Knowing what I know today. And actively living in the ethnostate that is fascist China. I can’t watch this video because it’s too depressing. I love your channel and other videos though
According to quards 12-24 people each year would die from shark and tiger attacks. The quards would hear the tigers roaring right across the border even in the 1980's
I just realized that the Hongkong riots of 10-12 October 1956 were very short before the Suez Crisis. That means the measures to improve worker conditions in Hongkong in response happened while media attention in Britain was focussed on other issues.
One of the big underlying considerations Thatcher had with handing over Hong Kong to "Red China" was that HK by the 1980s was becoming impossible to defend militarily, as population growth in the city was to the point where it must rely on freshwater supplies from mainland China. They could simply turn off the tap and plunge the city into a massive humanitarian crisis very quickly, because no one can survive more than 3 days without water.
I was lucky enough to visit Hong Kong twice in the late 80’s while stationed onboard USS Nimitz. It was a wonderful, welcoming and safe place to visit. Sorry all that has changed. Thanks for this story.
Local news agencies always reported whenever a US carrier stopped at HK. I remembered when I was little back in the early 90s, USS Kitty Hawk was widely reported. That was the first US carrier name I knew. US sailors exclaimed how big the city was, and journalists report the booming business at downtown bars and restaurants. Some even got to ride the C2 Greyhound and land on the carrier itself whilst its still on open waters. Sadly, China hasn't allowed any US carrier to port to HK for a few years now.
@@yatsumleung8618 one of the neatest places I ever visited (in the world), was the Sung Dynasty Village in Hong Kong. They showed how noodles used to be made, the show was fantastic. Monkeys dressed as courtiers, a noble wedding, and the most amazing thing…a Kung Fu Master who stood on eggs (in a carton) throwing chopsticks through wood, without breaking the eggs. He also manipulated his body and “crawled” through a tiny pipe. It may not have been totally historically accurate, but it brought a little piece of Chinese history, to life.
I just noticed your comment about when you served in the USS Nimitz. I was stationed in Hong Kong from with the Royal Air Force from 1987 until 1990. The USS Nimitz visited Hong Kong in 1989 and I was lucky enough to get a guided tour of the ship with some other Royal Air Force personnel.
Honestly, nothing has changed in the grand scheme of things. It's still an amazing city. More so than 80s, I bet. It's still as welcoming and safe if not more than before. Please do consider visiting and see things for yourself.
One very overlooked fact about HK during the Cold War was that the till the 97 handover, the British HK authorities did not allow any of the communist country governments setting up consulate bases in HK, with the exceptions of Cuba which have had consulate since before the Castro revolution, and China which was represented by the New China News Agency. To minimize spy activities being the likely reason.
Not exactly. The Xinhua News Agency served as the de facto Chinese Embassy in Hong Kong because the PRC government did not want to set up an embassy there. They do not believe that Britain has sovereignty over Hong Kong and that Hong Kong has always belonged to China and hence it is pointless to establish an embassy over its "own soil".
I was told while in Hong Kong that one way Hong Kong made money in the 1960s was putting "Made in Hong Kong" labels in all the stuff that was basically trans-shipped from the embargoed Peoples' Republic of China. Made complete sense to me. I very clearly remember a lot of toys, knick knacks, odds and ends all had the "Made in Hong" labels pasted on the package or as a slip of paper inserted inside the package. Britain's colonial idiocy during the 1950s 10-10 riots just seems so short sighted and stupid. This all culminated in the negotiations to return Hong Kong to China with the Brits demand that Hongkongers keep their democratic rights and values. The Communists then correctly argued, "What rights? You never allowed them." The current situation in Hong Kong could be very different right now had the Brits done any long range thinking about Hong Kong.
Late 1970's and early 1980's onward Made in China took over Hong Kong with most of the business owners shifting their factories in Mainland China because of lower labour cost.
The Double Ten riot was nothing more but someone took down the Nationalist Flag hanging on one of the Housing Estate in Shek Kip Mei built in 1954 after the big fire which consumed the entire wooden house squater.It was a miracle that nobody died in that fierced fire ! Rumour about that fire as deliberately set to push the Colonial Government to quickly come to the solution of the squarter refugee crisis.
Go check your facts. The PRC barely manufactured anything for export in the 60s. It wasn't until the 80s that made in China really became a thing. HK actually had an industrial base until the service sector took over.
@@MrAnonymousRandom what you said. I'm from hong kong. My parents, both were born in the 60s, worked in the factories in the 80s. All of their friends and all my aunts and uncles also worked in factories during that period, from clothing to plastic molds to toys, the only exception is one of my uncles who worked as a truck driver.
In its final years 'British rule' was courtesy of Beijing therefore any changes in the administration or status of the colony had to be approved with China first Given the chance Britain would have disposed of HK at the same time as Singapore but China would never have allowed that
A lot of my Vietnamese bretheran like Hong Kong. Not because its pretty, or a nice place to live but because unlike the Mainland Chinese, and Taiwanese, they treat us like human beings.
@lati long there were and still some Hong Kongers who resent us, but they dont send angry mobs armed with flare guns and harpoons to prevent refugees from landing on their shores.
The boat refugees are mostly ethnic Chinese aren’t they? I wonder Why Taiwan roc gov rejected to accept them? Btw I’m from mainland and I always like Vietnamese people who I consider very close to us Chinese. Politics create hatred !
