User:Ifni400/Sandbox 1

The transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong, often called the handover, happened on 1 July 1997. In this, Hong Kong was returned from the United Kingdom to China. Many people say this marked the end of the British Empire.

Overview

In the 19th century, the United Kingdom had got Hong Kong's land as part of their empire. A few agreements were made, which gave the United Kingdom ownership. However, a part of Hong Kong, the New Territories, was only given to the United Kingdom for 99 years, and because they made the agreement with China in 1898, they would have to hand back the New Territories in 1997.

In the end, they decided that they should give all of Hong Kong back to China, not just the New Territories. Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China.

Effects

After the handover, some things changed about life in Hong Kong. For example:

• Education and government was now more like Chinese standards, rather than British ones.
• The Hong Kong government now had representation in the Chinese government in Beijing.
• At sports events like the Olympics, for the athletes from Hong Kong, they now played the Chinese national anthem, 'March of the Volunteers' rather than the British one, 'God Save the Queen'.
• Many things that were established by the British were changed to become more Chinese in style.

However, some things stayed the same. English was still an official language, and Hong Kong would still drive on the left, not the right like mainland China.

[[Category:Hong Kong]] [[Category:British Empire]] [[Category:20th century in the United Kingdom]]