The handover of Hong Kong from UK to Chinese sovereignty took place at midnight on June 30-July 1.
Double-click on any word and see its definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online
Read the article and then do an activity
The creation of the new Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) was accompanied by formal ceremonies and meetings in Hong Kong and by massive nationwide celebrations in China. In Hong Kong, pro-democracy groups and parties staged peaceful rallies and demonstrations.
Hong Kong island had been ceded to the UK under the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. The Kowloon Peninsula had subsequently been acquired by the Convention of Peking in 1860, and the New Territories were leased from China in 1898 for a period of 99 years. In 1984 the UK conceded that in 1997, on the expiry of the lease on the New Territories, China would regain sovereignty over the whole of Hong Kong. The Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed in December 1984 [see pp. 33655-59], contained detailed assurances on the future of Hong Kong, with China guaranteeing the continuation of the territory's capitalist economy and lifestyle for 50 years after 1997.
At the time of the handover the Hong Kong economy was extremely strong, with foreign exchange reserves standing at some US$87 billion (the fourth largest in the world) and a buoyant local stock market whose Hang Seng index had soared to an all-time high prior to the handover.
This article comes from Keesings Worldwide Online
| 
