hong-kong

British Hong Kong was a colony and British Dependent Territory from 1841 to 1997
It began with occupation of the island by the British during the first Opium War
- The entirety of Kowloon Peninsula was ceded in 1860 after the second opium war
Further extended when British obtained a 99-year lease on 1898 (which expired in 1997)
- In this time, Hong Kong was a crown colony, and admin was mostly modelled after the Westminster System

Although Hong Kong was ceded in perpetuity, British found that there was no viable way to divide a single colony
Chinese Communist Party was not interested in extending the lease or allowing British Administration
British eventually agreed to transfer the colony to China with some agreement around preservation of systems, way of life and freedoms for the next 50 years.

In 1941 during WWII, British reached an agreement with China that if Japan attacked Hong Kong, Chinese National Army would attack the Japanese from the rear to relieve pressure on the British Garrison
On 8 December, the Battle of Hong Kong began when Japanese air bombers effectively destroyed British air power
By 25th December, organized resistence was reduced to random pockets of resistence
The plan to attack Japanese in the Canton region on New Year’s Day failed. British casualties were ~2000+ missing/killed and another 2000+ wounded.
Japenese soldiers committed many attrocities. The population fell from 1.6mil to 750k by the end of the war due to fleeing refugees.
Hong Kong was transformed into a Japanese colony with Japanese businesses replacing the British.
However, the empire had logistics issues and by 1943, food supply was a major problem
14 August 1945, Japanese announced its unconditional surrender of Hong Kong

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