@@user-qwertyuiopasdfghj Tawain doesn't consider ethnic Chinese people from Vietnam as Chinese because of how mixed we are and the mainland is no better they are the reason why my many of my bretheran were expelled after the border conflict between our nations. When Vietnam expelled its Chinese inhabitance, mainland China refused to take refugees because they care about racial purity.
Finally confirmed dead in 2019 where millions of ex-China refugees and their descendents took on the streets to protest against the commi snapping them back to the land of hell.
13:13 The conduct of the Kuomintang made me think the Taiwanese were lucky to succeed in the democratisation of their island. And that they can be glad because if the Kuomintang dictatorship still continued on this day, the CCP's propaganda would have used it against them
How is Hong Kong doing these days? Thank you for another interesting video! I enjoy learning about East Asia during the Cold War. Stay well out there everybody, and God bless you, friends. ✝️ :)
mask mandate, vaccine mandate for all schools, communist tracking apps for all restaurants, hair salons, hospitals. Something the Japanese could never think of in the 40s.
Awful. National security anyone? After ‘97 handover, HK became an economic boom. It was important to China when it first was returned back to China as things like cultural social identity need to be established despite huge differences. HK international airport was created, and China, through its relations with HK, an international trading port, and China, an isolationist dictatorship, needed to learn some tricks of the capitalist free market HK, but instead of slowly learning to open their minds, they learnt how to find the most efficient way to earn money, which means taking HKers way of investment in housing to the extreme, so much so many big cities in the world have astronomical housing costs, they would try do whatever it takes to look like they can do better than the west, no matter in filming, cars, just commercial industries, but through disgustingly bad behaviour. They don’t care about social infrastructures like legal reforms or workers compensations, as long as corruption is everywhere, power is key, and anything could be solve through the threat of force. How does this happening in the mainland, affect HK? One country, two systems means they still follow the rule of law and many legacies the British left for them, like Old Age Allowance, and better standards for workers and education. So many mainlanders took that advantage by selling many of the bad things from China and smuggling and parallel importing things from HK and into China, and education, there’s a thing where parents stay in mainland leaving their kids go to school in HK, taking all the benefits and leaving nothing good behind. It’s not good because HK need people to contribute in order to keep things running. If mainlanders kept taking and exploiting the benefits of HK, and leaving nothing good behind, it’s no wonder HKers have such negative attitudes towards China. It’s a gradual process. They were happy to return to the motherland at first, with some fears because of the riot of 89 in Beijing, but now, it’s like the divid is because HK trades with China, giving so much but China just leaves it behind and there’s no dialogue between them. HK gave so much in terms of trades and commercial relations, but China kept trying to feed it with disinformation and corruption and bad products, back during their crown colony days, there was a dialogue, there was a time when the Brits actually cared about HK. Even though the relationship with the UK was passive at best, leaving a lot of the locals doing the hard work making HK their own, at least they can hate the Brits, they can say British police officers bad even though not all are bad, they can express sentiments that they want to be part of China again because of wanting to belong to their own people again, they can express their feelings and just say whatever they want in this shabby little port harbour by the Pearl River Delta. Now you have to cry while singing the Chinese national anthem.
Interesting video, I was taught/read many of the events you described in your video. A big question (regarding the sovereignty of Hong Kong) during the early Cold War era might have been , what's going to happen to Hong Kong when the lease expires. Like you stated in your video, it would still be years before that situation had to be addressed. When that day did arrive, the world seemed much different. The People's Republic of China was recognized by the United Nations as the "one and only" China, diplomatic/trade relations between China and the West was improved/established, with European Colonialism in Asia becoming phased out. I think China did say they would allow some business practice's to be conducted "as usual" in Hong Kong at the time of the lease expiration. I think there was also a ceremonial event conducted when the UK "officially" returned Hong Kong to China.
The PRoC was recognised by the United Nation as "one and only China"? Do you have any documents or articles that goes deeper into this? I am not trying to challenge you, I just want to know more because this is the first time I have heard of such thing.
@@BatCountryAdventures The United Nations was formed shortly after World War II, with Chaing Ki Shek's Nationalist China (before the People's Republic of China, what many people from the West at one time referred to as being Red China or Communist China, was established) becoming not just a member, but a member of the United Nations Security Council. After a Civil War, the Nationalist government fled to the island of Taiwan/Formosa and the Peoples Republic of China government was established on mainland China. It was during the 1970's, The People's Republic of China (not yet a member of the UN) made an appeal that they should be the "one and only China". A vote was taken by the United Nations, and the votes were overwhelmingly in favor (the United States, one of the few UN members voting no) of The People's Republic of China being the "the one and only China". There can't be two countries being China (recognized by the United Nations) so what was once "the one and only China" is now present-day Taiwan. You can google more about the History of China or check out your local library if you choose to.
A well written and clear explanation of Hong Kong during the Cold War. It would have been good to mention the 1948 Riots in Kowloon - the documents of which are just about to be opened by the British government after 75 years. I think it would be good to have another video like this on Macao - the smaller Portugese neighbour of Hong Kong. The situation was different, so the Cold War in Macao brought a different situation.
The Portuguese colony of Macau was not obtained through battle. It was a commercial lease negotiated by the Portuguese. There was no reason to dishonor the contract before its time.
