Today marks the 20th anniversary of the return of Hong Kong from British rule to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). As president Xi Jinping attends ceremonies in Hong Kong and the soldiers of Beijing march in unison across the capital, we take a look back at our Nanjing roots to where it all began.
British Senior Commissioner, Elepoo, remarked, “Is that all?”… “All shall be granted—it is settled—it is finished.”
During the early years of the 19th century various western colonial powers were chopping away at China with their sedative opium power, each taking a part for themselves. In 1842, the British were docked on the Yangtze River Delta with their cannons pointed at the city of Nanking. Troops had already entered the city and were preparing for a full advance until a peace treaty was proposed.
After talks between British officers and Qing officials on board HMS Cornwallis, the “unfair” Treaty of Nanking was signed, which effectively ended the opium war. Another two treaties were to be signed afterwards and were referred to as unequal because Britain had no obligation to the Qing Dynasty in return.
Foreign Trade, Reparations and Demobilisation and the Cession of Hong Kong were the main points of the Treaty of Nanking for the British. Whereas the Qing government was ordered to pay back money for opium it had previously confiscated, four additional “treaty ports” were instated and Britain acquired Hong Kong as their own, fully, on lease for 99 years, with the right to an extension. Qing officials were not aware of international law at that time, rather looking upon the deal as a way to make foreigners police themselves, and signed it without fully understanding the severity of the long-term consequences.
Deng Remarked, “The investors can set their minds at peace”.
In 1979, Hong Kong governor Sir Murray MacLahose paid his first diplomatic visit to the PRC and was first to raise the question of Hong Kong sovereignty and the 99-year lease between the two governments. Various negotiations ensued between 1979 and 1982, when vice premier to the PRC Deng Xiaoping officially announced China’s position regarding the issue.
After the PRC gained a seat at the United Nations in 1971, diplomatic talks began over the sovereignty of Hong Kong and on 8th November, 1982, the United Nations General Assembly dropped Hong Kong from its official colonies list.
During British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s first visit to the People’s Republic of China in 1982, attempts were made to hold on tight to Hong Kong by talking of extension validity on the existing lease over the island. However it fell on deaf ears, as Deng’s response was to reiterate that the PRC could easily take Hong Kong by force “if it wanted to”.
Thatcher was later quoted at a press conference in Hong Kong saying, “There are treaties in existence”, and that, “Britain sticks by its treaties…unless we decide on something else”, which is exactly what happened in the end, but not after Britain put up quite a fight. Deng Xiaoping warned of, “the impossibility of exchanging sovereignty for administration”, and declared an ultimatum; “Modify or give up”.
Talks between Britain and the PRC were held in secret, wherein the Hong Kong government at the time and members of the public everywhere were kept totally in the dark as to what was going on. The Hong Kong government voted unanimously that any negotiations or debate that was to go on about its future should be done in the Hong Kong Legislative Council. This is reported to have outraged the PRC and Deng supposedly remarked that, “there have been talks of the so-called ‘three legged stool’, there are not three legs, only two”. The phrase went on to be used by the PRC to discourage involvement from the Hong Kong people.
After 14 years of discussion between Britain and the PRC, an agreement was made to “hand-over” (or in the words of the PRC) “return” Hong Kong sovereignty to China while allowing Britain to maintain governance of the island. In 1984, the two governments signed the Sino-British joint declaration. Along with the reclamation of PRC sovereignty over Hong Kong, the declaration stated that the “One Country, Two Systems” agreement will only keep Hong Kong free from socialist rule for a maximum of 50 years.
In the next major installment of the story, the 1989 student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square pushed legislators of Britain and other countries to unanimously grant Hong Kongers the right of abode in the United Kingdom and abroad.
Over 100,000 people queued up overnight in order to file their applications for residency of the United Kingdom. At its peak, migration to the United Kingdom reached 66,000 in 1992. Other people fled to countries of the Commonwealth as well as others who were smuggled into the United States by diplomats.
What is less widely known is that the prior negotiations for the treaty were conducted in our very own Nanjing, in part of what is now Jinghai Temple (then a British army base), located behind the Xiaguan branch of Metro. In addition to enjoying an insight into the Chinese view of the 1842 “unfair treaty”, visitors to the fascinating museum that forms part of the Yuejiang Tower complex and tourist attraction can also learn more of China’s maritime history through the voyages of Zheng He, the celebrated explorer who took his fleet as far as South Africa while Columbus was still in nappies.
