🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 159 (from laksa087)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa159.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.thoughtco.com/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.thoughtco.com/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153","crawl_time":1776023992,"first_indexed_time":1491396583,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,thoughtco!www,\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153 s443","src_root_hash":"15523395622417081559","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Why Did China Lease Hong Kong to Britain?","meta_descriptions":["For 100 years, Hong Kong was known as British Hong Kong, first as a crown colony and then under a lease to Queen Victoria's British Empire."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"In 1997, the British handed Hong Kong back to China, the end of a 99-year lease and an event that was dreaded and anticipated by the residents, Chinese, English, and rest of the world. Hong Kong includes 426 square miles of territory in the South China Sea, and it is today one of the most densely occupied and economically independent parts of the world. That lease came about as a result of wars over trade imbalances, opium, and the shifting power of\nQueen Victoria\n's British empire.\nKey Takeaways\nOn June 9, 1898, the British under Queen Victoria brokered a 99-year lease agreement for the use of Hong Kong after China lost a series of wars fought over the British trade in tea and opium.\nIn 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang negotiated the underlying plan for the lease to end, such that Hong Kong would remain a semi-autonomous region for a 50-year period after the lease ended.\nThe lease ended on July 1, 1997, and since then tensions between the democratically minded Hong Kong population and the People's Republic of China have continued, although Hong Kong remains functionally separate from the Chinese mainland.\nHong Kong was first incorporated into China in 243 BCE, during the Warring States period and as the\nQin state\nwas beginning to grow in power. It remained almost constantly under Chinese control for the next 2,000 years. In 1842, under British Queen Victoria's expansionist rule, Hong Kong became known as British Hong Kong.\nTrade Imbalances: Opium, Silver, and Tea\nNineteenth-century Britain had an insatiable appetite for Chinese tea, but the\nQing Dynasty\nand its subjects did not want to buy anything that the British produced and demanded that the British instead pay for its tea habit with silver or gold. The government of Queen Victoria did not want to use up any more of the country's reserves of gold or silver to buy tea, and the tea-importation tax generated during the transactions was a major percentage of the British economy. Victoria's government decided to forcibly export opium from the British-colonized Indian subcontinent to China. There, opium would then be exchanged for tea.\nChina's government, not too surprisingly, objected to the large-scale importation of narcotics into its country by a foreign power. At the time, most of Britain didn't view opium as a particular danger; to them, it was a medicine. China, however, was experiencing an opium crisis, with its military forces suffering direct impacts from their addictions. There were politicians in England such as William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) who did recognize the danger and objected strenuously; but at the same time, there were men who made their fortunes, such as the prominent U.S. opium trader\nWarren Delano\n(1809–1898), the grandfather of future president\nFranklin Delano Roosevelt\n(1882–1945).\nOpium Wars\nWhen the Qing government discovered that banning opium imports outright did not work—because British merchants simply smuggled the drug into China—they took more direct action. In 1839, Chinese officials destroyed 20,000 bales of opium, each chest containing 140 pounds of the narcotic drug.\n\n This move provoked Britain to declare war to protect its illegal drug-smuggling operations.\nThe\nFirst Opium War\nlasted from 1839 to 1842. Britain invaded the Chinese mainland and occupied the island of Hong Kong on Jan. 25, 1841, using it as a military staging point. China lost the war and had to cede Hong Kong to Britain in the Treaty of Nanking. As a result, Hong Kong became a crown colony of the\nBritish Empire\n.\nLeasing Hong Kong\nThe Treaty of Nanking did not, however, resolve the opium trade dispute, and the conflict escalated again, into the Second Opium War. The settlement of that conflict was the first Convention of Peking, ratified on Oct. 18, 1860, when Britain acquired the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island (Ngong Shuen Chau).\nThe British grew increasingly worried about the security of their free port in British Hong Kong during the second half of the 19th century. It was an isolated island, surrounded by areas still under Chinese control. On June 9, 1898, the British signed a deal with the Chinese to lease Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the \"New Territories\"—the remainder of the Kowloon Peninsula north of Boundary Street, more territory beyond Kowloon into the Sham Chun River, and over 200 outlying islands. Hong Kong's British governors pressed for outright ownership, but the Chinese, while weakened by the first Sino-Japanese War, negotiated a more reasonable cession to finally end the war. That legally binding lease was to last 99 years.\nTo Lease or Not to Lease\nSeveral times in the first half of the 20th century, Britain considered relinquishing the lease to China because the island simply wasn't important to England anymore. But in 1941, Japan seized Hong Kong. U.S. President\nFranklin Roosevelt\ntried to pressure British Prime Minister\nWinston Churchill\n(1874–1965) to return the island to China as a concession for its support in the war, but Churchill refused. At the end of World War II, Britain still controlled Hong Kong, although the Americans continued to pressure it to return the island to China.\nBy 1949, the People's Liberation Army led by\nMao Zedong\n(1893–1976) had taken over China, and the West was now afraid that Communists would get their hands on a suddenly invaluable post for espionage, especially during the Korean War. While the\nGang of Four\ndid consider sending troops to Hong Kong in 1967, they ultimately did not sue for the return of Hong Kong.\nMoving Toward the Handover\nOn Dec. 19, 1984, British Prime Minister\nMargaret Thatcher\n(1925–2013) and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang (1919–2005) signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which Britain agreed to return not only the New Territories but also Kowloon and British Hong Kong itself when the lease term expired. According to the declaration's terms, Hong Kong would become a special administrative region under the People's Republic of China, and it was expected to enjoy a high degree of autonomy outside of foreign and defense affairs. For a period of 50 years after the end of the lease, Hong Kong would remain a free port with a separate customs territory and sustain markets for free exchange. Hong Kong citizens could continue to practice capitalism and political freedoms forbidden on the mainland.\nAfter the agreement, Britain began to implement a broader level of democracy in Hong Kong. The first democratic government in Hong Kong was formed in the late 1980s, consisting of functional constituencies and direct elections. The stability of those changes became doubtful after the\nTiananmen Square incident\n(Beijing, China, June 3–4, 1989) when an undetermined number of protesting students were massacred. Half a million people in Hong Kong went on marches to protest.\nWhile the People's Republic of China rejected the democratization of Hong Kong, the region had become enormously lucrative. Hong Kong only became a major metropolis after the British possession, and during the 150 years of the occupation, the city had grown and thrived. Today, it is considered one of the most significant financial centers and trade ports in the world.\nHandover\nOn July 1, 1997, the lease ended and the government of Great Britain transferred control of British Hong Kong and the surrounding territories to the\nPeople's Republic of China\n.\nThe transition has been more or less smooth, although human rights issues and Beijing's desire for greater political control cause\nconsiderable friction\nfrom time to time. Events since 2004—particularly in the\nsummer of 2019\n—have shown that universal suffrage continues to be a rallying point for Hongkongers, while the PRC is clearly reluctant to allow Hong Kong to achieve full political freedom.\nAdditional References\nCheng, Joseph Y.S. \"\nThe Future of Hong Kong: A Hong Kong 'Belonger's' View\n.\"\nInternational Affairs\n58.3 (1982): 476–88. Print.\nFung, Anthony Y.H., and Chi Kit Chan. \"\nPost-Handover Identity: Contested Cultural Bonding Between China and Hong Kong.\n\"\nChinese Journal of Communication\n10.4 (2017): 395–412. Print.\nLi, Kui-Wai. \"\nChapter 18—Hong Kong 1997–2047: The Political Scene.\n\" \"Redefining Capitalism in Global Economic Development.\" Academic Press, 2017. 391–406. Print.\nMaxwell, Neville. \"\nSino-British Confrontation over Hong Kong.\n\"\nEconomic and Political Weekly\n30.23 (1995): 1384–98. Print.\nMeyer, Karl E. \"\nThe Opium War's Secret History\n.\"\nThe New York Times, \nJune 28, 1997. Print.\nTsang, Steve. \"A Modern History of Hong Kong.\" London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2007. Print.\nYahuda, Michael. \"\nHong Kong's Future: Sino-British Negotiations, Perceptions, Organization and Political Culture\n.\"\nInternational Affairs\n69.2 (1993): 245–66. Print.\nYip, Anastasia. \"Hong Kong and China: One Country, Two Systems, Two Identities.