@@crak6776 Did Germany claim soverignty over Ireland while deploying army at the border? because in that case I will find UK's response (as you claimed) reasonable enough. I guess De Valera had the upper hand though whe he paid tribute to Hitler in 1945
I am not sure who they are trying to fool, but on 2nd of Aug, the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR government released a statement basically states that it refuses to recognise Hong Kong has ever been a British colony. And part of its statement is reads like this: //The origin of the dispute lies in three unequal treaties that were imposed on China by the British government after the Opium War in the 19th century, namely the Treaty of Nanking (1842), the Beijing Convention (1860), and the Convention between Great Britain and China Respecting an Extension of Hong Kong Territory (1898), which resulted in the British forcible occupation and lease of and her 150-year-long rule over Hong Kong. Despite the above-mentioned historical facts, it does not mean that the British forcible occupation and lease of and “colonial rule” over Hong Kong should be regarded as legitimate.//
@lati long The occupation was declared illegal and unequal treaties pushed onto the Koreans by the Japanese were declared void already in 1965 with the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Korea was forcefully annexed by the Empire of Japan, I don't see what there is to deny about that having happened? It serves as a crucial basis for both North- and South Korean propaganda and identity politics.
@lati long ROC exist first and then the Communist Party merged in with the ROC in 1922. Bitter separation started in 1926/1927 and then three separate power developed within the ROC towards the end of 1927.
16:44 Hang on a minute, the HKongers mindset was well above that of the PRC and was never part of it. The culture of HK is Cantonese as is their language, unlike the mainlanders whose language is Mandarin.
@@tylerbozinovski427 Well that's just asking for huge war, especially when Taiwan was just having their Third Strait Crisis two years ago with the Mainland, also British didn't recognize Taiwan since 1950. Yes, they recognized them that year when the Korean War was just started
1967 Hong Kong riot was a lot more brutal. More than 3000 real and fake bombs cuasing the death of a policeman and a pair of very young brother and sister at the North Point District and burning to death of a Hong Kong Commercial Radio broadcaster Lam Bun and his brother when they were on their way to work at Broadcast Road in Ho Man Tin.
In June 2021, the Hong Kong Film Censorship Authority OFNAA introduced a new national security policy. This law passed in 27 October 2021. It gives the chief secretary the power to revoke a film's licence if it is found to "endorse, support, glorify, encourage and incite activities that might endanger national security". Under the new law, the maximum penalties for showing unapproved films are three years in jail and a fine of HK$1 million. Critics like professor Kenny Ng and filmmaker Kiwi Chow voice concerns of its political censorship, spurring fears the new law would dampen the film industry. Wow.. Hong Kong film is dead.
So why exactly did Hong Kong not become an independent country during the 60s or 70s? Doing so would allow the locals to rule themselves instead of London or Beijing.
How would they rule themselves? No freshwater, barely any farmland, and surrounded by China. Mico nations and city states exist at the pleasure of their more powerful neighbours (Singapore, Monaco, San Marino, etc.).
Nice summary but it would have been nice to discuss the terms agreed to by China and Great Britain for the takeover of Hing Kong - what liberties were guaranteed and what repercussions or penalties could ensue if those terms are violated.
I would recommend a book called The Hong Kong Diary written by the last governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten on the subject published very recently. Worth the read.
The terms are irrelevant if whoever is supposed to enforce the terms doesn't act. Communist China could have overrun HK like India did to Goa if it wanted to.
This is Not what I thought this episode was going to be about. Much of it was nothing more than labor relations and details of working conditions. What did that have to do with the Cold War.?????
@lati long l don't know how Any group of people that Murdered 100,000,000+ people and made 5 times that number miserable over 80 odd years could possibly be portrayed in anything but a murderous, criminal light. If you do I'd be Extremely interested to hear about it.
@@raybarry4307 I wouldn't bother, I do give him some credit though for being one of the more clever wumaos. Throws in just enough verboten facts to look plausible and doesn't go directly to the CCP talking points. He really slipped up with his reply to you.
Please do one on Macau i heard that it used to be a base for DPRK Spies where they would learn Cantonese and it became base for Communist pimps after some riots as later creating some dissatisfaction towards the PRC after 1999 that many people dont seem to notice
I have a dumb question,I saw the story of Ip Man the master of bruce lee who lived in Fo Shan in mainland china then transferred to hongkong as a hongkong citizen so back then what happened?u have to have dual citizienship if u jump back and fourth mainland and hongkong?what if ur reclaimed by communist spies and hauled back to the mainland?do those things happen as well?
One of the few times, colonialization was done as it should have been: impart Western institutions and allow the locals to benefit from it. The demolition of the freedoms in Hong Kong will go down as one of the greatest tragedies of the 21st Century. Free Hong Kong!
@lati long I must disagree. First, establishing rule of law, property rights, and economic liberty do not benefit one party over another, and the video clearly shows that refugees were well able to establish themselves as entrepreneurs. Second, Hong Kong was well known for its legal institutions which helped propagate the freedoms enshrined in the Basic Law. Perhaps, you could argue the colonial authorities were hypocrites at times, but that doesn't remotely compare to the open disregard for liberty shown by the Communist Party.
Western institutions... HK never got past being an oligarchy run by special interest groups. We'll see how well western institutions hold up in the UK with all that dirty money flowing through London. Then we will know who's being colonized.
