Hong Kong (香港)

Hong Kong first came into the global limelight during the Opium trade in the 19th Century. England at the time really wanted to export tea leaves back to the British Isles but the Chinese regime only accepted silver in exchange. This led to a massive trade deficit for Britain. Afterwards, the British traded Opium for tea leaves, and while this later balanced the trade accounts between the two countries, it led to widespread drug use in China and the country started to bleed silver. This caused a massive trade decifit to China. To combat the opium crisis, in 1839, Lin Zexu (林則徐) led a massive campaign against opium imports by the British by withholding around 20,000 crates of opium and dumping it into the ocean. However, this failed to stop the Opium imports and led to the First Opium War in 1840.  Since China's army was in completely disrepair due to poor governance, they ultimately lost the war and had to sign the Treaty of Nanking, which gave Hong Kong Island to the British.

In the aftermath of the Frist Opium War, England and France launched the Second Opium War in 1856. This was due to The Arrow Incident where England and China conflicted over a boat that was stopped due to suspected illegal activities. By the end of the war, China lost again, and they signed the Convention of Peking, which ceded the Kowloon Peninsula to the British.

After the Sino-Japanese war of 1895 and the repeated killings of Westerners during the Boxer Rebellion, England ultimately used it as a reason to strenghten its military presence in Hong Kong. On 1898, Britain rented the New Territories from China for 99 years, which led to the current Map of Hong Kong. The New Territories is around 10 times larger than the Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island combined, making the lease an influencial factor during the eventual handover.

After the Chinese civil war in from 1927 to 1949, Hong Kong became a safe haven from the turmoil that was happening in Mainland China. During the Great Leap Forward from 1957 to 1958, Hong Kong was the only city on the Mainland Chinese Continent that was unaffected by famine. During the Cultural Revolution between 1967 to 1976, an influx of refugees came to Hong Kong to avoid political presecution.

On 1997, 99 years after England rented the New Territories from China, it was decided that the entirety of Hong Kong, including the Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island, would be returned to China (Communist China to be exact). The British Government and Communist China signed the Joint Sino-British Declaration back in 1987, guaranteeing the area's self-autonomy for 50 years after the handover on paper.

At the time of writing, Hong Kong is the focal point of the culture war between the Western Democracies and Communist China. On one hand, Chinese Nationalists believe that Hong Kong is a symbol of shame due to the opium wars. The reason why they believe the current conflict exists is because Hong Kong is filled with imperial lackeys who are brainwashed by America & Britain into being race traitors by exploiting their "colony complex". On the otherhand, Western Advocates believe that Hong Kong is a shining example of a fusion between Chinese and Western Cultures. They believe that Hong Kong's version of Chinese culture is more pure since it was established in 1842, while Communist China is established in 1949, roughly one century later, and is perverted by communist ideologies. Currently, there are still claims that Hong Kong is under colonial rule, but under China rather than Britain's rule.

Ultimately, Hong Kong's status will forever be linked between the transculturation and conflict between China and the West.

Citations:
Wikipedia Contributors. “香港割讓.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 22 Sept. 2020, zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/%E9%A6%99%E6%B8%AF%E5%89%B2%E8%AE%93.
Leung, Hiu-Lin. 虎門銷煙時，林則徐為甚麼不用火燒？, The News Lens 關鍵評論網, 18 Sept. 2019, www.thenewslens.com/article/30633.
“租 借 新 界 (Leasing of New Territories.” Edited by Wai-Yee Ng, (The Hong Kong Yearbook 2019: Chapter 21: History: Renting New Territories) 第 二 十 一 章 ： 歷 史 ： 租 借 新 界, www.yearbook.gov.hk/2002/chtml/c21-03.htm.
Xinhua News Reporter. “煽惑、洗脑与撕裂:香港修例风波回望之一.” 人文网, Xinhua News Agency, 8 May 2020, paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/html/2020-05/08/nw.D110000renmrb_20200508_2-04.htm.
Wir fur Hongkong. “The Decolonization of Hong Kong.” Taipei Times, 25 Nov. 2019, www.taipeitimes.com/News/editorials/archives/2019/11/26/2003726485.
McLoed, Calum. “Hong Kong: 'A Living Fusion of East and West'.” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 16 Feb. 2002, www.independent.co.uk/travel/asia/hong-kong-living-fusion-east-and-west-....

