Prehistory of Hong Kong

Based on an archaeological investigation in 2003, it is claimed that the earliest

known human traces, on the land that is now known as Hong Kong, are dated back
to 35000 and 39000 years ago during the Paleolithic Period. The works of the
investigations revealed stone tools which were dated by when they were last
exposed to sunlight or sufficient heating.
During the Middle Neolithic Period, about 6000 years ago, and the Late Neolithic
Period, the region was still independent. It was not even known as Hong Kong back
then.
Imperial China
The region’s independence ended in the third century B.C., during the Qin Dynasty.
This dynasty established the first empire in China. Even though the empire existed
only briefly from 221 B.C. to 206 B.C., the Qin Dynasty had a lasting cultural impact
on the dynasties that followed. After the Qin collapse, the region was merged with the
Nunyue Kingdom, a predecessor state of Vietnam, and was then recaptured by
China in the Han conquest.
British Colony
In 1839, the Daoguang Emperor rejected proposals to legalise and tax opium and
ordered an imperial commissioner to get rid of the opium trade. This led to the
commissioner destroying opium stockpiles and halted all foreign trade, which
triggered a British military response and also, the First Opium War. The Qing, who
were then in control of Hong Kong, surrendered early in the war and ceded Hong
Kong Island in the Convention of Chuenpi. After signing the convention, British forces
began controlling Hong Kong from January 26th 1841. However, both countries were
dissatisfied and did not approve of the agreement. After more than a year of further
hostilities, Hong Kong Island was formally ceded to the United Kingdom in the 1842
Treaty of Nanking.
Administrative infrastructure was quickly built by early 1842, but piracy, disease, and
hostile Qing policies initially prevented the government from attracting commerce.
Conditions on the island improved during the Taiping Rebellion in the 1850s, when
many Chinese refugees fled mainland turbulence and settled in the colony. Further
tensions between the British and Qing over the opium trade escalated into the
Second Opium War, where the Qing were once again defeated. Rapid economic
improvement during the 1850s attracted foreign investment, as potential stakeholders
became more confident in Hong Kong's future. Then in 1940, World War Two, Japan
occupied Hong Kong for a total of five years, before Britain resumed control on the
30th of August 1945.
China
This all ended when the colony faced an uncertain future as the end of the New
Territories lease approached, and Governor Murray MacLehose raised the question
of Hong Kong’s status with Deng Xiaoping in 1979. Diplomatic negotiations with
China resulted in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which the United
Kingdom agreed to transfer the colony in 1997 and China would guarantee Hong
Kong’s economic and political systems for 50 years after the transfer.
Right before the transfer, there was a wave of mass emigration as residents feared
an erosion of civil rights, the rule of law, and quality of life. Over half a million people
left Hong Kong from 1987 to 1996. And then, on July 1 st 1997, after 156 years of
British rule, Hong Kong was transferred to China.
Immediately after the transfer, Hong Kong was severely affected by several crises.
From the 1997 Asian financial crisis, to an H5N1 avian-flu outbreak and eventually
the 2003 SARS epidemic, where Hong Kong experienced its most serious economic
downturn.
Movements
As time went by, criminal activity, human trafficking, sex trafficking and drugs
trafficking began to become more and more of an issue and the overall quality of life
went downhill. Eventually, the people of Hong Kong have had enough. In June 2019,
mass protests erupted in response to a proposed extradition amendment bill
permitting extradition/ handovers of fugitive to Taiwan, while protesters argued that
criminals might be extradited to mainland China. The protests are the largest in Hong
Kong history, with organisers claiming to have attracted more than three million Hong
Kong residents.
There are also a few political movements that are pro-democratic and who advocate
Hong Kong to be established as an independent sovereign, one of them being Hong
Kong independence.