https://www.scmp.com/rss/512333/feed July 1, 2022 marks the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule, and also the halfway point of the “one country, two systems” policy under which Beijing governs the city. We look back on the story of one of Asia’s most colourful metropolises and how its political, social, cultural and economic landscape has evolved through the decades. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Ordinary Hong Kong residents were mostly relegated to the political peripheral in the high-profile visit by Xia Baolong, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and former vice-chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. This was a little unfortunate. During his visit, Xia met what the government press office called “district personalities” and enjoyed yum cha in Kowloon Bay. He also chatted with senior citizens during a tour of an elderly... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3217871/government-efficiency-good-hong-kong-peoples-concerns-must-not-be-ignored?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3217871/government-efficiency-good-hong-kong-peoples-concerns-must-not-be-ignored?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 23 Apr 2023 06:30:14 +0000 The opposition camp and its supporters need to accept the city’s constitutional order, now that Beijing has overhauled Hong Kong’s political landscape, former leader Leung Chun-ying has said. In an interview with the Post to mark the 25th anniversary of the city’s handover, the 67-year-old emphasised repeatedly that Hong Kong had all along been a “city of economics”, not “a city of politics”, and the opposition and its supporters needed to “stick to the original bargain”. “The single biggest... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3184339/its-time-accept-basic-law-former-hong-kong-leader-cy-leung?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3184339/its-time-accept-basic-law-former-hong-kong-leader-cy-leung?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 Jul 2022 10:31:22 +0000 The heavy rains earlier this month brought vivid memories of the torrential downpour that all but drowned out the Prince of Wales’ farewell speech at Tamar 25 years ago. Drenched in the heavy rain, many guests rushed home to change clothes before they could witness the change of sovereignty. For some loyal British subjects, it was as though the heavens were mourning the end of British rule and the foul weather was a portent of stormy times ahead. For others, who welcomed Hong Kong’s return to... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3183604/how-hong-kongs-unique-strengths-can-help-it-find-success-next-25?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3183604/how-hong-kongs-unique-strengths-can-help-it-find-success-next-25?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Jul 2022 04:15:12 +0000 Chinese President Xi Jinping has promised Beijing’s long-term commitment to maintaining the “one country, two systems” governing principle for Hong Kong and preserving its unique strengths as an international hub, while also laying down a list of tasks for the city’s new leader to deliver in the next five years. Xi swore in Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and his new team on Friday, instructing them to improve governance, strengthen the momentum of development, solve deep-seated livelihood... https://www.scmp.com/hong-kong-25/politics/article/3183873/beijing-committed-one-country-two-systems-governing-principle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/hong-kong-25/politics/article/3183873/beijing-committed-one-country-two-systems-governing-principle?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Jul 2022 14:57:55 +0000 Hong Kong’s newly sworn-in leader has pledged to embrace a “can-do” attitude while working to meet the public’s expectations, enhance the city’s competitiveness and develop the economy, all part of a to-do list handed to him by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Entrusted with four key tasks on Friday by Xi on his first day of work, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu was specifically told to improve governance, strengthen the momentum of development, take solid steps to address people’s livelihood... https://www.scmp.com/hong-kong-25/politics/article/3183847/newly-sworn-hong-kong-leader-john-lee-vows-take-can-do?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/hong-kong-25/politics/article/3183847/newly-sworn-hong-kong-leader-john-lee-vows-take-can-do?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Jul 2022 11:36:41 +0000 President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai on Friday, marking the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s July 1 return to Chinese rule. Xi’s keynote address came after he officiated at the swearing-in ceremony of the new administration led by John Lee Ka-chiu, the city’s fifth chief executive. Xi stressed that the “one country, two systems” governing principle must be executed accurately and comprehensively, with mainland China having overall... https://www.scmp.com/hong-kong-25/politics/article/3183808/read-full-english-transcription-chinese-president-xi-jinpings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/hong-kong-25/politics/article/3183808/read-full-english-transcription-chinese-president-xi-jinpings?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Jul 2022 08:31:25 +0000 A popular Hong Kong tourist attraction in the 1970s and 80s was a trip to the Lok Ma Chau border. Visitors were taken to a hillside viewpoint where they could gaze in wonder at communist China across the river. The idea of returning the freewheeling, capitalist British colony to a China still in the early stages of economic reform and opening up was challenging. To do so while maintaining Hong Kong’s way of life seemed like mission impossible. But this was the deal struck in 1984. The... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3183488/hong-kongs-new-chapter-under-john-lee-calls-reflecting-tumultuous?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3183488/hong-kongs-new-chapter-under-john-lee-calls-reflecting-tumultuous?