They got no power tohold on, you wanna end up like Goa? Edit: Mao could have marched into HK in 1950s if he wanted to, but he chose not to, giving the British the remaining 99 years "lease"
@@95ellington For a start The Chinese didn't have the bomb until 1962 so they couldn't have just strolled in during the 1950's without too much trouble, America already had the Bomb and Britian would in 1952. Britain should have fought them for it and they would have probably won with complete dominace in air and sea power compensating for its smaller but more proficient ground contingent. To liken Britain's cold war capabilities to Portuguese cold war capabilities is also insulting, Britain and Portugal are completely different. What Britain lacked was the will to hold on to her territories, Portugal if you look at the Mozambique conflict, or Angola it was far more of a material and manpower problem until towards the end when they also lacked the will. Also with the tyranny of the Chinese factions, particularly the communists after the Civil War ended when they engaged with things like the "Great leap forward" from 1958-62 causing the "'three years of great famine" involving the deaths of tens of millions, Britian could have leveraged a lot of support from inside China against the CCP.
@@ryanstewart3640 Yeah OK, British had a whole range of issue in 1950s, their hands are full with India subcontinent and Suez, Hong Kong was the least of her worries. If China can go toe to toe with USA in Korea in 1950, and America had the Bomb already. Still Forced out the USA from north Korea with almost no air or sea power. I don't see what Britain can do against an invasion of Hong Kong in the 1950s. And if you think British can leverage support of the Chinese against the CCP in China you are completely joking. The British came to China a hundred years ago to raid her wealth and poison her people. With that kind of track record you think the Chinese would be supportive of the British imperialists? Here's an event, the Amethyst Incident in 1949, PLA fired at a British war ship, stranded her, but she later escaped a few weeks later. After that, no British ship cruised Chinese waters for the next 40 years. Edit: Im Chinese my self, I was there in Shenzhen on the street watching the PLA marching into Hong Kong in 1997 after the handover.
Only the new territories were leased for 99 years, Hong Kong Island a d Kowloon were owned by UK in perpetuity. HK was non viable without the new territories and without water from China: UK knew that if they rejected giving HK to China they would have a huge humanitarian crisis at end (potentially). A place they were unable to support nor defend. At the same time they saw the potential for closer commercial ties with China... We see today that maybe that wasn't a good idea. The CCP didn't respect the deal they made for HK taking over without respect for its political independence... Again a proof of who we cannot trust
@@CannibaLouiST so is Vietnam, but they kicked the French, who owned their land for years out. Britain got Hong Kong through brute force and if China had gotten it back through the same tactics, just like India did with goa, then that's it.
where do you think china got lots of dollars from ?....hong kongs banking sector, which, during the 70;s and 80's laundered money for anyone rich enough, those dirty dollars ended up in state loans, which paid fpr chinas industrial revolution, and funded by drug and weapon money, a self feeding cycle that made china what it is.
Every single case of fast economic growth in history is also a case of exploited workers. No exceptions whatsoever. Democracies always seem to fall in the middle-income trap because if workers aren't forced to work, they'll elect someone who gives them better conditions.
Rightful British land. I can't believe we just abandoned millions of British subjects to a hostile foreign power. Yes, we won the territory through war, but we built that city and the people who came to Hong Kong chose to live under British rule. They could've left for the mainland whenever they wanted.
mate the uk is slowly breaking apart. Much like the rest of the rest of the empire they lost it because it became impossible to hold. The uk will not exist by the end of the century maybe much sooner.
Is not only the accent, but it simply lacks academic research, statistic, numbers, etc. A very POOR CONTENTS of limited perspective: only ideological. Very common in "influencers" and Americans. It might be the lack of own history, but everything tends to be a ideological - religious - missionary type of contents.
Way back 1997; Hong Kong did lots of charity marathons and supporting china's earthquakes and floods... Today, they stopped doing TV charity programs and marathons. Zero democratic supporter; they stop rising funds and help china. Lot of TV is under state control. 2019 -2022 Hong Kong movie is terrible. They don't make good movies anymore. They could do better without national security law. Hong Kong's freedom is slowly dying. Lot of people fled Hong Kong. They want to run away from communist regime. Few foreigners decided to stay. They love the city & businesses but they don't politics. Hong Kong isn't doing good in 2022. They don't feel Hong Kong is being Hong Kong.
US and UK talk about HK democracy where was it? All the top positions etc.. All filled with White guys from UK. It was a UK colony nothing more. I'm sick of hearing HK is a democracy china destroyed. etc... HK as a colony, they allow white people to go ahead of Chinese people inside HK. Literal colonial. HK grew not because of the British, it was done by local Chinese. They still had a white person above chinese in everything policy. From investments to banking etc... "protest" was literally finance by the US/UK what a load of bull.
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Knowing what I know today. And actively living in the ethnostate that is fascist China. I can’t watch this video because it’s too depressing. I love your channel and other videos though
According to quards 12-24 people each year would die from shark and tiger attacks. The quards would hear the tigers roaring right across the border even in the 1980's
I just realized that the Hongkong riots of 10-12 October 1956 were very short before the Suez Crisis. That means the measures to improve worker conditions in Hongkong in response happened while media attention in Britain was focussed on other issues.
It started when someone took down the Nationalist Flag in a then new Housing Estate is Shek Kip Mei built in 1954 after the fire.
I’m here while the comments territorial integrity is still intact
It hasn't been intact since 1839
One of the big underlying considerations Thatcher had with handing over Hong Kong to "Red China" was that HK by the 1980s was becoming impossible to defend militarily, as population growth in the city was to the point where it must rely on freshwater supplies from mainland China. They could simply turn off the tap and plunge the city into a massive humanitarian crisis very quickly, because no one can survive more than 3 days without water.
