43 British Hong Kong

British Hong Kong was a colony and dependent territory of the United Kingdom from 1841 to 1997, apart from a brief period under Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945. The colonial period began with the occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841 during the First Opium War. The island was ceded by Qing Empire in the aftermath of the war in 1842 and established as a Crown colony in 1843. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 after the Second Opium War and was further extended when the UK obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898.

Hong Kong (1800s–1930s) oversaw the founding of the new crown colony of Hong Kong under the British Empire. After the First Opium War, the territory was ceded by the Qing Empire to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland through Treaty of Nanjing (1842) and Convention of Peking (1860) in perpetuity, with additional land was leased to the British under the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory (1898), Hong Kong became one of the first parts of East Asia to undergo industrialisation.

The Hong Kong 1956 protests, also known as Double Ten riots, were the result of escalating provocations between pro-Nationalist and pro-Communist factions in Hong Kong during Double Ten Day, 10 October 1956.

The 1967 Hong Kong riots were large-scale riots between pro-communists and their sympathisers, and the Hong Kong government, which took place against the backdrop of the Cultural Revolution in China. While originating as a minor labour dispute, the tensions later grew into large scale demonstrations against British colonial rule. Demonstrators clashed violently with the Hong Kong Police Force. Motivated by events in the People's Republic of China, demonstrators called for massive strikes and organised demonstrations, while the police stormed many of the demonstrators' strongholds and placed their active leaders under arrest. The colonial government banned Communist publications and closed Communist schools alleged to be bomb-making factories. Several pro-Beijing protesters were beaten to death by police, and some members of the press who voiced their opposition to the demonstrators' cause were murdered.

The 1950s in Hong Kong began against the chaotic backdrop of the resumption of British sovereignty after the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong ended in 1945, and the renewal of the Nationalist-Communist Civil War in mainland China. It prompted a large influx of refugees from the mainland, causing a huge population surge: from 1945 to 1951, the population grew from 600,000 to 2.1 million. The government struggled to accommodate these immigrants. Unrest in China also prompted businesses to relocate their assets and capital from Shanghai to Hong Kong. Together with the cheap labour of the immigrants, the seeds of Hong Kong's economic miracle in the second half of the 20th century were sown.

1960s in Hong Kong continued with the development and expansion of manufacturing that began in the previous decade. The economic progress made in the period would categorise Hong Kong as one of Four Asian Tigers along with Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan.

Hong Kong in the 1970s underwent many changes that shaped its future, led for most of the decade by its longest-serving and reform-minded Governor, Murray MacLehose. Economically, it reinvented itself from a manufacturing base into a financial centre.

1980s in Hong Kong marks a period when the territory was known for its wealth and trademark lifestyle. Hong Kong would be recognised internationally for its politics, entertainment and skyrocketing real estate prices.

The 1990s in Hong Kong marked a transitional period and the last decade of colonial rule in Hong Kong.

Augustine Heard & Co. was a major nineteenth-century American trading firm in Qing dynasty China whose operations consisted in importing and exporting a large array of goods, including tea and opium.

British National (Overseas), abbreviated BN(O), is a class of British nationality that was granted by voluntary registration to Hong Kong residents who were British Dependent Territories citizens before the transfer of sovereignty to China in 1997. Individuals with this nationality are British nationals and Commonwealth citizens, but not British citizens. Nationals of this class are subject to immigration controls when entering the United Kingdom and do not have the automatic right of abode there or in Hong Kong, but all BN(O)s would have had permanent resident status in Hong Kong when they acquired this status.

The British Nationality Selection Scheme, usually known in Hong Kong as simply the British Nationality Selection Scheme (BNSS), was a process whereby the Governor of Hong Kong invited certain classes of people, who were permanent residents of Hong Kong with the right of abode, and who were also considered British nationals under the British Nationality Act 1981, but were not British citizens, to apply to be considered and then be selected to become registered as British citizens under the British Nationality Act 1990.

The Canton–Hong Kong strike (省港大罷工) was a strike and boycott that took place in British Hong Kong and Canton, Republic of China, from June 1925 to October 1926. It started out as a response to the May 30 Movement shooting incidents in which Chinese anti-imperialist protesters were massacred by policemen, including Chinese and Sikh, under British command in Shanghai.

