Hong kong transferring hands
Hong kong transferring handsWhen one look�s at Hong Kong there are many of questions that come to mind. How is China going to respond to citizens of Hong Kong holding protests? Will Hong Kong�s citizens be taken back by their lose of rights? Or will this more liberal form of government led the rest of China into a more democratic state? Instead of focusing on the unknown I saw this paper as an opportunity to study Hong Kong new form of government. This paper will briefly look at Hong Kong from a historical prospective. It will explain how Hong Kong became a colony of Britain. It will briefly discuss the Hong Kong handover and possible implications. The paper will compare the governments of Hong Kong under the British and the new Special Administrative Region for China. The paper will also draw comparisons between the Basic Law, which will guide the Special Administrative Region, and the Constitution of the United States of America. I choose to compare the Basic law to these two governments, thinking that most people didn�t realize how similar the new and old system in Hong Kong really were. Also upon reading the Basic Law I was struck by the similarities with our own constitution. It is when you read further into the Basic law that you discover how different the system of governments in the United States of America and the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong are. I also plan to give perspectives of people living in Hong Kong a year after the handover. It is my desire that you take from this paper a new level of insight into the situation in Hong Kong and what it may mean to China. Hong Kong is located at the Mouth of the Pearl River. It is 90 miles south of the trading city of Canton. Hong Kong can be divided into three parts; Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and Stonecutters Island, and the area referred to as the New Territories. The New Territories adds 355 square miles to the Hong Kong region, it consists of the mainland area and a large number of coastal islands. In the 19th century, China had a closed society, they controlled many aspects of trade with western societies. In Europe Chinese goods, like tea, silk and fine china, were in demand. Unfortunately for Britain they didn�t produce anything that Chinese citizens wanted to trade for, creating a trade imbalance. The East India Company found a commodity that the Chinese citizens wanted. They began importing opium from India. Beginning to realize they had a problem the Chinese government issued the Imperial Order of 1836 to suppress the opium trade. In 1839, attempts made by the Imperial Commissioner Lin to destroy opium activities led to a military conflict between China and Britain who wanted to protect the interests of their merchants in the region. The conflict came to be known as the...
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