History’s Marks on Hong Kong Law - From British Colony, to Chinese SAR

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Donald
Keyword(s):  
2002 ◽  
Vol 172 ◽  
pp. 1010-1028 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lau Siu-kai ◽  
Kuan Hsin-chi

Hong Kong's political parties are now in decline after the return of the former British colony to China. The decline of political parties stands out in stark relief in a context featuring “Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong” and gradual democratization. A major reason for the decline is the stunted political party system of Hong Kong. Prominent in that stunted system is the absence of a ruling party. The stunted party system is primarily the result of Beijing's antipathy towards party politics in Hong Kong, which in turn discourages party formation by the Hong Kong government and the conservative elites. The lack of incentives for the business elites to organize political parties to protect their interests is another major reason. The stunted party system has produced serious adverse consequences for the governance of Hong Kong, representation of interests, public attitudes towards the political class and the further democratization of the territory.


1991 ◽  
Vol 128 ◽  
pp. 774-793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuan Hsin-chi

Hong Kong is a British colony. It will become, in 1997, a Special Administrative Region under the authority of the Central People's Government of China, i.e. a local government within a unitary state. Thus, Hong Kong is and will remain a dependent polity. In a situation of power dependence, the choice of the rulers of the hegemonic country who set the rules of the game is crucial for political change in the dominated polity.


English Today ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 36-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Boyle ◽  
Ruth Tomlinson

Changing emphases in the use of English and Chinese in the recruitment of business managers in a British colony soon to be reintegrated into China


2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERTO PERUZZI

AbstractThis article aims to deepen scholarly understanding of the special political and economic connection between Britain and Socialist China during the 1950s and the 1960s. After 1949, the British government had substantive reasons to preserve a link with Beijing, despite the unfolding of the Cold War. First, British assets in China were numerous. Second, the Crown colony of Hong Kong was an indispensable strategic enclave, although militarily indefensible. Third, the Foreign Office considered that Asia should represent an exception to unquestioned British loyalty to the Atlantic alliance, since the United Kingdom needed to prove that it was able to represent and preserve Commonwealth interests in the area. The article will point out that the United Kingdom maintained a privileged role as the main trading partner of the People's Republic of China (PRC) outside the Socialist bloc, thanks to the financial and commercial role played by Hong Kong. This is proved through an analysis of the fate of British financial institutions in China, which represented a favourable exception in the bleak scenario of the PRC nationalization process, as well as of the industrial development of the British colony, which was based on importing food and labour from the mainland, while serving as a financial hub in support of the PRC economy.


1999 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 417-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Baum

From 1982, when the Chinese government first signalled its intention to take back Hong Kong, to the actual transfer of sovereignty in 1997, the PRC engaged in a long-term campaign to “win friends and influence people” in the British colony. Hoping to prevent a large-scale flight of capital and manpower, and wishing to cultivate a core group of sympathetic local notables as future political leaders, Beijing issued frequent pledges of non-interference in Hong Kong's affairs and adopted classic “united front” tactics — flattering, cajoling, and otherwise wooing potential supporters while snubbing (and sometimes smearing) outspoken critics. Despite intensely negative local reaction to the 1989 “Tiananmen Massacre”, over the long haul Beijing largely succeeded in disarming public fears of a heavyhanded Chinese takeover. Consequently, the handover itself was an extremely calm, tranquil affair. And in the first 2 years of Hong Kong's new status as a “Special Administrative Region” of China, the PRC earned generally high marks for honoring its pledge to uphold the principle of “one country, two systems”.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tjipta Lesmana

Abstract: Hong Kong is widely acknowledged as one of the busiest financial and economic center in the world. Hundreds of world-class companies establish their representative offices in this former British colony. For the effectiveness of their operations, the companies, using newspaper advertisement, actively recruits intelligent and smart employees. Current research was designed to investigate how companies appreciate interpersonal communication skills when hiring new employees announced in the advertisements. Content of weekend edition of South China Morning Post, called “Classified Post” (about 100 pages), was scrutinized. To gain a little insight of the same phenomenon in Indonesia some editions of “Klasika” section of daily Kompas was analyzed. It was found that awareness of interpersonal communication skill, in general, was fairly high in the case of Hong Kong (38.2%), but only 9.83% for Indonesia. The top two professions in Hong Kong requiring this skill was public relations official (38.1%) and sale persons (32%). In the case of Indonesia, it was secretary and finance officials.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-120
Author(s):  
Glenn Shive

This article points to the importance of religion for refugees and the migration process. After World War II and civil war in China, many refugees flocked to Hong Kong (HK) for safe haven in the British colony, and possible subsequent migration abroad. Christian congregations in HK, and missionaries who themselves were refugees from China, offered hospitality and support services across refugee groups. They advocated for the colonial government to help settle refugees by building low-cost urban housing, schools, medical clinics and new infrastructure. This new workforce was crucial to HK’s industrialization which took-off in the 1950s. With the decline of HK’s trade economy due to the Cold War embargo of China, many refugees became entrepreneurs-of-necessity by starting family businesses that absorbed migrant labour. Religiously-inspired assistance to refugees, from within one’s group and beyond, made a big difference in assimilating newcomers and helping them to rebuild their lives in adverse conditions. Beyond Christian responses, the article also explores the role of the Wong Tai Sin Taoist temple in Kowloon, itself uprooted from Guangzhou and replanted in HK. It reassured displaced people with cultural continuity to their ancestor halls and offered psycho-social assistance through spirit-writing divination, herbal medicine and Taoist worship adapted from rural Chinese villages to urban workers struggling to improve their lives and adapt to Hong Kong.


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