This year is the 25th year since Hong Kong returned to . At that time, the chief designer said that Hong Kong would remain unchanged for 50 years. Half of it has passed. , one country, two systems, and have been fully practiced and recognized by the international community.
(Full text is 4800 words, reading time is 10-15 minutes)
However, there are always a small group of people with ill intentions who want to destroy the beautiful situation of harmony and stability, but the general trend of history is irreversible.
Anyone who wants to undermine the harmony and stability of Hong Kong is standing on the opposite side of the broad masses and will fall into the vast sea of people's war and become a clown in history, infamous for eternity.
Okay, let’s just say it’s just a trial. Today, Ye Tianchen will be nagging, nagging, and nagging to you all.
Taking advantage of the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's July 1st handover, I would like to give you a popular science introduction to the modern history of Hong Kong.
I plan to divide it into three parts,
"How Hong Kong was lost", "How did Hong Kong come back", "After Hong Kong came back", Made into a series of special topics.
Don’t worry, there is definitely a lot of cool knowledge in it that you have never heard of.
Without further ado, let’s talk about the first episode of the series, starting with how Hong Kong was lost.
The dream of a great power in the Celestial Dynasty, unaware of the major events in the world, opium poisoned the land of China
Qing Dynasty Since Kangxi implemented a closed country, the connection between China and the West was interrupted. When Western countries were experiencing the industrial revolution , the Qing Dynasty was still all day long Living in the fantasy of a great kingdom.
It was not until the Western powers that had completed the industrial revolution knocked on the door of the country with cannons that the Qing Dynasty's dream was shattered and entered the history of semi-feudal semi-colonial humiliation.
During the Daoguang period, the Opium War some time ago, Western countries used a product called Fushou Ointment, which we commonly call opium, to sweep across the entire Chinese mainland. The entire country, from the royal family to the common people, No one is immune to the poison of Fu Shou Ointment.
At this time, after a person realized the harm of Fu Shou Ointment, he reported it to the court. The hesitant Emperor Daoguang realized the importance of strictly banning opium, so he was forced to accept the strict ban and decided to ban smoking.
is determined to carry out a grand anti-smoking campaign.
Moreover, the person mentioned in the memorial first served as the governor of Huguang in 1837.
A year later, he was ordered to go to Guangzhou to investigate and deal with the smoking ban.
arrived in Guangzhou in March 1839. On the 19th of that month,
together with Deng Yanzhen and others, summoned thirteen foreign merchants and ordered the foreign opium dealers to pay the cigarettes within a time limit and to pay a bond. Make sure you never bring in opium in the future!
He is the famous Lin Zexu in modern history.
At first, the British consul Yilu refused to cooperate and refused to hand over the opium. Lin Zexu ordered a halt to Sino-British trade.
After some open and covert fighting, he finally defeated the British commercial supervisor Yilu and the opium dealers in China, and confiscated nearly 20,000 yuan of all opium. boxes, about 2.37 million kilograms.
and destroyed it in public on Humen Beach on June 3, ordering Yilu to never allow opium trafficking into the country.
The feat of banning smoking brought about aggression
From the perspective of the Qing government, the ban on smoking benefited the country and the people, and the benefits outweighed the benefits.
But in the eyes of the British, this was not the case. It cut off people's financial opportunities, just like parents, plus The Qing Dynasty, with its vast territory and abundant resources, has been coveted by the Western powers for a long time.
Especially the British, they have been carrying out colonial expansion around the world since the 19th century. In order to better control the Far East,
they urgently need to choose a colony along the coast of China. Develop it into a commercial port for trade with China and other Far East countries.
For this reason, the United Kingdom searched for a long time along the coast of China. It initially considered Ningbo , then fell in love with Zhoushan , and finally chose Hong Kong.
had no excuse to invade before.
This time you banned opium, and someone gave you a pillow when you dozed off. So, due to various factors, the Opium War broke out in 1840. In the face of British ships and guns, they destroyed Humen Fort .
Although the Qing government's military was passionate about using weapons that were centuries behind the times, they had no power to fight back in the face of the ruthless harvest of 's hot weapons . On the frontal battlefield, they almost never won a game, no matter how many more they had. The strength of the army is just to give away people.