\"\nGlobal Societies Journal\n3 (2015). Print.","attrs_markdown":"\n\n[Skip to content](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153#skip-to-content)\n\nMenu\n\n[Home](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/)\n\n- [Science, Tech, Math](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/sciences-math-4132465)\n  - [Science](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/science-4132464)\n  - [Math](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/math-4133545)\n  - [Social Sciences](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/social-sciences-4133522)\n  - [Computer Science](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/computer-science-4133486)\n  - [Animals & Nature](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/animals-and-nature-4133421)\n- [Humanities](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/humanities-4133358)\n  - [History & Culture](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/history-and-culture-4133356)\n  - [Visual Arts](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/visual-arts-4132957)\n  - [Literature](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/literature-4133251)\n  - [English](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/english-4688281)\n  - [Geography](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/geography-4133035)\n  - 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[Figures & Events](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/figures-and-events-in-asian-history-4133323)\n  - [Basics](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/asian-history-basics-4133324)\n  - [Southeast Asia](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/southeast-asia-history-4133321)\n  - [East Asia](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/east-asia-history-4133322)\n  - [South Asia](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/south-asia-history-4133320)\n  - [Middle East](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/middle-east-history-4133319)\n  - [Central Asia](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/central-asia-history-4133318)\n  - [Asian Wars and Battles](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/asian-wars-4133317)\n- [American History](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/american-history-4133354)\n- [African American History](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/african-american-history-4133344)\n- [African History](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/african-history-4133338)\n- [Ancient History and Culture](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/ancient-history-4133336)\n- [European History](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/european-history-4133316)\n- [Genealogy](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/genealogy-4133308)\n- [Inventions](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/inventions-4133303)\n- [Latin American History](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/latin-american-history-4133296)\n- [Medieval & Renaissance History](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/medieval-and-renaissance-history-4133289)\n- [Military History](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/military-history-4133285)\n- [The 20th Century](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/20th-century-4133273)\n- [Women's History](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/womens-history-4133260)\n\n[View More](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/history-and-culture-4133356)\n\nTable of Contents\n\nExpand\n\n- [Trade Imbalances: Opium, Silver, and Tea](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153#toc-trade-imbalances-opium-silver-and-tea)\n- [Opium Wars](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153#toc-opium-wars)\n- [Leasing Hong Kong](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153#toc-leasing-hong-kong)\n- [To Lease or Not to Lease](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153#toc-to-lease-or-not-to-lease)\n- [Moving Toward the Handover](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153#toc-moving-toward-the-handover)\n- [Handover](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153#toc-handover)\n- [Additional References](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153#toc-additional-references)\n\nBy\n\n[Kallie Szczepanski](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/kallie-szczepanski-194968)\n\n[Kallie Szczepanski](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/kallie-szczepanski-194968)\n\nHistory Expert\n\n- Ph.D., History, Boston University\n- J.D., University of Washington School of Law\n- B.A., History, Western Washington University\n\nDr. Kallie Szczepanski is a history teacher specializing in Asian history and culture. She has taught at the high school and university levels in the U.S. and South Korea.\n\nLearn about our [Editorial Process](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/about-us-4779650#toc-editorial-guidelines)\n\nUpdated on June 09, 2020\n\nClose\n\nIn 1997, the British handed Hong Kong back to China, the end of a 99-year lease and an event that was dreaded and anticipated by the residents, Chinese, English, and rest of the world. Hong Kong includes 426 square miles of territory in the South China Sea, and it is today one of the most densely occupied and economically independent parts of the world. That lease came about as a result of wars over trade imbalances, opium, and the shifting power of [Queen Victoria](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/six-facts-to-know-about-queen-victoria-1773870)'s British empire.\n\n### Key Takeaways\n- On June 9, 1898, the British under Queen Victoria brokered a 99-year lease agreement for the use of Hong Kong after China lost a series of wars fought over the British trade in tea and opium.\n- In 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang negotiated the underlying plan for the lease to end, such that Hong Kong would remain a semi-autonomous region for a 50-year period after the lease ended.\n- The lease ended on July 1, 1997, and since then tensions between the democratically minded Hong Kong population and the People's Republic of China have continued, although Hong Kong remains functionally separate from the Chinese mainland.\n\nHong Kong was first incorporated into China in 243 BCE, during the Warring States period and as the [Qin state](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/how-qin-dynasty-unified-ancient-china-117672) was beginning to grow in power. It remained almost constantly under Chinese control for the next 2,000 years. In 1842, under British Queen Victoria's expansionist rule, Hong Kong became known as British Hong Kong.\n\n## Trade Imbalances: Opium, Silver, and Tea\nNineteenth-century Britain had an insatiable appetite for Chinese tea, but the [Qing Dynasty](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/what-was-the-qing-dynasty-195382) and its subjects did not want to buy anything that the British produced and demanded that the British instead pay for its tea habit with silver or gold. The government of Queen Victoria did not want to use up any more of the country's reserves of gold or silver to buy tea, and the tea-importation tax generated during the transactions was a major percentage of the British economy. Victoria's government decided to forcibly export opium from the British-colonized Indian subcontinent to China. There, opium would then be exchanged for tea.\n\nChina's government, not too surprisingly, objected to the large-scale importation of narcotics into its country by a foreign power. At the time, most of Britain didn't view opium as a particular danger; to them, it was a medicine. China, however, was experiencing an opium crisis, with its military forces suffering direct impacts from their addictions. There were politicians in England such as William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) who did recognize the danger and objected strenuously; but at the same time, there were men who made their fortunes, such as the prominent U.S. opium trader [Warren Delano](https:\/\/omeka.hrvh.org\/exhibits\/show\/fdr-family-history\/warren-delano) (1809–1898), the grandfather of future president [Franklin Delano Roosevelt](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/franklin-d-roosevelt-1779848) (1882–1945).\n\n## Opium Wars\nWhen the Qing government discovered that banning opium imports outright did not work—because British merchants simply smuggled the drug into China—they took more direct action. In 1839, Chinese officials destroyed 20,000 bales of opium, each chest containing 140 pounds of the narcotic drug. This move provoked Britain to declare war to protect its illegal drug-smuggling operations.\n\nThe [First Opium War](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/the-first-and-second-opium-wars-195276) lasted from 1839 to 1842. Britain invaded the Chinese mainland and occupied the island of Hong Kong on Jan. 25, 1841, using it as a military staging point. China lost the war and had to cede Hong Kong to Britain in the Treaty of Nanking. As a result, Hong Kong became a crown colony of the [British Empire](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/the-commonwealth-of-nations-1221980).\n\n## Leasing Hong Kong\nThe Treaty of Nanking did not, however, resolve the opium trade dispute, and the conflict escalated again, into the Second Opium War. The settlement of that conflict was the first Convention of Peking, ratified on Oct. 18, 1860, when Britain acquired the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island (Ngong Shuen Chau).\n\nThe British grew increasingly worried about the security of their free port in British Hong Kong during the second half of the 19th century. It was an isolated island, surrounded by areas still under Chinese control. On June 9, 1898, the British signed a deal with the Chinese to lease Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the \"New Territories\"—the remainder of the Kowloon Peninsula north of Boundary Street, more territory beyond Kowloon into the Sham Chun River, and over 200 outlying islands. Hong Kong's British governors pressed for outright ownership, but the Chinese, while weakened by the first Sino-Japanese War, negotiated a more reasonable cession to finally end the war. That legally binding lease was to last 99 years.\n\n## To Lease or Not to Lease\nSeveral times in the first half of the 20th century, Britain considered relinquishing the lease to China because the island simply wasn't important to England anymore. But in 1941, Japan seized Hong Kong. U.S. President [Franklin Roosevelt](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/franklin-d-roosevelt-1779848) tried to pressure British Prime Minister [Winston Churchill](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/sir-winston-churchill-1779796) (1874–1965) to return the island to China as a concession for its support in the war, but Churchill refused. At the end of World War II, Britain still controlled Hong Kong, although the Americans continued to pressure it to return the island to China.