Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The 1997 Question
Few people gave much thought to Hong Kong's future until 1979, when the governor of
Hong Kong, Murray MacLehose, raised the issue with Deng Xiaoping on his first official
visit to Běijīng. Britain was legally bound to hand back only the New Territories - not Hong
Kong Island and Kowloon, which had been ceded to it forever. However, the fact that nearly
half of Hong Kong's population lived in the New Territories by that time made it an unten-
able division.
It was Deng Xiaoping who decided that the time was ripe to recover Hong Kong, forcing
the British to the negotiating table. The views of Hong Kong people were not sought what-
soever. The inevitable conclusion laid to rest the political jitters and commercial concerns
that had in 1983 seen the Hong Kong dollar collapse - and subsequently be pegged to the
US dollar.
Despite soothing words from the Chinese, British and Hong Kong governments, over the
next 13 years the population of Hong Kong were to suffer considerable anxiety at the pos-
sible political and economic consequences of the handover.
In the early 1970s, the construction of the first three 'New Towns' (Sha Tin, Tsuen Wan
and Tuen Mun) commenced, marking the start of a massive and unprecedented public-
housing program that would, and still does, house millions of Hong Kong people.
One Country, Two Systems
Under the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong of December 1984
,
Hong Kong would be reborn as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. This
meant its capitalist system would be permitted to continue, while across the border China's
version of socialism would continue. The Chinese catchphrase for this was 'One Country,
Two Systems'.
The Basic Law for Hong Kong, the future SAR's constitution, preserved Hong Kong's
English common-law judicial system and guaranteed the right of property and ownership, as
well as other key civil liberties. The SAR would enjoy a high degree of autonomy with the
exception of foreign affairs and matters of defence.
Despite these assurances, many families and individuals had little faith in a future Hong
Kong under Chinese rule, and a so-called brain drain ensued when tens of thousands left the
colony for the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand towards the end of the
1980s.