With all the millions flooding from Mainland China in this 21st century alone who are the 'real' Hongkongers nowadays ??!!
Hong Kong is impossible to defense against CCP aggression for sure !
Well... The joke is on them: they left mainland China, but the CCP has now taken over HK.
The last refuge is in Taiwan
@@canman5060 As if there was no flooding from the Mainland in the 20th century. Did you even watch the video?
The British rebuilt Hong Kong to good.
Thoroughly informative and a region I’d never previously considered topical to the Cold War…Thank you… Love your weekly detailed output
Hong Kong was probably comparable to a West Berlin for China.
Greeting from Hong Kong! Great video as always!
Thanks for making this video! Love from Hong Kong
I was lucky enough to visit Hong Kong twice in the late 80’s while stationed onboard USS Nimitz. It was a wonderful, welcoming and safe place to visit. Sorry all that has changed. Thanks for this story.
@lati long one of the problems of being in the Navy, was short times ashore. I’m sorry if I missed seeing the true face of Hong Kong.
Local news agencies always reported whenever a US carrier stopped at HK. I remembered when I was little back in the early 90s, USS Kitty Hawk was widely reported. That was the first US carrier name I knew.
US sailors exclaimed how big the city was, and journalists report the booming business at downtown bars and restaurants. Some even got to ride the C2 Greyhound and land on the carrier itself whilst its still on open waters.
Sadly, China hasn't allowed any US carrier to port to HK for a few years now.
@@yatsumleung8618 one of the neatest places I ever visited (in the world), was the Sung Dynasty Village in Hong Kong. They showed how noodles used to be made, the show was fantastic. Monkeys dressed as courtiers, a noble wedding, and the most amazing thing…a Kung Fu Master who stood on eggs (in a carton) throwing chopsticks through wood, without breaking the eggs. He also manipulated his body and “crawled” through a tiny pipe. It may not have been totally historically accurate, but it brought a little piece of Chinese history, to life.
I just noticed your comment about when you served in the USS Nimitz. I was stationed in Hong Kong from with the Royal Air Force from 1987 until 1990. The USS Nimitz visited Hong Kong in 1989 and I was lucky enough to get a guided tour of the ship with some other Royal Air Force personnel.
Honestly, nothing has changed in the grand scheme of things.
It's still an amazing city. More so than 80s, I bet. It's still as welcoming and safe if not more than before.
Please do consider visiting and see things for yourself.
Only the new territories we're leased for 99 years. The video makes it seem like the whole of Hong Kong was leased for 99 years
PRC renounce all those treaties signed by earlier government anyway when it was founded.
@@tonykriss1594 doesn't matter if most countries didn't recognize you as legitimate china at first
One very overlooked fact about HK during the Cold War was that the till the 97 handover, the British HK authorities did not allow any of the communist country governments setting up consulate bases in HK, with the exceptions of Cuba which have had consulate since before the Castro revolution, and China which was represented by the New China News Agency. To minimize spy activities being the likely reason.
But they have underground activities in Hong Kong even since the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921.
Not exactly.
The Xinhua News Agency served as the de facto Chinese Embassy in Hong Kong because the PRC government did not want to set up an embassy there.
They do not believe that Britain has sovereignty over Hong Kong and that Hong Kong has always belonged to China and hence it is pointless to establish an embassy over its "own soil".
Lebron James should have been a special guest for this episode, such insight.
Lol that guy's such a clown
A very good and accurate description of what HK was like
Freedom for Hong Kong!!!!
Free Northern Ireland, Long live the Republican Army
@@kaiyujiang-s7v ...why?
I was told while in Hong Kong that one way Hong Kong made money in the 1960s was putting "Made in Hong Kong" labels in all the stuff that was basically trans-shipped from the embargoed Peoples' Republic of China. Made complete sense to me. I very clearly remember a lot of toys, knick knacks, odds and ends all had the "Made in Hong" labels pasted on the package or as a slip of paper inserted inside the package.
Britain's colonial idiocy during the 1950s 10-10 riots just seems so short sighted and stupid. This all culminated in the negotiations to return Hong Kong to China with the Brits demand that Hongkongers keep their democratic rights and values. The Communists then correctly argued, "What rights? You never allowed them." The current situation in Hong Kong could be very different right now had the Brits done any long range thinking about Hong Kong.
Late 1970's and early 1980's onward Made in China took over Hong Kong with most of the business owners shifting their factories in Mainland China because of lower labour cost.
The Double Ten riot was nothing more but someone took down the Nationalist Flag hanging on one of the Housing Estate in Shek Kip Mei built in 1954 after the big fire which consumed the entire wooden house squater.It was a miracle that nobody died in that fierced fire ! Rumour about that fire as deliberately set to push the Colonial Government to quickly come to the solution of the squarter refugee crisis.
Go check your facts. The PRC barely manufactured anything for export in the 60s. It wasn't until the 80s that made in China really became a thing. HK actually had an industrial base until the service sector took over.
@@MrAnonymousRandom what you said. I'm from hong kong. My parents, both were born in the 60s, worked in the factories in the 80s. All of their friends and all my aunts and uncles also worked in factories during that period, from clothing to plastic molds to toys, the only exception is one of my uncles who worked as a truck driver.
