Hong Kong's History

Key Events

1842 - China surrendered Hong Kong island to Britain after the First Opium War.

1937 - Hong Kong becomes a refuge for thousands of mainland Chinese because of the outbreak of the Sino Japanese war.

1946 - Britain rebuilds the civil government, and thousands of the former residents return.

1967 - Brutal riots break out, mostly started by follower's of China's Cultural Revolution. 

1984 - Britain and China decided to sign a Joint Declaration on the state, under which Hong Kong will revert to the Chinese rule in 1997. Also known as "One country, two systems" formula. 

1989 - The destruction of pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square leads to call for the introduction of further independent safeguards in Hong Kong.

1992 - The last British governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten goes over a brief to oversee the colony's handover to China.

         - Chris Patten announces the proposals for the democratic reform of Hong Kong's introduction aimed at enlarging the voting base in election.

1995 - Elections held for new Legislative Council 

1998 - First post-handover elections held.

2002 - 16 members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement got arrested during a protest outside Beijing's liaison office in the territory. Falun Gong remains legal in Hong Kong, regardless of having been banned in mainland China in 1999.

2007 - Chief Executive Donald Tsang is appointed to a new five-year term after winning elections in March.

2012 - Leung Chun-ying takes office as chief executive, succeeding Donald Tsang whose last months in office were determined by disagreement over his links with wealthy businessman.

2014 - Tens of thousands of protesters take part in what organisers say could be Hong Kong's largest pro-democracy rally in a decade.

        - Chinese government rules out a fully democratic election for Hong Kong leader in 2017, saying that only candidates approved by Beijing will be allowed to run.

       - Pro-democracy demonstrators occupy the city centre for weeks in protest at the Chinese government's decision to limit voters' choices in the 2017 Hong Kong leadership elections.

       - Authorities take down Mong Kok protest camp, leaving a few hundred protesters at two camps at Admiralty and Causeway Bay.

       - Hong Kong tycoon and former government official Thomas Kwok is sentenced to five years in jail in the city's biggest-ever corruption case.

2015 - Legislative Council rejects proposals for electing the territory's next leader in 2017. Despite pro-democracy protests and a lengthy consultation process, the plans remained the same as those outlined by China in 2014.