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Jul 2022 01:15:18 +0000 President Xi Jinping hailed Hong Kong for having “risen from the ashes” as he began his long-anticipated visit on Thursday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese sovereignty, underscoring Beijing’s commitment to the “one country, two systems” governing principle for a “bright future”. The president, who travelled to Hong Kong with first lady Peng Liyuan on a high-speed train from neighbouring Shenzhen, had a busy first day holding separate meetings with government... https://www.scmp.com/hong-kong-25/politics/article/3183724/risen-ashes-chinese-president-xi-jinping-hails-hong-kongs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/hong-kong-25/politics/article/3183724/risen-ashes-chinese-president-xi-jinping-hails-hong-kongs?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Jun 2022 15:02:17 +0000 Hong Kong placed sections of its business district under strict lockdown on Thursday, together with a tech hub and a high-speed rail terminus, as part of a two-day visit by President Xi Jinping to mark the 25th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese rule. Barricades were deployed earlier in the day around the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, with police patrolling the surrounding areas, hours before Xi arrived in the city at 3pm. Soon after his arrival at the venue,... https://www.scmp.com/hong-kong-25/politics/article/3183719/lockdowns-lion-dance-and-red-carpet-how-hong-kong-welcomed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/hong-kong-25/politics/article/3183719/lockdowns-lion-dance-and-red-carpet-how-hong-kong-welcomed?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 30 Jun 2022 13:48:38 +0000 Hong Kong has pulled out all the stops for a smooth and secure visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, his first outside mainland China since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, in which he is expected to lay down the direction of Beijing’s “one country, two systems” governing formula for the city. Sources also revealed on Wednesday that first lady Peng Liyuan would accompany Xi during his two-day visit to mark the 25th anniversary of the city’s handover to Chinese rule and oversee... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3183558/hong-kong-readies-visit-chinese-president-xi-jinping-25th-handover?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3183558/hong-kong-readies-visit-chinese-president-xi-jinping-25th-handover?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Jun 2022 15:03:59 +0000 Hong Kong’s outgoing leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has made her last comments on social media as chief executive and will shut down her accounts once she steps down on Thursday. In what she noted were her final posts on her Facebook and Instagram accounts on Tuesday, Lam said Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected visit and speech would point out the direction for Hong Kong. She also wrote that she would be moving out of the Chief Executive’s Office in Admiralty and Government House in... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3183356/carrie-lam-makes-final-comments-social-media-hong-kongs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3183356/carrie-lam-makes-final-comments-social-media-hong-kongs?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Jun 2022 08:21:33 +0000 When social worker Lo Kin-hei was elected chairman of the Democratic Party in December 2020 at the age of 36, he became the youngest leader to head the city’s largest opposition group. But there was little to celebrate. For the first time in its 26-year history, Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy party had no representatives in the Legislative Council. Opposition parties were still reeling from the national security law Beijing imposed in June that year. That November, the Democratic Party’s six... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3183288/hong-kong-opposition-camp-rues-its-future-will-it-be-able?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3183288/hong-kong-opposition-camp-rues-its-future-will-it-be-able?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Jun 2022 04:00:36 +0000 It is now clear that the first action incoming chief executive John Lee Ka-chiu needs to take on July 1, as soon as he has been sworn in, is to open up Hong Kong to the outside world and to its own people. There is not a moment to lose. Jumbo Floating Restaurant being towed out of Aberdeen Harbour has been seen all over the world and interpreted by many – friend and foe alike – as symptomatic of our demise. It has also seriously damaged morale at home. But this is just a symptom of what is... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3181960/end-covid-19-hysteria-reopen-hong-kong-and-give-us-back?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3181960/end-covid-19-hysteria-reopen-hong-kong-and-give-us-back?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 Jun 2022 04:30:17 +0000 It’s a curious thing about memory that we tend to remember and dwell on negative events much more readily than on positive ones. Negativity bias is a proven psychological phenomenon. That’s why we recall insults better than praise. Or pay more attention to negative events than positive ones. It’s no wonder then that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s soon-to-be-concluded term may be remembered more for the 2019 protests and the once-in-a-lifetime Covid-19 pandemic than anything else... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3181885/protests-and-pandemic-will-be-carrie-lams-legacy-she?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3181885/protests-and-pandemic-will-be-carrie-lams-legacy-she?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 16 Jun 2022 22:45:19 +0000 This article was first published in the South China Morning Post on July 2, 2003. It has been republished online as part of Hong Kong 25, which looks at how the city has changed since the handover, and what its future holds. By Jimmy Cheung and Klaudia Lee More than half a million Hong Kong people took to the streets yesterday in a landmark anti-government protest on the sixth anniversary of reunification with the mainland. The rare show of discontent is being seen as the biggest crisis yet for... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3178339/july-1-2003-500000-take-hong-kongs-streets-protest-against?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3178339/july-1-2003-500000-take-hong-kongs-streets-protest-against?