British Hong Kong

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Hong Kong was a Crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 to 1982, and a dependent territory from 1 January 1983 to 30 June 1997, except it was occupied by the Empire of Japan from 1941 to 1945 during the Second World War. The British rule began with the British occupation of Hong Kong Island under the Convention of Chuenpi in 1841 during the Victorian era, and ended with the handover of Hong Kong in July 1997. In accordance with Article III of the Treaty of Nanking of 1842, signed in the aftermath of the First Opium War, the island of Hong Kong was ceded in perpetuity to Great Britain. It was established as a Crown colony in 1843. In 1860, the British expanded the colony with the addition of the Kowloon Peninsula and was further extended in 1898 when the British obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories. Although the Qing had to cede Hong Kong Island and Kowloon in perpetuity as per the treaty, the leased New Territories comprised 86.2% of the colony and more than half of the...

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