Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
which ended the Opium War, was the cession of Hong Kong Island to the United Kingdom.
The colony grew into a flourishing free port and centre of international trade. Its population
increased rapidly and in 1860 it was extended to include the neighbouring Kowloon penin-
sula.
Towards the close of the 19th century, Hong Kong was becoming overcrowded and its au-
thorities wanted a further extension. The United Kingdom's government also had political
reasons for desiring its expansion: a larger Hong Kong would make the colony easier to de-
fend and safeguard British influence in China at a time when French, German and Russian in-
terests in the region were strengthening. On 9 June 1898 British and Chinese representatives
signed a treaty offering the United Kingdom a 99-year lease of an area subsequently termed
the New Territories. This area (shown in white on the map) was more than four times the size
of the existing colony (coloured pink) and comprised some 200 islands, as well as a slice of
the mainland. The lease began almost immediately, on 1 July, but formal ratifications of the
treaty were not exchanged until 8 August and colonial officials did not take effective control
over the New Territories until the following spring.
Each government signing a treaty customarily retains an official copy for its archives. Our
copy of the 1898 treaty consists of separate handwritten texts in Chinese and English, each
signed and sealed by both parties. The two texts are bound together with this bilingual map,
which is drawn neatly on tracing linen. Oddly for such a formal document, the scale of 1 inch
to 4.96 miles is noted lightly in pencil. The treaty specifies that the colony's new boundary
(shown as a dashed line) had been agreed in principle, but a survey on the ground was re-
quired to fix it precisely. Other notable provisions include permission for Chinese warships to
sail in the leased waters of the Deep Bay and Mirs Bay, and measures to minimise disruption
to local officials and the Chinese population affected by the change in sovereignty.
British officials in 1898 apparently thought that 99 years was tantamount to forever and
regarded the lease as effectively permanent. History was to prove them wrong. In 1984 the
British and Chinese governments signed a joint agreement that the United Kingdom would
restore not just the New Territories but the whole of Hong Kong to China when the lease
expired. Accordingly, Hong Kong's status as a British Crown colony came to an end at mid-
night on 1 July 1997, exactly 99 years after the lease had officially begun.
