Hong Kong ceded to the British
During the First Opium War China cedes the island of Hong Kong to the British with the signing of the Chuenpi Convention an agreement seeking an end to the first Anglo-Chinese conflict.In 1839 Britain invaded China to crush opposition to its interference in the countrys economic and political affairs.One of Britains first acts of the war was to occupy Hong Kong a sparsely inhabited island off the coast of southeast China.In 1841 China ceded the island to the British and in 1842 the Treaty of Nanking was signed formally ending the First Opium War.Britains new colony flourished as an East-West trading center and as the commercial gateway and distribution center for southern China.
In 1898 Britain was granted an additional 99 years of rule over Hong Kong under the Second Convention of Peking.In September 1984 after years of negotiations the British and the Chinese signed a formal agreement approving the 1997 turnover of the island in exchange for a Chinese pledge to preserve Hong Kongs capitalist system.On July 1 1997 Hong Kong was peaceably handed over to China in a ceremony attended by numerous Chinese and British dignitaries.
The chief executive under the new Hong Kong government Tung Chee Hwa formulated a policy based upon the concept of one country two systems thus preserving Hong Kongs role as a principal capitalist center in Asia.