The Cenotaph is a war memorial constructed in 1923 and located between Statue Square and the City Hall in Central, Hong Kong, that commemorates the dead in the two world wars who served in Hong Kong in the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force. Built in stone, it is an almost exact replica of the Cenotaph on Whitehall in London, UK. It is listed as a monument under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance.

David Sassoon & Co., Ltd. was a trading company operating in the 19th century and early 20th century predominantly in India, China and Japan.

Dent & Co. or Dent's, was one of the wealthiest British merchant firms, or Hongs, active in China during the 19th century. A direct rival to Jardine, Matheson & Co, together with Russell & Co., these three companies are recognised as the original Canton Hongs active in early Colonial Hong Kong.

Dent's Fountain, also known as the City Hall Fountain, was a fountain in front of the first generation of Hong Kong City Hall on Queen's Road Central in Victoria, Hong Kong. It was donated to the people of Hong Kong by merchant John Dent of Dent & Co. in 1864 but was not installed until the completion of the City Hall in 1869. It was demolished in 1933 due to construction of the third generation Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Building.

Dodwell & Co. or Dodwell's, was one of the leading British merchant firms, or hongs, active in China and Japan during the 19th and 20th century. It was a direct rival to Jardine, Matheson & Co.

Douglas Lane is a lane converted for pedestrian use in the core of Hong Kong's Central District. It runs north-south from Des Voeux Road Central to Queen's Road Central. though the street name is continued in Douglas Street which continues to its north across Des Voeux Road Central all the way to Connaught Road Central. The lane is named for Hong Kong Tai-pan Douglas Lapraik.

The Douglas Steamship Company was a British merchant shipping and maritime trading company founded in 1883 in the Crown colony of Hong Kong by John Steward Lapraik and dissolved in 1987.

Douglas Street is a street converted for pedestrian use in the core of Hong Kong's Central District. It runs north-south from Connaught Road Central to Des Voeux Road Central, and ends at its intersection with Des Voeux Road Central, though the street name is continued in Douglas Lane which continues almost all the way to Queen's Road Central before curving and converging with Li Yuen Street East.

E.D. Sassoon & Co., Ltd. was a trading company operating in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century predominantly in India, China and Japan.

Jack Edwards, OBE was a British World War II army sergeant and a POW, most well known for his dedicated efforts of tracking down Japanese war criminals and his determination displayed in defending the rights of Hong Kong war veterans.

The Esing Bakery incident, also known as the Ah Lum affair, was a food contamination scandal in the early history of British Hong Kong. On 15 January 1857, in the context of the Second Opium War, several hundred European residents were poisoned non-lethally by arsenic, found in bread produced by a Chinese-owned store, the Esing Bakery. The proprietor of the bakery, Cheong Ah-lum, was accused of plotting the poisoning but was acquitted in a trial by jury. Nonetheless, Cheong was successfully sued for damages and was banished from the colony. The true responsibility for the incident and its intention—whether it was an individual act of terrorism, commercial sabotage, a war crime orchestrated by the Qing government, or purely accidental—both remain a matter of debate.

The Flag of Hong Kong between 1959 and 1997 was a Blue Ensign with the coat of arms of Hong Kong on a white disk. In Hong Kong, it is also nicknamed the Hong Kong flag (香港旗), British Hong Kong flag (英屬香港旗) or the Dragon and Lion flag (龍獅旗). In 1959, following a grant from the College of Arms and with the consent of Queen Elizabeth II, it was adopted as the flag of British Hong Kong. While the flag lost its official status following 1 July 1997 transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, it resurfaced in the 2010s as a symbol of protest against Chinese rule in Hong Kong and Hong Kong independence.

The Frontier Closed Area, established by the Frontier Closed Area Order, 1951, is a border zone area in Hong Kong, extended inwards from the border with Mainland China. For anyone to enter the area, a Closed Area Permit is required.

Gibb, Livingston & Co., known in Chinese as Jinkee or Renji, was one of the most important and best-known foreign trading firms in China in the late 19th and the first half of the 20th century.

The Governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the British Crown in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council and Commander-in-Chief of the British Forces Overseas Hong Kong. The governor's roles were defined in the Hong Kong Letters Patent and Royal Instructions. Upon the end of British rule and the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997, most of the civil functions of this office went to the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, and military functions went to the Commander of the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison.

The handover ceremony of Hong Kong in 1997 officially marked the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the People's Republic of China. It was an internationally televised event with the ceremony commencing on the night of 30 June 1997 and finishing on the morning of 1 July 1997. The ceremony was held at the new wing of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) in Wan Chai.

The Hong Kong Certificate of Identity (CI) was a formal travel document and passport, issued by the Hong Kong Government's Immigration Department until 30 June 1997. It is no longer possible to possess a valid CI as a travel document, as all CIs have expired by 30 June 2007, though most CI holders should be eligible to hold the HKSAR Passport.

The Hong Kong national security law, officially the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is the piece of national security legislation concerning Hong Kong. Such a law is required under Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, which came into force in 1997 and stipulates that the law should be enacted by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. In June 2020, a partially equivalent law was enacted by the Chinese Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, rather than by the Hong Kong Legislative Council.

The Hongkong Canton & Macao Steamboat Company was a British merchant shipping and maritime trading company founded in 1865 in the Crown colony of Hong Kong.

Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited is a Hong Kong multinational conglomerate with legal domicile in Bermuda. It has primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and secondary listings on the Singapore Exchange and Bermuda Stock Exchange. The majority of its business interests are in Asia, and its subsidiaries include Jardine Pacific, Jardine Motors, Jardine Lloyd Thompson, Hongkong Land, Jardine Strategic Holdings, Dairy Farm, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Jardine Cycle & Carriage and Astra International. It sponsors the Jardine Scholarship.

British nationality law as it pertains to Hong Kong has been unusual ever since Hong Kong became a British colony in 1842. From its beginning as a sparsely populated trading port to today's cosmopolitan international financial centre and world city of over seven million people, the territory has attracted refugees, immigrants and expatriates alike searching for a new life.

Sir John Fearns Nicoll, was a British colonial governor. He was Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong from 1949 to 1952, and Governor of Singapore from 1952 to 1955.

Pedder Street is a major thoroughfare in the core of Hong Kong's Central District. It runs south–north from Queen's Road Central, continues through Des Voeux Road Central, and ends at its intersection with Connaught Road Central.

Shewan, Tomes & Co. was one of the leading trading companies in Hong Kong and China during the late 19th and early 20th century.

The Sino-British Joint Declaration is a treaty signed between the United Kingdom and China on Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty. Signed on 19 December 1984 in Beijing, the Declaration stipulates the sovereign and administrative arrangement of Hong Kong after 1 July 1997, when the lease of the New Territories was set to expire according to the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory.

Sino-British Joint Liaison Group or simply Joint Liaison Group was a meeting group formed in 1985 between the Governments of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the People's Republic of China after signing of Sino–British Joint Declaration, a treaty for the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong from Britain to China. It was set up for liaison, consultation and the exchange of information to implement the Joint Declaration and make the transfer of Hong Kong Government in 1997 smooth.

The Six-Day War of 1899 was fought between the British Empire and the major punti clans of the New Territories in Hong Kong on 14–19 April 1899. The British quickly and decisively ended armed resistance, but to prevent future resistance made concessions to placate the indigenous inhabitants. Despite losing to the better equipped British military, they achieved their ultimate goal which was to preserve their land rights, land use, and traditional customs. The special status and rights of the minority indigenous people of Hong Kong are extant to this day. The battle resulted in two wounded on the British side and about 500 dead on the Chinese side.

As a former British colony and territory, technical standards in Hong Kong of today has been largely influenced by that of the United Kingdom, with some exceptions due to local and practical considerations.

The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, commonly known as the handover of Hong Kong, occurred at midnight at the start of 1 July 1997, when the United Kingdom ended administration for the colony of Hong Kong and returned control of the territory to China. Hong Kong became a special administrative region and continues to maintain governing and economic systems separate from those of mainland China.