Hong Kong & Macau - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 119

1989 The Tiananmen Square massacre occurs in Beijing.
In the biggest demonstration in Hong Kong in modern
times, a million people take to the streets in protest.
1992 Chris Patten becomes the last Governor and introduces
a series of reforms, including increasing the voting franchise
for the 1995 Legislative Council elections (Legco) from
200,000 to 2.7 million people.
1997 Britain hands Hong Kong over to China. Beijing
disbands Legco, and Tung Chee Hwa, a shipping billionaire,
becomes the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of
China. Within days, the Asian Financial Crisis begins and
Hong Kong's economy goes into recession.
2003 The SARS outbreak causes widespread panic and
disruption, and leads to just under three hundred deaths.
July 1, 2003 500,000 protestors take to the streets against
a proposed anti-subversion bill, Article 23, that will restrict
civil liberties; in September the bill is withdrawn.
March 2005 Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa resigns; Donald
Tsang succeeds him.
2007 Hong Kong's first contested election for Chief Executive
is won by Tsang.
August 2008 Beijing hosts the Summer Olympics; the
equestrian events are held in Hong Kong.
2008 Beijing rules out direct democratic elections until
at least 2017.
December 2009 Hong Kong hosts the East Asian Games.
2010 Formal talks held between Chinese o cials and the
Opposition Democratic Party - habitually hostile to Beijing
- are the first since the 1997 handover.
September 2012 More than one hundred thousand
protestors turn out for the anti-national education protests.

1966 Violent riots erupt, but China does not want the
Portuguese to leave due to potential economic shock to
Hong Kong.
1974 Fascist dictatorship ends in Portugal, and all
Portuguese colonies are relinquished, but China turns
down the Portuguese offer to leave Macau.
1984 After agreement with Britain over Hong Kong, China
agrees to negotiate the return of Macau as well.
1987 The Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration is signed,
making Macau a “Special Administrative Region” (SAR)
of China, effectively a semi-democratic capitalist enclave
subject to Beijing.
1999 China assumes formal sovereignty of Macau; it is
the last European colony in Asia to be handed back.
2002 Hong Kong tycoon Stanley Ho's monopoly on casinos
ends and Macau's gambling industry booms as main-
landers are given greater freedom to travel.
2004 The opening of Las Vegas Sands Casino ushers in
a new style of super casino, and a new era of increased
foreign investment.
December 2009 Macau celebrates its tenth anniversary
of reunification with China.
2013 Macau holds a legislative election, with the pan-
democracy AMN party receiving the most votes.

3

ARRIVAL
Hong Kong can be reached by land,
sea or air. It is a major regional hub for
flights from the US, Europe and Asia.
Trains from Guangzhou, Beijing and
Shanghai in China arrive at Hung Hom
station on the Kowloon peninsula. You
can take a bus from here to eastern Hong
Kong Island, or else to the Star Ferry
terminus, where you can catch a ferry
over to Central on Hong Kong Island.
Boats from mainland China and Macau
arrive at the China Ferry Terminal on
Canton Road, in downtown Kowloon.
Ferries from Macau also arrive at the
Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal in
Sheung Wan, just west of Central on
Hong Kong Island. From here you can
catch a bus, underground train or tram to
other parts of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong international airport
( W hkairport.com) is situated on Lantau
Island. It is linked to Hong Kong Island
and Kowloon by the high-speed Airport
Express train and buses. here are
direct bus services from the airport to
Shenzhen and Guangzhou in mainland
China, as well as cities in the Pearl River

MACAU
500 AD Macau is part of the Maritime Silk Road between
Guangzhou and Southeast Asia.
1513 The Portuguese arrive in China's Pearl River Delta.
1557 The Portuguese persuade local Chinese officials
to rent them a strategically placed peninsula at the
mouth of the delta, known as Macao, which means “the
goddess of the sea”. As the only foreigners permitted to
trade with China, the Portuguese become sole agents
for merchants across a whole swathe of east Asia and
grow immensely wealthy.
1641 The Portuguese lose Melaka in Malaysia to the Dutch;
Macau's trading links are cut and its fortunes wane.
1842 Once the British have claimed Hong Kong to the
east, Macau's status as a backwater is definitively settled.
1847 Licensed gambling is introduced as a desperate
means of securing some kind of income.
1848-1870s Macau is the centre of the “coolie” slave
trade, with slave ships departing for South America with
slaves kidnapped in southern China.
1851 & 1864 Portugal occupies Taipa and Coloane.