\n\nBy 1949, the People's Liberation Army led by [Mao Zedong](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/timeline-of-mao-zedongs-life-195741) (1893–1976) had taken over China, and the West was now afraid that Communists would get their hands on a suddenly invaluable post for espionage, especially during the Korean War. While the [Gang of Four](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/the-gang-of-four-195613) did consider sending troops to Hong Kong in 1967, they ultimately did not sue for the return of Hong Kong.\n\n## Moving Toward the Handover\nOn Dec. 19, 1984, British Prime Minister [Margaret Thatcher](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/margaret-thatcher-biography-3530565) (1925–2013) and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang (1919–2005) signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which Britain agreed to return not only the New Territories but also Kowloon and British Hong Kong itself when the lease term expired. According to the declaration's terms, Hong Kong would become a special administrative region under the People's Republic of China, and it was expected to enjoy a high degree of autonomy outside of foreign and defense affairs. For a period of 50 years after the end of the lease, Hong Kong would remain a free port with a separate customs territory and sustain markets for free exchange. Hong Kong citizens could continue to practice capitalism and political freedoms forbidden on the mainland.\n\nAfter the agreement, Britain began to implement a broader level of democracy in Hong Kong. The first democratic government in Hong Kong was formed in the late 1980s, consisting of functional constituencies and direct elections. The stability of those changes became doubtful after the [Tiananmen Square incident](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/the-tiananmen-square-massacre-195216) (Beijing, China, June 3–4, 1989) when an undetermined number of protesting students were massacred. Half a million people in Hong Kong went on marches to protest.\n\nWhile the People's Republic of China rejected the democratization of Hong Kong, the region had become enormously lucrative. Hong Kong only became a major metropolis after the British possession, and during the 150 years of the occupation, the city had grown and thrived. Today, it is considered one of the most significant financial centers and trade ports in the world.\n\n## Handover\nOn July 1, 1997, the lease ended and the government of Great Britain transferred control of British Hong Kong and the surrounding territories to the [People's Republic of China](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/peoples-republic-of-china-facts-history-195233).\n\nThe transition has been more or less smooth, although human rights issues and Beijing's desire for greater political control cause [considerable friction](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-vs-hong-kong-687344) from time to time. Events since 2004—particularly in the [summer of 2019](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-china-48607723)—have shown that universal suffrage continues to be a rallying point for Hongkongers, while the PRC is clearly reluctant to allow Hong Kong to achieve full political freedom.\n\n## Additional References\n- Cheng, Joseph Y.S. \"[The Future of Hong Kong: A Hong Kong 'Belonger's' View](http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/2617810).\" *International Affairs* 58.3 (1982): 476–88. Print.\n- Fung, Anthony Y.H., and Chi Kit Chan. \"[Post-Handover Identity: Contested Cultural Bonding Between China and Hong Kong.](https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/17544750.2017.1371782)\" *Chinese Journal of Communication* 10.4 (2017): 395–412. Print.\n- Li, Kui-Wai. \"[Chapter 18—Hong Kong 1997–2047: The Political Scene.](https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/B978-0-12-804181-9.00018-5)\" \"Redefining Capitalism in Global Economic Development.\" Academic Press, 2017. 391–406. Print.\n- Maxwell, Neville. \"[Sino-British Confrontation over Hong Kong.](http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/4402855)\" *Economic and Political Weekly* 30.23 (1995): 1384–98. Print.\n- Meyer, Karl E. \"[The Opium War's Secret History](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1997\/06\/28\/opinion\/the-opium-war-s-secret-history.html).\" *The New York Times,* June 28, 1997. Print.\n- Tsang, Steve. \"A Modern History of Hong Kong.\" London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2007. Print.\n- Yahuda, Michael. \"[Hong Kong's Future: Sino-British Negotiations, Perceptions, Organization and Political Culture](http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/2621593).\" *International Affairs* 69.2 (1993): 245–66. Print.\n- Yip, Anastasia. \"Hong Kong and China: One Country, Two Systems, Two Identities.\" *Global Societies Journal* 3 (2015). Print.\n\nView Article Sources\n\n1. Lovell, Julia. \"[The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams, and the Making of Modern China](https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?hl=en&lr=&id=CxOEDwAAQBAJ&).\" New York: Overlook Press, 2014.\n\nCite this Article\n\nFormat\n\n[mla](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153) [apa](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153) [chicago](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153)\n\nYour Citation\n\nSzczepanski, Kallie. \"Why Did China Lease Hong Kong to Britain?\" ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153. Szczepanski, Kallie. (2023, April 5). Why Did China Lease Hong Kong to Britain? Retrieved from https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153 Szczepanski, Kallie. \"Why Did China Lease Hong Kong to Britain?\" ThoughtCo. https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153 (accessed April 12, 2026).\n\ncopy citation\n\n- [![North Taku Fort]() ![North Taku Fort](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/TaVpkDtrsfFvfmS8pVOeoAEraHo=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/north-taku-fort-3320631-59f0d69e6f53ba00111639bd.jpg) The First and Second Opium Wars](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/the-first-and-second-opium-wars-195276)\n- [![Sun Yat-sen]() ![Sun Yat-sen](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/-Tgas11a8GvH_TFFr9BEa6h3ngA=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/sun-yat-sen-3094403-5a7b41c26f8147bb92cc2baf9610f790.jpg) Biography of Sun Yat-sen, Chinese Revolutionary Leader](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/sun-yat-sen-195616)\n- [![The iconic \"Tank Man\" photo from the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Beijing, China (1989).]() ![The iconic \"Tank Man\" photo from the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Beijing, China (1989).](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/r9sKbncKsGWpdHeH3klYakhYMzA=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/030-56a040383df78cafdaa0adf6.JPG) The Tiananmen Square Massacre, 1989](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/the-tiananmen-square-massacre-195216)\n- [![Emilio Aguinaldo]() ![Emilio Aguinaldo](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/Sbdak-NL9bSOlY6Gf6VcOzSppXw=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/emilio-aguinaldo-50524274-5c8d887546e0fb0001f8d048.jpg) Biography of Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino Independence Leader](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/emilio-aguinaldo-biography-195653)\n- [![Filipino students protest the assassination of Benigno Aquino]() ![Filipino students protest the assassination of Benigno Aquino](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/b7qkpKcaxzmZjRCw5uTLrYUZTqY=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/GettyImages-801003-5b8cdec446e0fb0050b8e2be.jpg) Biography of Ninoy Aquino, Filipino Opposition Leader](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/ninoy-aquino-biography-195654)\n- [![Qianlong]() ![Qianlong](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/QvXYNh_bFLeeOmrkiW7FPeUJWHU=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/LordMacartneyEmbassyToChina1793-5b8213f746e0fb0025e05d22.jpg) Qing Dynasty, China's Last Imperial Family](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/han-dynasty-emperors-of-china-195256)\n- [![Detail of Royal Entourage in the Mountains from The First Emperor of the Han Dynasty Entering Kuan Tung by Chao Po-chu]() ![Detail of Royal Entourage in the Mountains from The First Emperor of the Han Dynasty Entering Kuan Tung by Chao Po-chu](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/E7xL0Cct6P6Et3vrZTSGaLshfr0=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/detail-of-royal-entourage-in-the-mountains-from-the-first-emperor-of-the-han-dynasty-entering-kuan-tung-by-chao-po-chu-640266595-5c702e3646e0fb0001b681d9.jpg) Han Dynasty's Emperors of China](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/han-dynasty-emperors-of-china-p2-195253)\n- [![Zheng Shi wields a cutlass in this nineteenth century print of the female pirate from China.]() ![Zheng Shi wields a cutlass in this nineteenth century print of the female pirate from China.](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/0HX_zLgfGQWzb7mX4RZpSAPO-MQ=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/ZhengShiHultonGetty-56a042335f9b58eba4af910e.jpg) Zheng Shi, Pirate Lady of China](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/zheng-shi-pirate-lady-of-china-195617)\n\n- [![Kublai Khan on horseback]() ![Kublai Khan on horseback](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/l9QwxjCzVMueyhQSw7KYS8FNl6Q=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/CroppedKublaiKhanHuntingWiki-56a040af3df78cafdaa0b017.jpg) The Red Turban Rebellion in China (1351-1368)](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/the-red-turban-rebellion-in-china-195229)\n- [![Nehru was a friend and ally of the Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for India\\&\\#39;s independence.]