In its final years 'British rule' was courtesy
of Beijing therefore any changes in the administration or status of the colony had
to be approved with China first
Given the chance Britain would have disposed of HK at the same time as Singapore but China would never have allowed that
Can you do a feature episode about the Philippines under Ferdinand E. Marcos from 1965 to 1986 as well as under Martial Law from 1972 to 1981
I can't wait to see the comment section in that video if it's out
I would be eager to see it as well
Now the son is in power.Is it going to be Martial Law Part II under the dark shadow of Communist China ?
An episode on how Fedinand E. Marcos was possessed by Chairman Mao to declare Martial Law in the Philippines !
The irony that his justification of martial law was to contain communism but he surely had a deal with chairman mao
Please do one video about Macau during the Cold War
Macau has definitely a beautiful history too, but I think it's economy was kinda bad during that period
Macau was relatively less dramatic during the Cold War compare to Hong Kong.
I was born in HK in 1985 to English and Scottish parents.
I sure do miss my beloved birthland, as she once was. :'(
A lot of my Vietnamese bretheran like Hong Kong. Not because its pretty, or a nice place to live but because unlike the Mainland Chinese, and Taiwanese, they treat us like human beings.
@lati long there were and still some Hong Kongers who resent us, but they dont send angry mobs armed with flare guns and harpoons to prevent refugees from landing on their shores.
@lati long at least they actually took refugees from Vietnam.
The boat refugees are mostly ethnic Chinese aren’t they? I wonder Why Taiwan roc gov rejected to accept them? Btw I’m from mainland and I always like Vietnamese people who I consider very close to us Chinese. Politics create hatred !
@@user-qwertyuiopasdfghj Tawain doesn't consider ethnic Chinese people from Vietnam as Chinese because of how mixed we are and the mainland is no better they are the reason why my many of my bretheran were expelled after the border conflict between our nations. When Vietnam expelled its Chinese inhabitance, mainland China refused to take refugees because they care about racial purity.
Oh but she is pretty. Ok, a little rough around the edges but an absolutely stunning cityscape.
Hong Kong died in 2019
Hong Kong already died on July 1st 1997 and most people still didn't realized !
Finally confirmed dead in 2019 where millions of ex-China refugees and their descendents took on the streets to protest against the commi snapping them back to the land of hell.
@@canman5060
UK shouldve gave HK to the ROC instead
@@miliba ROC was almost completely powerless since ther son of Cheung Kai Shek died.
@@miliba the UK shouldn’t since the PRC was the sole legal representative of China
These are the best historian made videos
13:13 The conduct of the Kuomintang made me think the Taiwanese were lucky to succeed in the democratisation of their island.
And that they can be glad because if the Kuomintang dictatorship still continued on this day, the CCP's propaganda would have used it against them
True.
Battle of dien bien phu 🇨🇵🇻🇳 the fall of french indochina my sugestion of next episode
as someone from Hong Kong, thanks
Wow! Fantastic video! I have learned more about my city
How is Hong Kong doing these days? Thank you for another interesting video! I enjoy learning about East Asia during the Cold War.
Stay well out there everybody, and God bless you, friends. ✝️ :)
mask mandate, vaccine mandate for all schools, communist tracking apps for all restaurants, hair salons, hospitals. Something the Japanese could never think of in the 40s.
Awful. National security anyone?
After ‘97 handover, HK became an economic boom. It was important to China when it first was returned back to China as things like cultural social identity need to be established despite huge differences. HK international airport was created, and China, through its relations with HK, an international trading port, and China, an isolationist dictatorship, needed to learn some tricks of the capitalist free market HK, but instead of slowly learning to open their minds, they learnt how to find the most efficient way to earn money, which means taking HKers way of investment in housing to the extreme, so much so many big cities in the world have astronomical housing costs, they would try do whatever it takes to look like they can do better than the west, no matter in filming, cars, just commercial industries, but through disgustingly bad behaviour. They don’t care about social infrastructures like legal reforms or workers compensations, as long as corruption is everywhere, power is key, and anything could be solve through the threat of force.
How does this happening in the mainland, affect HK? One country, two systems means they still follow the rule of law and many legacies the British left for them, like Old Age Allowance, and better standards for workers and education. So many mainlanders took that advantage by selling many of the bad things from China and smuggling and parallel importing things from HK and into China, and education, there’s a thing where parents stay in mainland leaving their kids go to school in HK, taking all the benefits and leaving nothing good behind. It’s not good because HK need people to contribute in order to keep things running. If mainlanders kept taking and exploiting the benefits of HK, and leaving nothing good behind, it’s no wonder HKers have such negative attitudes towards China. It’s a gradual process. They were happy to return to the motherland at first, with some fears because of the riot of 89 in Beijing, but now, it’s like the divid is because HK trades with China, giving so much but China just leaves it behind and there’s no dialogue between them. HK gave so much in terms of trades and commercial relations, but China kept trying to feed it with disinformation and corruption and bad products, back during their crown colony days, there was a dialogue, there was a time when the Brits actually cared about HK. Even though the relationship with the UK was passive at best, leaving a lot of the locals doing the hard work making HK their own, at least they can hate the Brits, they can say British police officers bad even though not all are bad, they can express sentiments that they want to be part of China again because of wanting to belong to their own people again, they can express their feelings and just say whatever they want in this shabby little port harbour by the Pearl River Delta. Now you have to cry while singing the Chinese national anthem.