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2022 07:30:20 +0000 This article was first published in the South China Morning Post on June 27, 1999. It has been republished online as part of Hong Kong 25, which looks at how the city has changed since the handover, and what its future holds. By Chris Yeung Beijing yesterday approved a reinterpretation of Basic Law provisions in a move which overturns a Court of Final Appeal ruling and revokes the right of abode for more than 1.4 million mainland residents. The Standing Committee of the National People’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3178182/june-26-1999-beijing-approves-hong-kong-basic-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3178182/june-26-1999-beijing-approves-hong-kong-basic-law?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2022 05:30:17 +0000 This article was first published in the South China Morning Post on July 1, 1997. It has been republished online as part of Hong Kong 25, which looks at how the city has changed since the handover, and what its future holds. By Chris Yeung Hong Kong entered its new era at the stroke of midnight, launching a historic experiment with the strongest pledge yet of non-interference from President Jiang Zemin. As June 30 moved into July 1, the flags of Britain and Hong Kong were lowered, and those of... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3177298/july-1-1997-handover-hong-kongs-return-china-after-british?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3177298/july-1-1997-handover-hong-kongs-return-china-after-british?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jun 2022 03:30:13 +0000 Judges often cite cases to put their points across, and former chief justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-li has one from four years ago to underscore the challenges Hong Kong’s courts have encountered in the past and will continue to face in the future. In 2018, Ma and his fellow judges at the Court of Final Appeal quashed the jail terms of student activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung and two others for their roles in a protest just before the 2014 Occupy movement for greater democracy hit the streets in full... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3181561/if-everybody-criticises-you-you-probably-got-it-right?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3181561/if-everybody-criticises-you-you-probably-got-it-right?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2022 23:30:29 +0000 This article was first published in the South China Morning Post on October 13, 2016. It has been republished online as part of Hong Kong 25, which looks at how the city has changed since the handover, and what its future holds. By Joyce Ng, Stuart Lau and Owen Fung Hong Kong’s newly elected legislature descended into open war yesterday with localists brandishing “Hong Kong is not China” banners at their swearing- in ceremony, while a pro-establishment stalwart was elected president after being... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3179238/october-12-2016-declaration-war-hong-kong-legco-opens?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3179238/october-12-2016-declaration-war-hong-kong-legco-opens?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2022 13:30:22 +0000 This article was first published in the South China Morning Post on June 19, 2015. It has been republished online as part of Hong Kong 25, which looks at how the city has changed since the handover, and what its future holds. By Tony Cheung, Jeffie Lam and Joyce Ng Hong Kong’s legislature yesterday blocked the government’s electoral reform plan as a historic showdown between pan-democrats and Beijing loyalists became a farce when the latter camp’s bungled walkout meant that only eight lawmakers... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3178928/june-18-2015-hong-kong-governments-reform-plan-fails-does?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3178928/june-18-2015-hong-kong-governments-reform-plan-fails-does?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2022 12:30:22 +0000 This article was first published in the South China Morning Post on June 13, 2013. It has been republished online as part of Hong Kong 25, which looks at how the city has changed since the handover, and what its future holds. By Lana Lam US whistle-blower Edward Snowden yesterday emerged from hiding in Hong Kong and revealed to the South China Morning Post that he will stay in the city to fight likely attempts by his government to have him extradited for leaking state secrets. In an exclusive... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3178655/june-12-2013-us-spy-net-targets-hong-kong-edward-snowden?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3178655/june-12-2013-us-spy-net-targets-hong-kong-edward-snowden?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2022 09:30:17 +0000 This article was first published in the South China Morning Post on September 29, 2014. It has been republished online as part of Hong Kong 25, which looks at how the city has changed since the handover, and what its future holds. By SCMP Reporters The streets of Central and Admiralty descended into chaos last night after police in riot gear fired tear gas at protesters as the Occupy Central campaign, a movement that promised “peace and love”, escalated. By midnight there was little sign of the... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3179277/september-28-2014-hong-kong-police-fire-tear-gas-thousands?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3179277/september-28-2014-hong-kong-police-fire-tear-gas-thousands?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Jun 2022 08:30:15 +0000 About 1,000 staff, security guards and police officers involved in events celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover are likely to be put under a seven-day “closed-loop” arrangement to protect them from Covid-19 as part of preparations for a possible visit by a Chinese state leader, the Post has learned. Sources said all staff responsible for security and the event, as well as police officers who provided close protection to the “very, very important person” would spend a week in... https://www.scmp.com/hong-kong-25/politics/article/3180914/1000-workers-guards-and-police-enter-closed-loop-quarantine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/hong-kong-25/politics/article/3180914/1000-workers-guards-and-police-enter-closed-loop-quarantine?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Jun 2022 12:40:42 +0000