This is not only the backwardness of weapons, but also the backwardness of brain thinking. This is no longer the era of riding a horse with a sword, drawing a bow and shooting arrows, and conquering the world.
This has arrived, a new era war model that emphasizes coordination of arms, logistics support, and industrial power.
On January 26, 1841, After the First Opium War, the British occupied Hong Kong Island. Afterwards, the Qing government tried to regain it by force. Emperor Daoguang issued many edicts to this end, but the Qing Dynasty was never able to defend its territorial integrity. .
This war completely shattered the Qing government's dream of a heavenly empire, and was forced to sign an unequal treaty that humiliated national rights, ushering in the most humiliating beginning of China's modern history.
also confirmed the saying that a weak country has no diplomacy. From then on, the Qing Dynasty became a serious source of fat for the Western powers, and anyone could come and take a bite.
was incompetent and defeated, and was forced to sign the first unequal treaty, ceding Hong Kong Island.
On August 29, 1842, the British ship "Gao Huali" was anchored on the Xiaguan River in Nanjing.
Qing Dynasty imperial ministers Qiying and Iribu signed the famous " Treaty of Nanjing " with the British plenipotentiary Pu Dingcha .
The "Treaty of Nanjing", also known as the " Ten Thousand Years Peace Treaty" and "Jiangning Treaty", is the first unequal treaty in modern Chinese history.
At the same time, this unequal treaty ceded our territory to the British
because one of the provisions said this:
"Because British merchant ships traveled long distances across the ocean, there were often damages that needed to be repaired, and they should be repaired accordingly." A place along the coast is provided for ship repairs and storage of materials. The Great Emperor now gives the island of Hong Kong to the British monarch and the hereditary ruler Chang Yuan to keep it under his control, and he can legislate and govern it as he pleases. "
This passage is very telling. To be polite, what it means in human terms is: a British merchant ship traveled across the ocean and was damaged in need of repairs during the journey. The Qing Emperor gave Hong Kong Island to Britain with his permission.
allows British merchant ships to repair merchant ships, store materials, etc. on Hong Kong Island, and also enjoy legislative autonomy.
Anyway, the meaning is very simple. It is to cede land and compensate. Hong Kong Island now belongs to the UK. This Hong Kong Island, which covers an area of about 800,000 square meters, cannot be controlled by the Qing Dynasty. It has become a British colony and a country within a country.
In the early 19th century, Hong Kong was a sparsely populated desert island with some scattered fishermen living on it. It is under the jurisdiction of Xin'an County, Guangzhou Prefecture.
For the Qing Dynasty, which had a vast territory and abundant resources, this place was nothing. Of course, they did not know the importance of Hong Kong's geographical location.
Hong Kong became the British Far East base, and the expedition to Southeast Asia supply station
The British, who colonized the world, were very optimistic about Hong Kong. The high-quality deep sea port and convenient transportation fully met the British requirements for the Far East transit station.
can completely use Hong Kong as a springboard. In the Far East, in addition to being able to flex its muscles at any time, it can also stabilize British colonial interests in Southeast Asia. It really kills two birds with one stone.
After all, Hong Kong was indeed inconspicuous among the coastal areas of China at that time, but it also had the potential to become an excellent port in East Asia.
This is why so many coastal areas do not want it and only ask for Hong Kong Island. The UK has indeed done its homework.
After the British occupied Hong Kong Island, they couldn't wait to appoint a governor, established the Hong Kong colonial government, established the Executive Bureau, the Legislative Bureau and the Supreme Court, and determined the basic political structure of Hong Kong.
Then, large-scale development and construction of Hong Kong Island was carried out.
However, the area of Hong Kong Island is only 80 square kilometers. How can the long-term colonial Britain be satisfied? .
Ever since, Kowloon Peninsula, which is surrounded by Victoria Harbor on three sides, has become their second target.
A weak country has no diplomacy, and good people are bullied.
When the news of the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing between China and Britain reached Washington, the wolves in the West couldn't wait to carve up the Chinese market.
The U.S. government sent Gu Sheng as a special envoy to China in 1843. His mission was to ask China to provide the United States with the same trade conditions as the United Kingdom and become the most favorable country.