Interesting video, I was taught/read many of the events you described in your video. A big question (regarding the sovereignty of Hong Kong) during the early Cold War era might have been , what's going to happen to Hong Kong when the lease expires. Like you stated in your video, it would still be years before that situation had to be addressed. When that day did arrive, the world seemed much different. The People's Republic of China was recognized by the United Nations as the "one and only" China, diplomatic/trade relations between China and the West was improved/established, with European Colonialism in Asia becoming phased out. I think China did say they would allow some business practice's to be conducted "as usual" in Hong Kong at the time of the lease expiration. I think there was also a ceremonial event conducted when the UK "officially" returned Hong Kong to China.
The PRoC was recognised by the United Nation as "one and only China"? Do you have any documents or articles that goes deeper into this? I am not trying to challenge you, I just want to know more because this is the first time I have heard of such thing.
@@BatCountryAdventures The United Nations was formed shortly after World War II, with Chaing Ki Shek's Nationalist China (before the People's Republic of China, what many people from the West at one time referred to as being Red China or Communist China, was established) becoming not just a member, but a member of the United Nations Security Council. After a Civil War, the Nationalist government fled to the island of Taiwan/Formosa and the Peoples Republic of China government was established on mainland China. It was during the 1970's, The People's Republic of China (not yet a member of the UN) made an appeal that they should be the "one and only China". A vote was taken by the United Nations, and the votes were overwhelmingly in favor (the United States, one of the few UN members voting no) of The People's Republic of China being the "the one and only China". There can't be two countries being China (recognized by the United Nations) so what was once "the one and only China" is now present-day Taiwan. You can google more about the History of China or check out your local library if you choose to.
A well written and clear explanation of Hong Kong during the Cold War. It would have been good to mention the 1948 Riots in Kowloon - the documents of which are just about to be opened by the British government after 75 years.
I think it would be good to have another video like this on Macao - the smaller Portugese neighbour of Hong Kong. The situation was different, so the Cold War in Macao brought a different situation.
David's hair is more and more approaching Kim Jong Un's (sorry Dave, love your voice btw 😆🤣)
Hong Kong in it's entirety was NOT on the 99 year lease agreement.
Nicely informative video
The Portuguese colony of Macau was not obtained through battle. It was a commercial lease negotiated by the Portuguese. There was no reason to dishonor the contract before its time.
What is the name of the instrumental track that plays towards the end of these videos?
UK did try to give HK democracy after WW2, however Zhou EnLai threatened UK to drop it
Source: FCO 40/327
UK considered to give Hong Kong autonomy shortly after WW2 in 1950 but received serious threat from Communist Red China.
Such a British thing to do. They did the same with Ireland. 'Aw, we'd love to give you more autonomy, but the gosh darn Germans are stopping us'.
@@crak6776 Did Germany claim soverignty over Ireland while deploying army at the border?
because in that case I will find UK's response (as you claimed) reasonable enough.
I guess De Valera had the upper hand though whe he paid tribute to Hitler in 1945
@@tym7267 I'm talking about WWI
@@crak6776 that doesn't matter. The problem is whether the analogy matches HK's case, and it seems it doesn't
I am not sure who they are trying to fool, but on 2nd of Aug, the Education Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR government released a statement basically states that it refuses to recognise Hong Kong has ever been a British colony. And part of its statement is reads like this:
//The origin of the dispute lies in three unequal treaties that were imposed on China by the British government after the Opium War in the 19th century, namely the Treaty of Nanking (1842), the Beijing Convention (1860), and the Convention between Great Britain and China Respecting an Extension of Hong Kong Territory (1898), which resulted in the British forcible occupation and lease of and her 150-year-long rule over Hong Kong. Despite the above-mentioned historical facts, it does not mean that the British forcible occupation and lease of and “colonial rule” over Hong Kong should be regarded as legitimate.//
Doublespeak. Very standard.
@lati long The occupation was declared illegal and unequal treaties pushed onto the Koreans by the Japanese were declared void already in 1965 with the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Korea was forcefully annexed by the Empire of Japan, I don't see what there is to deny about that having happened? It serves as a crucial basis for both North- and South Korean propaganda and identity politics.
1956 riot is also known as The Double Ten Riot because it happened on the 45th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Republic in 1911.
@lati long ROC exist first and then the Communist Party merged in with the ROC in 1922. Bitter separation started in 1926/1927 and then three separate power developed within the ROC towards the end of 1927.
Most irrelevant name for a riot ever?
Never thought Hong Kong and Cold War would appear together in the same youtube video
There was a book written about Hong Kong during the Cold War mostly in the 1950's.It was actually a hell of a time in those days.
The Russians' absence in the city made it feel less Cold War-ish.
R.I.P. Hong Kong 1957 ~ 2020
Me: *Sees the title*
*KOWLOON ROOFTOP COD BLACK OPS FLASHBACKS*
Soooooo why wasn't HK returned to the RoC?
Seems like RoC would have the same problem as Britain with Hong Kong. The city is impossible to defend.
2:31 - it would be better to emphasise Tainan on this map, the major town of Taiwan at the time.
I bet a lot of Hkers look back on these years with glee compared to now.
Yeah. Because most Hkers were refugees like myself in the early days of the 1960's.
16:44 Hang on a minute, the HKongers mindset was well above that of the PRC and was never part of it. The culture of HK is Cantonese as is their language, unlike the mainlanders whose language is Mandarin.
