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There is different version why British Empire took control over Hong Kong.

  • Britain helped China to eliminate pirates in South China Sea. As a sign of appreciation China give control of Hong Kong to Britain.
  • China was weak. Britain, Germany, Russia, France and Japan were willing to partition China. In order to avoid that China gave Hong Kong to Britain and Britain sponsored China.

Maybe there are more variants, I do not know.

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closed as unclear what you're asking by Tea Drinker, fortytwo, Eugene Seidel, Gwenn, kmlawson Jul 14 '13 at 10:55


Can you provide sources for these theories? –  Darek Wędrychowski Mar 24 '13 at 19:15
No @DarekWędrychowski I lost it. I just remember it. –  TIKSN Mar 24 '13 at 19:18
ha! "as a sign of appreciation". You might be interested in this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unequal_treaty –  Nathan Cooper Mar 24 '13 at 19:19
Yes I know it should strange. No one government will give a territory as a sign of appreciation. –  TIKSN Mar 24 '13 at 19:22
Please notify your source or your simply just imagined these 2 points by yourself ? –  tomriddle_1234 Mar 25 '13 at 1:32

1 Answer 1

Hong Kong became British colony as a result of First Opium War, which was lost by Qing Dynasty of China to United Kingdom. It was part of agreements of Treaty of Nanking that was signed in 1842, as well as huge war reparations.

What's important, original agreement established that Hong Kong becomes British for eternity, not for the exact amount of years. The 99 years period applied to New Territories by which the area of colony was extended in 1898 during Second Convention of Peking.

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If I'm not mistaken, he tried to ask why it was reduced to "only 99 years", instead of being "in perpetuity" like it was. –  Lohoris Sep 21 at 8:08