() ![Nehru was a friend and ally of the Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for India\\&\\#39;s independence.](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/VRA0kdJAFllDFsk9g3fZOfScVO4=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/NehruHultonArchiveGetty1960-56a042055f9b58eba4af9036.jpg) Jawaharlal Nehru, India's First Prime Minister](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/jawaharlal-nehru-195492)\n- [![Illustration of British prisoners held in the Black Hole of Calcutta]() ![Illustration of British prisoners held in the Black Hole of Calcutta](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/GXRF4QorxAVGRb2q3d4IrNrJJ9Y=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/GettyImages-80665453-5c6f2dc0c9e77c000151ba10.jpg) The Black Hole of Calcutta](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/what-was-the-black-hole-of-calcutta-195152)\n- [![Painting of Empress Wu Zetian of China]() ![Painting of Empress Wu Zetian of China](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/-57Fy5yPTUC1P5l9by2NZL7WIO4=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/EmpressWuBritishLibraryRobanaGetty-2000x1463--57a9c8ac3df78cf459fd85aa.jpg) Empress Wu Zetian of Zhou China](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/empress-wu-zetian-of-zhou-china-195119)\n- [![Hirohito1935UnderwoodArchivesGetty-2000x1559-.jpg]() ![Hirohito1935UnderwoodArchivesGetty-2000x1559-.jpg](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/ZT9bde21-SLtKlZ8X0PPLoOHOa4=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/Hirohito1935UnderwoodArchivesGetty-2000x1559--56a042c95f9b58eba4af9301.jpg) Emperor Hirohito of Japan](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/emperor-hirohito-of-japan-195661)\n- [![Road in front of English embassy in Beijing, China, Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), photograph by R Alt, from LIllustrazione Italiana, Year XXVII, No 27, July 8, 1900]() ![Road in front of English embassy in Beijing, China, Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), photograph by R Alt, from LIllustrazione Italiana, Year XXVII, No 27, July 8, 1900](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/IZZrd_7_gK5G5Ekloh8KbTs8aWA=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/road-in-front-of-english-embassy-in-beijing--china--boxer-rebellion--1899-1901---photograph-by-r-alt--from-lillustrazione-italiana--year-xxvii--no-27--july-8--1900-730146391-5a6021af842b170037b5b13b.jpg) What Was the Boxer Rebellion?](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/what-was-the-boxer-rebellion-195300)\n- [![Apolinario Mabini (left) and Andres Bonifacio on a 10 Piso 2008 Banknote]() ![Apolinario Mabini (left) and Andres Bonifacio on a 10 Piso 2008 Banknote](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/2y8A3KdJhuZrrl1MjBuONvD7xiQ=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/apolinario-mabini-and-andres-bonifacio-on-10-piso-2008-banknote-from-philipines--revolutionary-figure-of-the-philipines--126461594-14d14bd14d4d4649915fbedf41d3bedb.jpg) Biography of Apolinario Mabini, Philippines' First Prime Minister](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/apolinario-mabini-195645)\n- [![Antonio Luna]() ![Antonio Luna](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/thmb\/mpby87AeQa9Jsh6r2L9-3-iWJ0A=\/250x0\/filters:no_upscale\\(\\):max_bytes\\(150000\\):strip_icc\\(\\)\/Antonio_lunA-5ad855d51f4e130038f2b12b.jpg) Biography of Antonio Luna, Hero of the Philippine-American War](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/antonio-luna-philippine-american-war-hero-195644)\n\n[ThoughtCo](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/)\n\n## Follow Us\n\n- [Science, Tech, Math](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/sciences-math-4132465)\n- [Humanities](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/humanities-4133358)\n- [Languages](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/languages-4133094)\n- [Resources](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/resources-4132590)\n\n- [About Us](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/about-us-4779650)\n- [Advertise](https:\/\/www.people.inc\/advertising)\n- [Careers](https:\/\/www.people.inc\/careers)\n- [Privacy Policy](https:\/\/www.people.inc\/brands-privacy)\n- [Editorial Guidelines](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/about-us-4779650#toc-editorial-guidelines)\n- [Contact](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/about-us-4779650#toc-contact-us)\n- [Terms of Service](https:\/\/www.people.inc\/brands-termsofservice)\n\nThoughtCo is part of the [People Inc.](https:\/\/www.people.inc\/) publishing family.","attrs_readable_markdown":"In 1997, the British handed Hong Kong back to China, the end of a 99-year lease and an event that was dreaded and anticipated by the residents, Chinese, English, and rest of the world. Hong Kong includes 426 square miles of territory in the South China Sea, and it is today one of the most densely occupied and economically independent parts of the world. That lease came about as a result of wars over trade imbalances, opium, and the shifting power of [Queen Victoria](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/six-facts-to-know-about-queen-victoria-1773870)'s British empire.\n\n### Key Takeaways\n- On June 9, 1898, the British under Queen Victoria brokered a 99-year lease agreement for the use of Hong Kong after China lost a series of wars fought over the British trade in tea and opium.\n- In 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang negotiated the underlying plan for the lease to end, such that Hong Kong would remain a semi-autonomous region for a 50-year period after the lease ended.\n- The lease ended on July 1, 1997, and since then tensions between the democratically minded Hong Kong population and the People's Republic of China have continued, although Hong Kong remains functionally separate from the Chinese mainland.\n\nHong Kong was first incorporated into China in 243 BCE, during the Warring States period and as the [Qin state](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/how-qin-dynasty-unified-ancient-china-117672) was beginning to grow in power. It remained almost constantly under Chinese control for the next 2,000 years. In 1842, under British Queen Victoria's expansionist rule, Hong Kong became known as British Hong Kong.\n\n## Trade Imbalances: Opium, Silver, and Tea\nNineteenth-century Britain had an insatiable appetite for Chinese tea, but the [Qing Dynasty](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/what-was-the-qing-dynasty-195382) and its subjects did not want to buy anything that the British produced and demanded that the British instead pay for its tea habit with silver or gold. The government of Queen Victoria did not want to use up any more of the country's reserves of gold or silver to buy tea, and the tea-importation tax generated during the transactions was a major percentage of the British economy. Victoria's government decided to forcibly export opium from the British-colonized Indian subcontinent to China. There, opium would then be exchanged for tea.\n\nChina's government, not too surprisingly, objected to the large-scale importation of narcotics into its country by a foreign power. At the time, most of Britain didn't view opium as a particular danger; to them, it was a medicine. China, however, was experiencing an opium crisis, with its military forces suffering direct impacts from their addictions. There were politicians in England such as William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) who did recognize the danger and objected strenuously; but at the same time, there were men who made their fortunes, such as the prominent U.S. opium trader [Warren Delano](https:\/\/omeka.hrvh.org\/exhibits\/show\/fdr-family-history\/warren-delano) (1809–1898), the grandfather of future president [Franklin Delano Roosevelt](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/franklin-d-roosevelt-1779848) (1882–1945).\n\n## Opium Wars\nWhen the Qing government discovered that banning opium imports outright did not work—because British merchants simply smuggled the drug into China—they took more direct action. In 1839, Chinese officials destroyed 20,000 bales of opium, each chest containing 140 pounds of the narcotic drug. This move provoked Britain to declare war to protect its illegal drug-smuggling operations.\n\nThe [First Opium War](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/the-first-and-second-opium-wars-195276) lasted from 1839 to 1842. Britain invaded the Chinese mainland and occupied the island of Hong Kong on Jan. 25, 1841, using it as a military staging point. China lost the war and had to cede Hong Kong to Britain in the Treaty of Nanking. As a result, Hong Kong became a crown colony of the [British Empire](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/the-commonwealth-of-nations-1221980).\n\n## Leasing Hong Kong\nThe Treaty of Nanking did not, however, resolve the opium trade dispute, and the conflict escalated again, into the Second Opium War. The settlement of that conflict was the first Convention of Peking, ratified on Oct. 18, 1860, when Britain acquired the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island (Ngong Shuen Chau).\n\nThe British grew increasingly worried about the security of their free port in British Hong Kong during the second half of the 19th century. It was an isolated island, surrounded by areas still under Chinese control. On June 9, 1898, the British signed a deal with the Chinese to lease Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the \"New Territories\"—the remainder of the Kowloon Peninsula north of Boundary Street, more territory beyond Kowloon into the Sham Chun River, and over 200 outlying islands. Hong Kong's British governors pressed for outright ownership, but the Chinese, while weakened by the first Sino-Japanese War, negotiated a more reasonable cession to finally end the war. That legally binding lease was to last 99 years.\n\n## To Lease or Not to Lease\nSeveral times in the first half of the 20th century, Britain considered relinquishing the lease to China because the island simply wasn't important to England anymore. But in 1941, Japan seized Hong Kong. U.S. President [Franklin Roosevelt](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/franklin-d-roosevelt-1779848) tried to pressure British Prime Minister [Winston Churchill](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/sir-winston-churchill-1779796) (1874–1965) to return the island to China as a concession for its support in the war, but Churchill refused. At the end of World War II, Britain still controlled Hong Kong, although the Americans continued to pressure it to return the island to China.\n\nBy 1949, the People's Liberation Army led by [Mao Zedong](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/timeline-of-mao-zedongs-life-195741) (1893–1976) had taken over China, and the West was now afraid that Communists would get their hands on a suddenly invaluable post for espionage, especially during the Korean War. While the [Gang of Four](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/the-gang-of-four-195613) did consider sending troops to Hong Kong in 1967, they ultimately did not sue for the return of Hong Kong.