Possession Street in Sheung Wan was once on the waterfront, near the point where the British navy arrived in 1841 and took possession of Hong Kong. Photo: Kylie Ashe Possession Street in Sheung Wan was once on the waterfront, near the point where the British navy arrived in 1841 and took possession of Hong Kong. Photo: Kylie Ashe
Possession Street in Sheung Wan was once on the waterfront, near the point where the British navy arrived in 1841 and took possession of Hong Kong. Photo: Kylie Ashe
Stefano Mariani
Opinion

Opinion

Stefano Mariani

Hong Kong should no sooner erase its colonial past than Beijing should demolish the Forbidden City

  • Hong Kong was ceded by the Qing Empire to the British Empire as a consequence of war, but then the Manchus came to power in China by force of arms. When regimes erase vestiges of vanquished foes, the sum of human knowledge is poorer for it

Stefano Mariani
Stefano Mariani

Updated: 7:04am, 16 Dec, 2020

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Possession Street in Sheung Wan was once on the waterfront, near the point where the British navy arrived in 1841 and took possession of Hong Kong. Photo: Kylie Ashe Possession Street in Sheung Wan was once on the waterfront, near the point where the British navy arrived in 1841 and took possession of Hong Kong. Photo: Kylie Ashe
Possession Street in Sheung Wan was once on the waterfront, near the point where the British navy arrived in 1841 and took possession of Hong Kong. Photo: Kylie Ashe
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Stefano Mariani

Stefano Mariani

Stefano Mariani is a tax lawyer practising in Hong Kong. He has written widely on Hong Kong and international taxation, and is a part-time lecturer at Hong Kong University. A member of the Royal Asiatic Society, his academic interests include East Asian history, culture, and identity.