On June 18, 1844, the Qing Imperial Envoy and the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Qiying held talks with Gu Sheng in Wangxia Village near Macau.
During the negotiation process, the United States used both soft and hard tactics and blackmail to coerce the Chinese negotiators.
Qiying succumbed to the pressure and signed the " Wangxia Treaty" with the purpose of "equal treatment".
According to Article 34 of the 1844 " China-U.S. Wangxia Treaty" stipulates that "all trade and maritime provisions may be subject to slight modifications, and the two countries shall dispatch personnel to make fair decisions after twelve years."
According to the principle of equalization of interests in the Treaty of Nanjing, Britain, France, and the United States made two requests to amend the treaty in 1854 and 1856. Russia also took the opportunity to seek interests; however, the four countries' requests to amend the treaty were not approved by the Qing government. .
In the fourth year of Xianfeng (1854), the "Treaty of Nanjing" expired for twelve years.
Britain proposed a comprehensive revision of the treaty, but was rejected by the Qing government. Fortunately, Britain and France were busy waging the Crimean War with Russia and had no time to care about the treaty, otherwise the Second Opium War would have It's about to break out early.
Ever since, the Qing government spent another two years peacefully. In 1856, the "Treaty of Wangxia" expired for twelve years.
With the support of Britain and France, the United States once again proposed a comprehensive revision of the treaty, but it was still rejected by the Qing government.
This time, the Western powers are determined to launch a new aggressive war against China and expand their aggressive interests in China.
The Second Opium War, the British and French forces destroyed and robbed Chinese cultural treasures, Kowloon was occupied
In October 1856, the Second Opium War broke out. The war of aggression against China launched jointly by Britain and France with the support of the United States and Russia.
In 1860, the British and French forces invaded Beijing, and the Qing emperor fled to Chengde. The British and French forces broke into the Old Summer Palace, looted jewelry, and burned it.
In February 1860, the British Consul in Guangzhou Parkes sent troops to forcibly occupy the Kowloon Peninsula, forming a fait accompli.
htmlOn March 21, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Lao Chongguang, under the pressure of the British army, was forced to sign an agreement with Parkes in Guangzhou to "permanently lease" the Kowloon Peninsula with an area of about 11.1 square kilometers to the United Kingdom. The rent is 500 taels of silver.
In February 1860, the British consul in Guangzhou, Parkes, sent troops to forcibly occupy the Kowloon Peninsula, forming a fait accompli.
htmlOn March 21, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Lao Chongguang, was forced to sign an agreement with Parkes in Guangzhou under the pressure of the British army.
The Kowloon Peninsula with an area of about 11.1 square kilometers was "permanently leased" to the British. The annual rent is 500 taels of silver.
Although this agreement was not officially recognized by the Qing government, the British agreement, although it was not officially recognized by the Qing government, was enough. Under strong military oppression, the Qing government had no choice but to recognize it.
On October 24 of that year, the Qing Dynasty representative Prince Gong Yixin and the British representative Elgin signed the " Beijing Treaty " in Beijing.
The sixth paragraph, in human language, is like this:
"In 1860, Lao Chongguang, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi in the Qing Dynasty, rented the place of Jiulong Division in East Guangdong to us the British Empire , and the conditions were the same as before Just like Hong Kong Island, your Qing Dynasty has no jurisdiction over it."
This agreement ratified the agreement signed in Guangzhou between the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Lao Chongguang and Parkes, and changed the "permanent lease" to ceded (and belonged to British Hong Kong).
This means that those who were forced to rent permanently Kowloon, there is no need to give the 500 taels of silver per year.
With the Treaty of Beijing, Britain officially seceded the Kowloon Peninsula from the Qing Dynasty. Do you think Britain is the biggest winner in this war?
In fact, there is another biggest winner? During the war, Tsarist Russia claimed to have "made meritorious services in mediation" and coerced the Qing government to cede more than 1.5 million square kilometers of territory, thus becoming the biggest winner.
Until the signing of the "Beijing Treaty", Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula were total. The area was only over 90 square kilometers, and subsequent development would definitely not satisfy the British appetite, so the British began to plan for surrounding land again.
The Sino-Japanese War of 1891-1891 failed, and Hong Kong was humiliated. Hong Kong was once again encircled and expanded by the British.