\n\n## Moving Toward the Handover\nOn Dec. 19, 1984, British Prime Minister [Margaret Thatcher](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/margaret-thatcher-biography-3530565) (1925–2013) and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang (1919–2005) signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which Britain agreed to return not only the New Territories but also Kowloon and British Hong Kong itself when the lease term expired. According to the declaration's terms, Hong Kong would become a special administrative region under the People's Republic of China, and it was expected to enjoy a high degree of autonomy outside of foreign and defense affairs. For a period of 50 years after the end of the lease, Hong Kong would remain a free port with a separate customs territory and sustain markets for free exchange. Hong Kong citizens could continue to practice capitalism and political freedoms forbidden on the mainland.\n\nAfter the agreement, Britain began to implement a broader level of democracy in Hong Kong. The first democratic government in Hong Kong was formed in the late 1980s, consisting of functional constituencies and direct elections. The stability of those changes became doubtful after the [Tiananmen Square incident](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/the-tiananmen-square-massacre-195216) (Beijing, China, June 3–4, 1989) when an undetermined number of protesting students were massacred. Half a million people in Hong Kong went on marches to protest.\n\nWhile the People's Republic of China rejected the democratization of Hong Kong, the region had become enormously lucrative. Hong Kong only became a major metropolis after the British possession, and during the 150 years of the occupation, the city had grown and thrived. Today, it is considered one of the most significant financial centers and trade ports in the world.\n\n## Handover\nOn July 1, 1997, the lease ended and the government of Great Britain transferred control of British Hong Kong and the surrounding territories to the [People's Republic of China](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/peoples-republic-of-china-facts-history-195233).\n\nThe transition has been more or less smooth, although human rights issues and Beijing's desire for greater political control cause [considerable friction](https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/china-vs-hong-kong-687344) from time to time. Events since 2004—particularly in the [summer of 2019](https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-asia-china-48607723)—have shown that universal suffrage continues to be a rallying point for Hongkongers, while the PRC is clearly reluctant to allow Hong Kong to achieve full political freedom.\n\n## Additional References\n- Cheng, Joseph Y.S. \"[The Future of Hong Kong: A Hong Kong 'Belonger's' View](http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/2617810).\" *International Affairs* 58.3 (1982): 476–88. Print.\n- Fung, Anthony Y.H., and Chi Kit Chan. \"[Post-Handover Identity: Contested Cultural Bonding Between China and Hong Kong.](https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1080\/17544750.2017.1371782)\" *Chinese Journal of Communication* 10.4 (2017): 395–412. Print.\n- Li, Kui-Wai. \"[Chapter 18—Hong Kong 1997–2047: The Political Scene.](https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/B978-0-12-804181-9.00018-5)\" \"Redefining Capitalism in Global Economic Development.\" Academic Press, 2017. 391–406. Print.\n- Maxwell, Neville. \"[Sino-British Confrontation over Hong Kong.](http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/4402855)\" *Economic and Political Weekly* 30.23 (1995): 1384–98. Print.\n- Meyer, Karl E. \"[The Opium War's Secret History](https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1997\/06\/28\/opinion\/the-opium-war-s-secret-history.html).\" *The New York Times,* June 28, 1997. Print.\n- Tsang, Steve. \"A Modern History of Hong Kong.\" London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2007. Print.\n- Yahuda, Michael. \"[Hong Kong's Future: Sino-British Negotiations, Perceptions, Organization and Political Culture](http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/2621593).\" *International Affairs* 69.2 (1993): 245–66. Print.\n- Yip, Anastasia. \"Hong Kong and China: One Country, Two Systems, Two Identities.\" *Global Societies Journal* 3 (2015). Print.","meta_canonical":null}

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Boilerpipe Text	In 1997, the British handed Hong Kong back to China, the end of a 99-year lease and an event that was dreaded and anticipated by the residents, Chinese, English, and rest of the world. Hong Kong includes 426 square miles of territory in the South China Sea, and it is today one of the most densely occupied and economically independent parts of the world. That lease came about as a result of wars over trade imbalances, opium, and the shifting power of Queen Victoria 's British empire. Key Takeaways On June 9, 1898, the British under Queen Victoria brokered a 99-year lease agreement for the use of Hong Kong after China lost a series of wars fought over the British trade in tea and opium. In 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang negotiated the underlying plan for the lease to end, such that Hong Kong would remain a semi-autonomous region for a 50-year period after the lease ended. The lease ended on July 1, 1997, and since then tensions between the democratically minded Hong Kong population and the People's Republic of China have continued, although Hong Kong remains functionally separate from the Chinese mainland. Hong Kong was first incorporated into China in 243 BCE, during the Warring States period and as the Qin state was beginning to grow in power. It remained almost constantly under Chinese control for the next 2,000 years. In 1842, under British Queen Victoria's expansionist rule, Hong Kong became known as British Hong Kong. Trade Imbalances: Opium, Silver, and Tea Nineteenth-century Britain had an insatiable appetite for Chinese tea, but the Qing Dynasty and its subjects did not want to buy anything that the British produced and demanded that the British instead pay for its tea habit with silver or gold. The government of Queen Victoria did not want to use up any more of the country's reserves of gold or silver to buy tea, and the tea-importation tax generated during the transactions was a major percentage of the British economy. Victoria's government decided to forcibly export opium from the British-colonized Indian subcontinent to China. There, opium would then be exchanged for tea. China's government, not too surprisingly, objected to the large-scale importation of narcotics into its country by a foreign power. At the time, most of Britain didn't view opium as a particular danger; to them, it was a medicine. China, however, was experiencing an opium crisis, with its military forces suffering direct impacts from their addictions. There were politicians in England such as William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) who did recognize the danger and objected strenuously; but at the same time, there were men who made their fortunes, such as the prominent U.S. opium trader Warren Delano (1809–1898), the grandfather of future president Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945). Opium Wars When the Qing government discovered that banning opium imports outright did not work—because British merchants simply smuggled the drug into China—they took more direct action. In 1839, Chinese officials destroyed 20,000 bales of opium, each chest containing 140 pounds of the narcotic drug. This move provoked Britain to declare war to protect its illegal drug-smuggling operations. The First Opium War lasted from 1839 to 1842. Britain invaded the Chinese mainland and occupied the island of Hong Kong on Jan. 25, 1841, using it as a military staging point. China lost the war and had to cede Hong Kong to Britain in the Treaty of Nanking. As a result, Hong Kong became a crown colony of the British Empire . Leasing Hong Kong The Treaty of Nanking did not, however, resolve the opium trade dispute, and the conflict escalated again, into the Second Opium War. The settlement of that conflict was the first Convention of Peking, ratified on Oct. 18, 1860, when Britain acquired the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island (Ngong Shuen Chau). The British grew increasingly worried about the security of their free port in British Hong Kong during the second half of the 19th century. It was an isolated island, surrounded by areas still under Chinese control. On June 9, 1898, the British signed a deal with the Chinese to lease Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the "New Territories"—the remainder of the Kowloon Peninsula north of Boundary Street, more territory beyond Kowloon into the Sham Chun River, and over 200 outlying islands. Hong Kong's British governors pressed for outright ownership, but the Chinese, while weakened by the first Sino-Japanese War, negotiated a more reasonable cession to finally end the war. That legally binding lease was to last 99 years. To Lease or Not to Lease Several times in the first half of the 20th century, Britain considered relinquishing the lease to China because the island simply wasn't important to England anymore. But in 1941, Japan seized Hong Kong. U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt tried to pressure British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1874–1965) to return the island to China as a concession for its support in the war, but Churchill refused. At the end of World War II, Britain still controlled Hong Kong, although the Americans continued to pressure it to return the island to China. By 1949, the People's Liberation Army led by Mao Zedong (1893–1976) had taken over China, and the West was now afraid that Communists would get their hands on a suddenly invaluable post for espionage, especially during the Korean War. While the Gang of Four did consider sending troops to Hong Kong in 1967, they ultimately did not sue for the return of Hong Kong. Moving Toward the Handover On Dec. 19, 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang (1919–2005) signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which Britain agreed to return not only the New Territories but also Kowloon and British Hong Kong itself when the lease term expired. According to the declaration's terms, Hong Kong would become a special administrative region under the People's Republic of China, and it was expected to enjoy a high degree of autonomy outside of foreign and defense affairs. For a period of 50 years after the