 

Parent Map

Map: Race, Gender, Class, Sex

Coordinates

Latitude: 22.319303900000
Longitude: 114.169361100000

Timeline of Events Associated with Hong Kong (香港)

Date Event Manage
Autumn 1899 to 7 Sep 1901

Boxer Rebellion (義和團運動)

By the mid-19th century, Christianity spread and blossomed in China. Churches and Missionaries were all over the country, and this expansion casued conflicts with the local people.

On a microscopic scale, this was seen by the Chinese as a bunch of Westerners spreading their Western degeneracy and eroding Chinese Culture. At the height of the hysteria, rumours were spread where these Westerners were scooping out children's eyeballs and collecting their semen for medicine. (The original term is "陽精" which means "male vitality") Despite the missionaries' attempts to build hospitals and schools for the locals, they are often ignored by the Chinese Locals. In 1868, a plague broke out in a French Monastery that led to the deaths of many babies. This event was seen by the locals as the French Missionaries killing said babies, which led to the public stoning of a French Minister.

On a macroscopic scale, the Qing Dynasty was consistently losing their influence to neighbouring countries due to corruption and a failure to anticipate other countries. These repeated losses include: The Treaty of Nanking (南京條約) (1842), which gave Hong Kong Island to the British after the First Opium War; The Convention of Peking (北京條約) (1860), which gave the Kowloon Peninsula to the British and Outer Manchuria to the Russians after the Second Opium War; the Treaty of Aigun (璦琿條約) (1858), which ceded northern Manchuria to Russia;  The Treaty of Tientsin (天津條約) (1858), which opened Chinese Ports to foreign trade and increased missionary activities to foreign countries; The Treaty of Bakan (馬關條約) (1895), which gave Taiwan to Japan. These are just part of the countless treaties where China was unable to defend itself towards foreign powers, but it is generally agreed by historians that the Treaty of Bakan was what ultimately pushed forward this movement.

Around 1900, a group of people named The Yìhétuán (義和團) was established. They branded themselves as a martial arts cult and claimed that by repeating their mantras, followers would be "Impenetrable by blades"and "Unharmed by Cannons". This group of people were backed by the Empress Dowager Cixi at the time. Not only because this faux-populist movement can make the regime appear less like an accountable for any retaliations since it was "self-organized", but the club also changed their motto from "反清復明" (Abolish Qing Restore Ming) to "扶清滅洋" (Help Qing Defeat the West). This mantra helped perpetrate  a reduction in friction between the ruling Manchurians and the ruled Han-Chinese, thereby strengthening Cixi's grasp on the country from Han Nationalists.

After the repeated murders of foreign missionaries and Chinese Christians, the group ended up expanding their movement into Zhili (Modern day Hebei) and killed a German and a Japanese Embassy Staff Member. Cixi declared war against all these nations on June 15th 1900, which ultimately led to the Eight Nation Alliance between England, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and America. The battalion attacked China for its deeds and took over Beijing on August 15th. By October 26th, Cixi surrendered on behalf of China after escaping to Xi'an.

The surrender led to the signing of the Boxer Protocol (辛丑條約) (1901), which led to war reparations and a Chinese exclusion zone withinin Beijing for security reasons: only Westerners can live within this zone in order to prevent another massacre. This ended up being one of the most disgraceful events under the Qing Dynasty. It caused much distrust towards the Manchurian Regime amongst the Chinese populace and an increased support in Sun Yat-sen's revolution.

Academy of Chinese Studies. （一）列強不斷侵華與教案頻生: 中國文化研究院 - 燦爛的中國文明. chiculture.org.hk/tc/photo-story/1729.

Romanization of Treaty names are taken from Wikipedia.