Editing Hong Kong (section)

=== British colony ===
{{Main|British Hong Kong}}
[[File:Hong Kong 1868.jpg|thumb|left|Hong Kong in 1868, photograph by [[John Thomson (photographer)|John Thomson]]]]

In 1839, the [[Daoguang Emperor]] rejected proposals to legalise and tax opium and ordered imperial commissioner [[Lin Zexu]] to eradicate the opium trade. The commissioner destroyed opium stockpiles and halted all foreign trade,<ref>{{harvnb|Hoe|Roebuck|1999|pp=82, 87}}.</ref> triggering a British military response and the [[First Opium War]]. The Qing surrendered early in the war and ceded Hong Kong Island in the [[Convention of Chuenpi]]. British forces began controlling Hong Kong shortly after the signing of the convention, from 26 January 1841.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.yearbook.gov.hk/2003/english/chapter21/21_02.html|title=Hong Kong 2003 – History|website=www.yearbook.gov.hk|access-date=26 June 2021|archive-date=25 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181025152631/https://www.yearbook.gov.hk/2003/english/chapter21/21_02.html|url-status=live}}</ref> However, both countries were dissatisfied and did not ratify the agreement.<ref>{{harvnb|Tsang|2007|p=12}}.</ref> After more than a year of further hostilities, Hong Kong Island was formally ceded to the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] in the 1842 [[Treaty of Nanking]].<ref name="Courtauld">{{harvnb|Courtauld|Holdsworth|Vickers|1997|pp=38–58}}</ref>

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, including wealthy merchants, fled mainland turbulence and settled in the colony.<ref name="CarrollEarlyHistory" /> Further tensions between the British and Qing over the opium trade escalated into the [[Second Opium War]]. The Qing were again defeated and forced to give up [[Kowloon Peninsula]] and [[Stonecutters Island]] in the [[Convention of Peking]].<ref name="SecondOpiumWar">{{harvnb|Carroll|2007|pp=21–24}}.</ref> By the end of this war, Hong Kong had evolved from a transient colonial outpost into a major [[entrepôt]]. Rapid economic improvement during the 1850s attracted foreign investment, as potential stakeholders became more confident in Hong Kong's future.<ref>{{harvnb|Carroll|2007|p=30}}.</ref>

The colony was further expanded in 1898 when the United Kingdom obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories.<ref name="NTLease">{{harvnb|Scott|1989|p=6}}.</ref> The [[University of Hong Kong]] was established in 1911 as the territory's first institution of higher education.<ref>{{harvnb|Chu|2005|p=90}}.</ref> [[Kai Tak Airport]] began operation in 1924, and the colony avoided a prolonged economic downturn after the 1925–26 [[Canton–Hong Kong strike]].<ref name="KaiTak">{{harvnb|Wordie|2007|p=243}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Carroll|2007|p=103}}.</ref> At the start of the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] in 1937, Governor [[Geoffry Northcote]] declared Hong Kong a neutral zone to safeguard its status as a free port.<ref>{{harvnb|Yanne|Heller|2009|p=71}}.</ref> The colonial government prepared for a possible attack, evacuating all British women and children in 1940.<ref>{{harvnb|Snow|2003|p=43}}.</ref> The [[Imperial Japanese Army]] [[Battle of Hong Kong|attacked Hong Kong on 8 December 1941]], the same morning as its [[attack on Pearl Harbor]].<ref>{{harvnb|Snow|2003|pp=53–73}}.</ref> Hong Kong was [[Japanese occupation of Hong Kong|occupied by Japan]] for almost four years before the British resumed control on 30 August 1945.<ref>{{harvnb|Kwong|2015}}.</ref>

[[File:Flag of Hong Kong 1959.svg|thumb|right|The [[Flag of Hong Kong (1871–1997)|flag of British Hong Kong]] from 1959 to 1997]]
[[File:578a Hong Kong 1971 (51321892645).jpg|thumb|left|[[Peking Road]] in Tsim Sha Tsui in 1971]]
Its population rebounded quickly after the war, as skilled Chinese migrants fled from the [[Chinese Civil War]] and more refugees crossed the border when the [[Chinese Communist Party]] took control of mainland China in 1949.<ref name="Wiltshire">{{harvnb|Wiltshire|1997|p=148}}.</ref> Hong Kong became the first of the [[Four Asian Tigers|Four Asian Tiger]] economies to industrialise during the 1950s.<ref>{{harvnb|Buckley|1997|pp=64, 92}}.</ref> With a rapidly increasing population, the colonial government attempted reforms to improve infrastructure and public services. The [[Public housing in Hong Kong|public-housing estate programme]], [[Independent Commission Against Corruption (Hong Kong)|Independent Commission Against Corruption]], and [[MTR|Mass Transit Railway]] were all established during the post-war decades to provide safer housing, integrity in the civil service, and more reliable transportation.<ref>{{harvnb|Carroll|2007|pp=145, 174–175}}.</ref><ref>{{cite AV media | people=Forsyth, Neil (Director) |year=1990 | title=Underground Pride | medium=Motion picture | location=Hong Kong | publisher=[[MTR Corporation]]}}</ref>

Nevertheless, widespread public discontent resulted in multiple protests from the 1950s to 1980s, including pro-[[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] and pro-[[Chinese Communist Party]] protests. In the [[1967 Hong Kong riots]], pro-[[China|PRC]] protestors clashed with the British colonial government. As many as 51 were killed and 802 were injured in the violence, including dozens killed by the [[Royal Hong Kong Police]] via beatings and shootings.<ref>Chu, Yingchi (2003). Hong Kong Cinema: Coloniser, Motherland and Self! Routledge Publishing. {{ISBN|0-7007-1746-3}}.</ref>

Although the territory's competitiveness in manufacturing gradually declined because of rising labour and property costs, it transitioned to a service-based economy. By the early 1990s, Hong Kong had established itself as a global [[financial centre]] and shipping hub.<ref>{{harvnb|Dodsworth|Mihaljek|1997|p=54}}.</ref>