end of the lease, Hong Kong would remain a free port with a separate customs territory and sustain markets for free exchange. Hong Kong citizens could continue to practice capitalism and political freedoms forbidden on the mainland. After the agreement, Britain began to implement a broader level of democracy in Hong Kong. The first democratic government in Hong Kong was formed in the late 1980s, consisting of functional constituencies and direct elections. The stability of those changes became doubtful after the Tiananmen Square incident (Beijing, China, June 3–4, 1989) when an undetermined number of protesting students were massacred. Half a million people in Hong Kong went on marches to protest. While the People's Republic of China rejected the democratization of Hong Kong, the region had become enormously lucrative. Hong Kong only became a major metropolis after the British possession, and during the 150 years of the occupation, the city had grown and thrived. Today, it is considered one of the most significant financial centers and trade ports in the world. Handover On July 1, 1997, the lease ended and the government of Great Britain transferred control of British Hong Kong and the surrounding territories to the People's Republic of China . The transition has been more or less smooth, although human rights issues and Beijing's desire for greater political control cause considerable friction from time to time. Events since 2004—particularly in the summer of 2019 —have shown that universal suffrage continues to be a rallying point for Hongkongers, while the PRC is clearly reluctant to allow Hong Kong to achieve full political freedom. Additional References Cheng, Joseph Y.S. " The Future of Hong Kong: A Hong Kong 'Belonger's' View ." International Affairs 58.3 (1982): 476–88. Print. Fung, Anthony Y.H., and Chi Kit Chan. " Post-Handover Identity: Contested Cultural Bonding Between China and Hong Kong. " Chinese Journal of Communication 10.4 (2017): 395–412. Print. Li, Kui-Wai. " Chapter 18—Hong Kong 1997–2047: The Political Scene. " "Redefining Capitalism in Global Economic Development." Academic Press, 2017. 391–406. Print. Maxwell, Neville. " Sino-British Confrontation over Hong Kong. " Economic and Political Weekly 30.23 (1995): 1384–98. Print. Meyer, Karl E. " The Opium War's Secret History ." The New York Times, June 28, 1997. Print. Tsang, Steve. "A Modern History of Hong Kong." London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2007. Print. Yahuda, Michael. " Hong Kong's Future: Sino-British Negotiations, Perceptions, Organization and Political Culture ." International Affairs 69.2 (1993): 245–66. Print. Yip, Anastasia. "Hong Kong and China: One Country, Two Systems, Two Identities." Global Societies Journal 3 (2015). Print.
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And Why Britain Handed Over Hong Kong to China in 1997 ![English Quarter, Hong Kong, 1899](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/qAdpFSRcwt7XUTBDUOQ3oaDa01Q=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/English_Quarter_Hong_Kong-0ebbd259acf34c84b08cf33cb1e7cd1a.jpg) ![English Quarter, Hong Kong, 1899](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/qAdpFSRcwt7XUTBDUOQ3oaDa01Q=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/English_Quarter_Hong_Kong-0ebbd259acf34c84b08cf33cb1e7cd1a.jpg) The English Quarter in Hong Kong, shown in 1899. 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She has taught at the high school and university levels in the U.S. and South Korea. Learn about our [Editorial Process](https://www.thoughtco.com/about-us-4779650#toc-editorial-guidelines) Updated on June 09, 2020 Close In 1997, the British handed Hong Kong back to China, the end of a 99-year lease and an event that was dreaded and anticipated by the residents, Chinese, English, and rest of the world. Hong Kong includes 426 square miles of territory in the South China Sea, and it is today one of the most densely occupied and economically independent parts of the world. That lease came about as a result of wars over trade imbalances, opium, and the shifting power of [Queen Victoria](https://www.thoughtco.com/six-facts-to-know-about-queen-victoria-1773870)'s British empire. ### Key Takeaways - On June 9, 1898, the British under Queen Victoria brokered a 99-year lease agreement for the use of Hong Kong after China lost a series of wars fought over the British trade in tea and opium. - In 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang negotiated the underlying plan for the lease to end, such that Hong Kong would remain a semi-autonomous region for a 50-year period after the lease ended. - The lease ended on July 1, 1997, and since then tensions between the democratically minded Hong Kong population and the People's Republic of China have continued, although Hong Kong remains functionally separate from the Chinese mainland. Hong Kong was first incorporated into China in 243 BCE, during the Warring States period and as the [Qin state](https://www.thoughtco.com/how-qin-dynasty-unified-ancient-china-117672) was beginning to grow in power. It remained almost constantly under Chinese control for the next 2,000 years. In 1842, under British Queen Victoria's expansionist rule, Hong Kong became known as British Hong Kong. ## Trade Imbalances: Opium, Silver, and Tea Nineteenth-century Britain had an insatiable appetite for Chinese tea, but the [Qing Dynasty](https://www.thoughtco.com/what-was-the-qing-dynasty-195382) and its subjects did not want to buy anything that the British produced and demanded that the British instead pay for its tea habit with silver or gold. The government of Queen Victoria did not want to use up any more of the country's reserves of gold or silver to buy tea, and the tea-importation tax generated during the transactions was a major percentage of the British economy. Victoria's government decided to forcibly export opium from the British-colonized Indian subcontinent to China. There, opium would then be exchanged for tea. China's government, not too surprisingly, objected to the large-scale importation of narcotics into its country by a foreign power. At the time, most of Britain didn't view opium as a particular danger; to them, it was a medicine. China, however, was experiencing an opium crisis, with its military forces suffering direct impacts from their addictions. There were politicians in England such as William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) who did recognize the danger and objected strenuously; but at the same time, there were men who made their fortunes, such as the prominent U.S. opium trader [Warren Delano](https://omeka.hrvh.org/exhibits/show/fdr-family-history/warren-delano) (1809–1898), the grandfather of future president [Franklin Delano Roosevelt](https://www.thoughtco.com/franklin-d-roosevelt-1779848) (1882–1945). ## Opium Wars When the Qing government discovered that banning opium imports outright did not work—because British merchants simply smuggled the drug into China—they took more direct action. In 1839, Chinese officials destroyed 20,000 bales of opium, each chest containing 140 pounds of the narcotic drug. This move provoked Britain to declare war to protect its illegal drug-smuggling operations. The [First Opium War](https://www.thoughtco.com/the-first-and-second-opium-wars-195276) lasted from 1839 to 1842. Britain invaded the Chinese mainland and occupied the island of Hong Kong on Jan. 25, 1841, using it as a military staging point. China lost the war and had to cede Hong Kong to Britain in the Treaty of Nanking. As a result, Hong Kong became a crown colony of the [British Empire](https://www.thoughtco.com/the-commonwealth-of-nations-1221980). ## Leasing Hong Kong The Treaty of Nanking did not, however, resolve the opium trade dispute, and the conflict escalated again, into the Second Opium War. The settlement of that conflict was the first Convention of Peking, ratified on Oct. 18, 1860, when Britain acquired the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island (Ngong Shuen Chau). The British grew increasingly worried about the security of their free port in British Hong Kong during the second half of the 19th century. It was an isolated island, surrounded by areas still under Chinese control. On June 9, 1898, the British signed a deal with the Chinese to lease Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the "New Territories"—the remainder of the Kowloon Peninsula north of Boundary Street, more territory beyond Kowloon into the Sham Chun River, and over 200 outlying islands. Hong Kong's British governors pressed for outright ownership, but the Chinese, while weakened by the first Sino-Japanese War, negotiated a more reasonable cession to finally end the war. That legally binding lease was to last 99 years. ## To Lease or Not to Lease Several times in the first half of the 20th century, Britain considered relinquishing the lease to China because the island simply wasn't important to England anymore. But in 1941, Japan seized Hong Kong. U.S. President [Franklin Roosevelt](https://www.thoughtco.com/franklin-d-roosevelt-1779848) tried to pressure British Prime Minister [Winston Churchill](https://www.thoughtco.com/sir-winston-churchill-1779796) (1874–1965) to return the island to China as a concession for its support in the war, but Churchill refused. At the end of World War II, Britain still controlled Hong Kong, although the Americans continued to pressure it to return the island to China. By 1949, the People's Liberation Army led by [Mao Zedong](https://www.thoughtco.com/timeline-of-mao-zedongs-life-195741) (1893–1976) had taken over China, and the West was now afraid that Communists would get their hands on a suddenly invaluable post for espionage, especially during the Korean War. While the [Gang of Four](https://www.thoughtco.com/the-gang-of-four-195613) did consider sending troops to Hong Kong in 1967, they ultimately did not sue for the return of Hong Kong. ## Moving Toward the Handover On Dec. 19, 1984, British Prime Minister [Margaret Thatcher](https://www.thoughtco.com/margaret-thatcher-biography-3530565) (1925–2013) and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang (1919–2005) signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which Britain agreed to return not only the New Territories but also Kowloon and British Hong Kong itself when the lease term expired. According to the declaration's terms, Hong Kong would become a special administrative region under the People's Republic of China, and it was expected to enjoy a high degree of autonomy outside of foreign and defense affairs. For a period of 50 years