigned in protest in 2020. China has [[altered]] election rules to root out candidates considered disloyal to the Communist Party and prevent them from maintaining or running for office. This comes after China imposed a national security law in 2020 that gives authorities broad powers to [[stifle]] civil protest in the streets.

In another sign that Beijing is stifling voices that offer dissent or pro-democracy opinions, China in 2021 effectively shut down the main pro-democracy newspaper in the country, Apple Daily. It did this by instituting a strict national security law and then arresting editors and executives of the newspaper and freezing the paper’s assets. Some independent online news sources had remained, but even they are now shutting operations, one by one, as authorities raid news offices and arrest more journalists.

In March 2024, the Hong Kong legislature passed a slate of national security laws that pro-democracy advocates and foreign governments said would stifle public dissent even further. It calls for imprisonment for crimes such as treason, sedition, and espionage.

Hong Kong's Jimmy Lai Found Guilty of Sedition, Other Charges

Hong Kong's Jimmy Lai Found Guilty of Sedition, Other Charges

Hong Kong's Jimmy Lai Found Guilty of Sedition, Other Charges

Hong Kong's Jimmy Lai Found Guilty of Sedition, Other Charges