But this plan lasted 35 years. During this period, Britain had no excuse to expand Hong Kong.
Until 1895, the Qing Dynasty lost to Japan in the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of 1895, and signed the "" treaty with Japan that was humiliating the country. "Treaty of Shimonoseki".
After this, the frenzy to carve up China came again. In March 1898, France proposed to the Qing Dynasty to "lease" the city Guangzhou Bay (today's Zhanjiang ). Coal stacks were built there.
After learning about it, Britain first raised objections. If Guangzhou Bay was leased to France, it would inevitably lead to similar demands from other powers, including Britain.
Although Britain seemed to be on the side of the Qing Dynasty. position, but they hoped that France could rent Guangzhou Bay so that they could expand the territory of Kowloon, but they were afraid that other powers would stop it. After all, the British were still very familiar with this sentence of shooting first.
With the support of Tsarist Russia, the arrogance increased day by day. On April 10, facing strong pressure, the Qing government had no choice but to agree to France's blackmail.
At this time, the British were not happy at first sight and immediately approached the Qing government. Asking for "compensation" to maintain the "balance of power".
At this time, the Qing Dynasty's national power was seriously declining, and it was unable to resist the repeated defeats of the great powers.
After all, it had been accustomed to signing treaties for so many years, so it simply broke the pot. As long as it was not too excessive, everyone agreed, with the intention of prolonging the rule of the Qing Dynasty.
was forced to sign the "New Territories Lease", and Hong Kong was once again enclosed, which was 10 times its original size.
On June 9 of the same year, the Qing Dynasty's plenipotentiary Li Hongzhang , Xu Yingmagui and the British Minister Dou Nile formally signed the "Special Agreement to Expand the Boundary Site of Hong Kong" in Beijing, which was later called the "New Territories Lease".
The provisions of the treaty, in human terms, are:
"After so many years, Hong Kong's current concession alone is not enough to protect our assets in China. Now our two governments have negotiated a strategy, and in accordance with the Hong Kong Near the map, the concession was expanded as a newly leased area. The detailed boundaries should be determined after the two countries sent personnel to survey, and then the deadline was ninety-nine years. "
The British forced the Qing government to sign the "New Territories Lease". ", forcibly leasing the area north of Boundary Street on the Kowloon Peninsula, south of Shenzhen River , and more than 200 large and small islands.
As the extension of Hong Kong, the land area of New Territories is nearly 1,000 square kilometers, which is 10 times the total area of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula. The lease term is 99 years (ends on June 30, 1997).
This is how the "New Territories" region got its name.
The "New Territories Lease" clearly states that the New Territories are "leased" to the United Kingdom, and the agreed lease term is 99 years.
But the amount of rent is not specified in the contract. The weak and incompetent Qing government naturally did not dare to ask for rent from Britain.
The Qing Dynasty fell, and Hong Kong's fate of being ceded ended.
In this way, Hong Kong, which was originally an inherent territory of our country, through these three treaties, the great rivers and mountains belonging to China, and the Hong Kong Island with a total area of more than 1,600 square kilometers, were , Kowloon and the New Territories were thus taken over by the British.
This lease was lost in Hong Kong in 154 years. During these 154 years, the domestic revolution broke out, the late Qing Dynasty abdicated, the Beiyang warlords warred, and the National Government period.
The international situation has been changing, but new countries have collapsed, others have risen, two world wars have broken out, and the world structure has tended to be stable.
After the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, the new people's power was established. Facing the shrinking United Kingdom and the powerful communist alliance, , Hong Kong's position was once in a whirlpool.
With the rise of the Cold War, Hong Kong, located in the Far East, became the capital of espionage at that time.
Episode 2 "How to Return Hong Kong" Preview
As the handover approaches, what kind of negotiations are there between the central government and the British government? What is the unknown story behind
? How fierce is the secret front of
? How can
successfully return Hong Kong to our hands?
This will be in the next issue, "How did Hong Kong come back"
Friends who see this, please give me a little heart and attention, Tianchen, this is the biggest motivation for my creation~ Okay, remember to go to bed on time, we See you next time!
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#Hong Kong history# #25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland# #Hong Kong’s return to the motherland#