after the end of the lease, Hong Kong would remain a free port with a separate customs territory and sustain markets for free exchange. Hong Kong citizens could continue to practice capitalism and political freedoms forbidden on the mainland. After the agreement, Britain began to implement a broader level of democracy in Hong Kong. The first democratic government in Hong Kong was formed in the late 1980s, consisting of functional constituencies and direct elections. The stability of those changes became doubtful after the [Tiananmen Square incident](https://www.thoughtco.com/the-tiananmen-square-massacre-195216) (Beijing, China, June 3–4, 1989) when an undetermined number of protesting students were massacred. Half a million people in Hong Kong went on marches to protest. While the People's Republic of China rejected the democratization of Hong Kong, the region had become enormously lucrative. Hong Kong only became a major metropolis after the British possession, and during the 150 years of the occupation, the city had grown and thrived. Today, it is considered one of the most significant financial centers and trade ports in the world. ## Handover On July 1, 1997, the lease ended and the government of Great Britain transferred control of British Hong Kong and the surrounding territories to the [People's Republic of China](https://www.thoughtco.com/peoples-republic-of-china-facts-history-195233). The transition has been more or less smooth, although human rights issues and Beijing's desire for greater political control cause [considerable friction](https://www.thoughtco.com/china-vs-hong-kong-687344) from time to time. Events since 2004—particularly in the [summer of 2019](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-48607723)—have shown that universal suffrage continues to be a rallying point for Hongkongers, while the PRC is clearly reluctant to allow Hong Kong to achieve full political freedom. ## Additional References - Cheng, Joseph Y.S. "[The Future of Hong Kong: A Hong Kong 'Belonger's' View](http://www.jstor.org/stable/2617810)." International Affairs 58.3 (1982): 476–88. Print. - Fung, Anthony Y.H., and Chi Kit Chan. "[Post-Handover Identity: Contested Cultural Bonding Between China and Hong Kong.](https://doi.org/10.1080/17544750.2017.1371782)" Chinese Journal of Communication 10.4 (2017): 395–412. Print. - Li, Kui-Wai. "[Chapter 18—Hong Kong 1997–2047: The Political Scene.](https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-804181-9.00018-5)" "Redefining Capitalism in Global Economic Development." Academic Press, 2017. 391–406. Print. - Maxwell, Neville. "[Sino-British Confrontation over Hong Kong.](http://www.jstor.org/stable/4402855)" Economic and Political Weekly 30.23 (1995): 1384–98. Print. - Meyer, Karl E. "[The Opium War's Secret History](https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/28/opinion/the-opium-war-s-secret-history.html)." The New York Times, June 28, 1997. Print. - Tsang, Steve. "A Modern History of Hong Kong." London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2007. Print. - Yahuda, Michael. "[Hong Kong's Future: Sino-British Negotiations, Perceptions, Organization and Political Culture](http://www.jstor.org/stable/2621593)." International Affairs 69.2 (1993): 245–66. Print. - Yip, Anastasia. "Hong Kong and China: One Country, Two Systems, Two Identities." Global Societies Journal 3 (2015). Print. View Article Sources 1. Lovell, Julia. "[The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams, and the Making of Modern China](https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=CxOEDwAAQBAJ&)." New York: Overlook Press, 2014. Cite this Article Format [mla](https://www.thoughtco.com/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153) [apa](https://www.thoughtco.com/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153) [chicago](https://www.thoughtco.com/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153) Your Citation Szczepanski, Kallie. "Why Did China Lease Hong Kong to Britain?" ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153. Szczepanski, Kallie. (2023, April 5). Why Did China Lease Hong Kong to Britain? Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153 Szczepanski, Kallie. "Why Did China Lease Hong Kong to Britain?" ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/china-lease-hong-kong-to-britain-195153 (accessed April 12, 2026). copy citation - [![North Taku Fort]() ![North Taku Fort](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/TaVpkDtrsfFvfmS8pVOeoAEraHo=/250x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/north-taku-fort-3320631-59f0d69e6f53ba00111639bd.jpg) The First and Second Opium Wars](https://www.thoughtco.com/the-first-and-second-opium-wars-195276) - [![Sun Yat-sen]() ![Sun Yat-sen](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/-Tgas11a8GvH_TFFr9BEa6h3ngA=/250x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/sun-yat-sen-3094403-5a7b41c26f8147bb92cc2baf9610f790.jpg) Biography of Sun Yat-sen, Chinese Revolutionary Leader](https://www.thoughtco.com/sun-yat-sen-195616) - [![The iconic "Tank Man" photo from the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Beijing, China (1989).]() ![The iconic "Tank Man" photo from the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Beijing, China (1989).](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/r9sKbncKsGWpdHeH3klYakhYMzA=/250x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/030-56a040383df78cafdaa0adf6.JPG) The Tiananmen Square Massacre, 1989](https://www.thoughtco.com/the-tiananmen-square-massacre-195216) - [![Emilio Aguinaldo]() ![Emilio Aguinaldo](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/Sbdak-NL9bSOlY6Gf6VcOzSppXw=/250x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/emilio-aguinaldo-50524274-5c8d887546e0fb0001f8d048.jpg) Biography of Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino Independence Leader](https://www.thoughtco.com/emilio-aguinaldo-biography-195653) - [![Filipino students protest the assassination of Benigno Aquino]() ![Filipino students protest the assassination of Benigno Aquino](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/b7qkpKcaxzmZjRCw5uTLrYUZTqY=/250x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/GettyImages-801003-5b8cdec446e0fb0050b8e2be.jpg) Biography of Ninoy Aquino, Filipino Opposition Leader](https://www.thoughtco.com/ninoy-aquino-biography-195654) - [![Qianlong]() ![Qianlong](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/QvXYNh_bFLeeOmrkiW7FPeUJWHU=/250x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/LordMacartneyEmbassyToChina1793-5b8213f746e0fb0025e05d22.jpg) Qing Dynasty, China's Last Imperial Family](https://www.thoughtco.com/han-dynasty-emperors-of-china-195256) - [![Detail of Royal Entourage in the Mountains from The First Emperor of the Han Dynasty Entering Kuan Tung by Chao Po-chu]() ![Detail of Royal Entourage in the Mountains from The First Emperor of the Han Dynasty Entering Kuan Tung by Chao Po-chu](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/E7xL0Cct6P6Et3vrZTSGaLshfr0=/250x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/detail-of-royal-entourage-in-the-mountains-from-the-first-emperor-of-the-han-dynasty-entering-kuan-tung-by-chao-po-chu-640266595-5c702e3646e0fb0001b681d9.jpg) Han Dynasty's Emperors of China](https://www.thoughtco.com/han-dynasty-emperors-of-china-p2-195253) - [![Zheng Shi wields a cutlass in this nineteenth century print of the female pirate from China.]() ![Zheng Shi wields a cutlass in this nineteenth century print of the female pirate from China.](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/0HX_zLgfGQWzb7mX4RZpSAPO-MQ=/250x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/ZhengShiHultonGetty-56a042335f9b58eba4af910e.jpg) Zheng Shi, Pirate Lady of China](https://www.thoughtco.com/zheng-shi-pirate-lady-of-china-195617) - [![Kublai Khan on horseback]() ![Kublai Khan on horseback](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/l9QwxjCzVMueyhQSw7KYS8FNl6Q=/250x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/CroppedKublaiKhanHuntingWiki-56a040af3df78cafdaa0b017.jpg) The Red Turban Rebellion in China (1351-1368)](https://www.thoughtco.com/the-red-turban-rebellion-in-china-195229) - [![Nehru was a friend and ally of the Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for India\&\#39;s independence.]() ![Nehru was a friend and ally of the Mahatma Gandhi in the struggle for India\&\#39;s independence.](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/VRA0kdJAFllDFsk9g3fZOfScVO4=/250x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/NehruHultonArchiveGetty1960-56a042055f9b58eba4af9036.jpg) Jawaharlal Nehru, India's First Prime Minister](https://www.thoughtco.com/jawaharlal-nehru-195492) - [![Illustration of British prisoners held in the Black Hole of Calcutta]() ![Illustration of British prisoners held in the Black Hole of Calcutta](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/GXRF4QorxAVGRb2q3d4IrNrJJ9Y=/250x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/GettyImages-80665453-5c6f2dc0c9e77c000151ba10.jpg) The Black Hole of Calcutta](https://www.thoughtco.com/what-was-the-black-hole-of-calcutta-195152) - [![Painting of Empress Wu Zetian of China]() ![Painting of Empress Wu Zetian of China](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/-57Fy5yPTUC1P5l9by2NZL7WIO4=/250x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/EmpressWuBritishLibraryRobanaGetty-2000x1463--57a9c8ac3df78cf459fd85aa.jpg) Empress Wu Zetian of Zhou China](https://www.thoughtco.com/empress-wu-zetian-of-zhou-china-195119) - [![Hirohito1935UnderwoodArchivesGetty-2000x1559-.jpg]() ![Hirohito1935UnderwoodArchivesGetty-2000x1559-.jpg](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/ZT9bde21-SLtKlZ8X0PPLoOHOa4=/250x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/Hirohito1935UnderwoodArchivesGetty-2000x1559--56a042c95f9b58eba4af9301.jpg) Emperor Hirohito of Japan](https://www.thoughtco.com/emperor-hirohito-of-japan-195661) - [![Road in front of English embassy in Beijing, China, Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), photograph by R Alt, from LIllustrazione Italiana, Year XXVII, No 27, July 8, 1900]() ![Road in front of English embassy in Beijing, China, Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), photograph by R Alt, from LIllustrazione Italiana, Year XXVII, No 27, July 8, 1900](https://www.thoughtco.com/thmb/IZZrd_7_gK5G5Ekloh8KbTs8aWA=/250x0/filters:no_upscale\(\):max_bytes\(150000\):strip_icc\(\)/road-in-front-of-english-embassy-in-beijing--china--boxer-rebellion--1899-1901---photograph-by-r-alt--from-lillustrazione-italiana--year-xxvii--no-27--july-8--1900-730146391-5a6021af842b170037b5b13b.jpg) What Was the Boxer Rebellion?](https://www.thoughtco.com/what-was-the-boxer-rebellion-195300) - 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Readable Markdown	In 1997, the British handed Hong Kong back to China, the end of a 99-year lease and an event that was dreaded and anticipated by the residents, Chinese, English, and rest of the world. Hong Kong includes 426 square miles of territory in the South China Sea, and it is today one of the most densely occupied and economically independent parts of the world. That lease came about as a result of wars over trade imbalances, opium, and the shifting power of [Queen Victoria](https://www.thoughtco.com/six-facts-to-know-about-queen-victoria-1773870)'s British empire. ### Key Takeaways - On June 9, 1898, the British under Queen Victoria brokered a 99-year lease agreement for the use of Hong Kong after China lost a series of wars fought over the British trade in tea and opium. - In 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang negotiated the underlying plan for the lease to end, such that Hong Kong would remain a semi-autonomous region for a 50-year period after the lease ended. - The lease ended on July 1, 1997, and since then tensions between the democratically minded Hong Kong population and the People's Republic of China have continued, although Hong Kong remains functionally separate from the Chinese mainland. Hong Kong was first incorporated into China in 243 BCE, during the Warring States period and as the [Qin state](https://www.thoughtco.com/how-qin-dynasty-unified-ancient-china-117672) was beginning to grow in power. It remained almost constantly under Chinese control for the next 2,000 years. In 1842, under British Queen Victoria's expansionist rule, Hong Kong became known as British Hong Kong. ## Trade Imbalances: Opium, Silver, and Tea Nineteenth-century Britain had an insatiable appetite for Chinese tea, but the [Qing Dynasty](https://www.thoughtco.com/what-was-the-qing-dynasty-195382) and its subjects did not want to buy anything that the British produced and demanded that the British instead pay for its tea habit with silver or gold. The government of Queen Victoria did not want to use up any more of the country's reserves of gold or silver to buy tea, and the tea-importation tax generated during the transactions was a major percentage of the British economy. Victoria's government decided to forcibly export opium from the British-colonized Indian subcontinent to China. There, opium would then be exchanged for tea. China's government, not too surprisingly, objected to the large-scale importation of narcotics into its country by a foreign power. At the time, most of Britain didn't view opium as a particular danger; to them, it was a medicine. China, however, was experiencing an opium crisis, with its military forces suffering direct impacts from their addictions. There were politicians in England such as William Ewart Gladstone (1809–1898) who did recognize the danger and objected strenuously; but at the same time, there were men who made their fortunes, such as the prominent U.S. opium trader [Warren Delano](https://omeka.hrvh.org/exhibits/show/fdr-family-history/warren-delano) (1809–1898), the grandfather of future president [Franklin Delano Roosevelt](https://www.thoughtco.com/franklin-d-roosevelt-1779848) (1882–1945). ## Opium Wars When the Qing government discovered that banning opium imports outright did not work—because British merchants simply smuggled the drug into China—they took more direct action. In 1839, Chinese officials destroyed 20,000 bales of opium, each chest containing 140 pounds of the narcotic drug. This move provoked Britain to declare war to protect its illegal drug-smuggling operations. The [First Opium War](https://www.thoughtco.com/the-first-and-second-opium-wars-195276) lasted from 1839 to 1842. Britain invaded the Chinese mainland and occupied the island of Hong Kong on Jan. 25, 1841, using it as a military staging point. China lost the war and had to cede Hong Kong to Britain in the Treaty of Nanking. As a result, Hong Kong became a crown colony of the [British Empire](https://www.thoughtco.com/the-commonwealth-of-nations-1221980). ## Leasing Hong Kong The Treaty of Nanking did not, however, resolve the opium trade dispute, and the conflict escalated again, into the Second Opium War. The settlement of that conflict was the first Convention of Peking, ratified on Oct. 18, 1860, when Britain acquired the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island (Ngong Shuen Chau). The British grew increasingly worried about the security of their free port in British Hong Kong during the second half of the 19th century. It was an isolated island, surrounded by areas still under Chinese control. On June 9, 1898, the British signed a deal with the Chinese to lease Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the "New Territories"—the remainder of the Kowloon Peninsula north of Boundary Street, more territory beyond Kowloon into the Sham Chun River, and over 200 outlying islands. Hong Kong's British governors pressed for outright ownership, but the Chinese, while weakened by the first Sino-Japanese War, negotiated a more reasonable cession to finally end the war. That legally binding lease was to last 99 years. ## To Lease or Not to Lease Several times in the first half of the 20th century, Britain considered relinquishing the lease to China because the island simply wasn't important to England anymore. But in 1941, Japan seized Hong Kong. U.S. President [Franklin Roosevelt](https://www.thoughtco.com/franklin-d-roosevelt-1779848) tried to pressure British Prime Minister [Winston Churchill](https://www.thoughtco.com/sir-winston-churchill-1779796) (1874–1965) to return the island to China as a concession for its support in the war, but Churchill refused. At the end of World War II, Britain still controlled Hong Kong, although the Americans continued to pressure it to return the island to China. By 1949, the People's Liberation Army led by [Mao Zedong](https://www.thoughtco.com/timeline-of-mao-zedongs-life-195741) (1893–1976) had taken over China, and the West was now afraid that Communists would get their hands on a suddenly invaluable post for espionage, especially during the Korean War. While the [Gang of Four](https://www.thoughtco.com/the-gang-of-four-195613) did consider sending troops to Hong Kong in 1967, they ultimately did not sue for the return of Hong Kong. ## Moving Toward the Handover On Dec. 19, 1984, British Prime Minister [Margaret Thatcher](https://www.thoughtco.com/margaret-thatcher-biography-3530565) (1925–2013) and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang (1919–2005) signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which Britain agreed to return not only the New Territories but also Kowloon and British Hong Kong itself when the lease term expired. According to the declaration's terms, Hong Kong would become a special administrative region under the People's Republic of China, and it was expected to enjoy a high degree of autonomy outside of foreign and defense affairs. For a period of 50 years after the end of the lease, Hong Kong would remain a free port with a separate customs territory and sustain markets for free exchange. Hong Kong citizens could continue to practice capitalism and political freedoms forbidden on the mainland. After the agreement, Britain began to implement a broader level of democracy in Hong Kong. The first democratic government in Hong Kong was formed in the late 1980s, consisting of functional constituencies and direct elections. The stability of those changes became doubtful after the [Tiananmen Square incident](https://www.thoughtco.com/the-tiananmen-square-massacre-195216) (Beijing, China, June 3–4, 1989) when an undetermined number of protesting students were massacred. Half a million people in Hong Kong went on marches to protest. While the People's Republic of China rejected the democratization of Hong Kong, the region had become enormously lucrative. Hong Kong only became a major metropolis after the British possession, and during the 150 years of the occupation, the city had grown and thrived. Today, it is considered one of the most significant financial centers and trade ports in the world. ## Handover On July 1, 1997, the lease ended and the government of Great Britain transferred control of British Hong Kong and the surrounding territories to the [People's Republic of China](https://www.thoughtco.com/peoples-republic-of-china-facts-history-195233). The transition has been more or less smooth, although human rights issues and Beijing's desire for greater political control cause [considerable friction](https://www.thoughtco.com/china-vs-hong-kong-687344) from time to time. Events since 2004—particularly in the [summer of 2019](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-48607723)—have shown that universal suffrage continues to be a rallying point for Hongkongers, while the PRC is clearly reluctant to allow Hong Kong to achieve full political freedom. ## Additional References - Cheng, Joseph Y.S. "[The Future of Hong Kong: A Hong Kong 'Belonger's' View](http://www.jstor.org/stable/2617810)." International Affairs 58.3 (1982): 476–88. Print. - Fung, Anthony Y.H., and Chi Kit Chan. "[Post-Handover Identity: Contested Cultural Bonding Between China and Hong Kong.](https://doi.org/10.1080/17544750.2017.1371782)" Chinese Journal of Communication 10.4 (2017): 395–412. Print. - Li, Kui-Wai. "[Chapter 18—Hong Kong 1997–2047: The Political Scene.](https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-804181-9.00018-5)" "Redefining Capitalism in Global Economic Development." Academic Press, 2017. 391–406. Print. - Maxwell, Neville. "[Sino-British Confrontation over Hong Kong.](http://www.jstor.org/stable/4402855)" Economic and Political Weekly 30.23 (1995): 1384–98. Print. - Meyer, Karl E. "[The Opium War's Secret History](https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/28/opinion/the-opium-war-s-secret-history.html)." The New York Times, June 28, 1997. Print. - Tsang, Steve. "A Modern History of Hong Kong." London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2007. Print. - Yahuda, Michael. "[Hong Kong's Future: Sino-British Negotiations, Perceptions, Organization and Political Culture](http://www.jstor.org/stable/2621593)." International Affairs 69.2 (1993): 245–66. Print. - Yip, Anastasia. "Hong Kong and China: One Country, Two Systems, Two Identities." Global Societies Journal 3 (2015). Print.
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