Which watch does he have?
The Hong Kong handover was a mistake
Should've been handed over to the ROC instead.
@@tylerbozinovski427 Well that's just asking for huge war, especially when Taiwan was just having their Third Strait Crisis two years ago with the Mainland, also British didn't recognize Taiwan since 1950. Yes, they recognized them that year when the Korean War was just started
@@SiPakRubah But isn't that because Japan hadn't finished the transference process until that point?
@@tylerbozinovski427 Lol look at you triggered white people.
Triggered white imperialists.
1967 Hong Kong riot was a lot more brutal. More than 3000 real and fake bombs cuasing the death of a policeman and a pair of very young brother and sister at the North Point District and burning to death of a Hong Kong Commercial Radio broadcaster Lam Bun and his brother when they were on their way to work at Broadcast Road in Ho Man Tin.
In June 2021, the Hong Kong Film Censorship Authority OFNAA introduced a new national security policy. This law passed in 27 October 2021. It gives the chief secretary the power to revoke a film's licence if it is found to "endorse, support, glorify, encourage and incite activities that might endanger national security". Under the new law, the maximum penalties for showing unapproved films are three years in jail and a fine of HK$1 million. Critics like professor Kenny Ng and filmmaker Kiwi Chow voice concerns of its political censorship, spurring fears the new law would dampen the film industry. Wow.. Hong Kong film is dead.
So why exactly did Hong Kong not become an independent country during the 60s or 70s?
Doing so would allow the locals to rule themselves instead of London or Beijing.
Wouldnt the PLA just enter the country and annex it?
@@nate13012 an independent HK would allow the UK to maintain a Naval base there while paying a token rent
Taiwan would intervene to reach a deal with UK to Share any military infrastructure.
@lati long They literally had an agreement to return HK to mainland China
How would they rule themselves? No freshwater, barely any farmland, and surrounded by China.
Mico nations and city states exist at the pleasure of their more powerful neighbours (Singapore, Monaco, San Marino, etc.).
One cool thing about Hong Kong, is that people still speak Cantonese which for the most part becoming extinct in China.
Hong Kong is part of the Kwongtung province.
Nah Cantonese is still widely spoken in Guangdong province which is where Cantonese is originally spoken.
@@canman5060 Hong Kong is a special city not associated with any province.
@@theawesomeman9821 Culturally speaking, Hong Kong belongs to Guangdong, and Cantonese is also called “guangdong language”.
Do Hong Kong in today's cold war with china
I do feel sorry for what's happening to Hong Kong now.
Nice summary but it would have been nice to discuss the terms agreed to by China and Great Britain for the takeover of Hing Kong - what liberties were guaranteed and what repercussions or penalties could ensue if those terms are violated.
That's a topic for another video dealing with post-Cold War events
I would recommend a book called The Hong Kong Diary written by the last governor of Hong Kong Chris Patten on the subject published very recently. Worth the read.
The terms are irrelevant if whoever is supposed to enforce the terms doesn't act. Communist China could have overrun HK like India did to Goa if it wanted to.
Does anyone know what is the channel intro soundtrack?
This is Not what I thought this episode was going to be about. Much of it was nothing more than labor relations and details of working conditions. What did that have to do with the Cold War.?????
@lati long l don't know how Any group of people that Murdered 100,000,000+ people and made 5 times that number miserable over 80 odd years could possibly be portrayed in anything but a murderous, criminal light. If you do I'd be Extremely interested to hear about it.
@lati long In Confucian and Taoist context, the Reds are the worst of the worst.
@@raybarry4307 I wouldn't bother, I do give him some credit though for being one of the more clever wumaos. Throws in just enough verboten facts to look plausible and doesn't go directly to the CCP talking points. He really slipped up with his reply to you.
HUMINT: human intelligence (spy with interpersonal contact); SIGINT: signals intelligence (communication & ELINT); ELINT: non-communication electronic (imaging, e.g., radar) intelligence.
Please, make the video about Sandino revolution in Nicaragua in 1979.
Please do one on Macau i heard that it used to be a base for DPRK Spies where they would learn Cantonese and it became base for Communist pimps after some riots as later creating some dissatisfaction towards the PRC after 1999 that many people dont seem to notice
I have a dumb question,I saw the story of Ip Man the master of bruce lee who lived in Fo Shan in mainland china then transferred to hongkong as a hongkong citizen so back then what happened?u have to have dual citizienship if u jump back and fourth mainland and hongkong?what if ur reclaimed by communist spies and hauled back to the mainland?do those things happen as well?
That was the issue behind the 2019 protests
The kai tak era.
Thats all i know HK for.
The HK heart attack.
Yes, I flew into Kai Tak a few times. I liked it. Some of the other passengers didn't though. One even shit his pants.
The idea for Kai Tak was a arena before turning into an airport. Kai is Dr Ho Kai , Tak is Mr Au Tak.
My dad used to sail for maersk. So he went to hong kong in the 80s a few times
I wish I could have had visited Hong Kong.
Don't. It has mask mandate, covid vaccine mandate, noserape for schools, commie tracking app dor restaruant and everywhere.
You can watch the many good quality video on Hong Kong Bus Ride and Walk Tour which takes you to every corner of the city.Very interesting indeed.
I would like to know abaty Macau´s history as well!
[THIS COMMENT HAS BEEN REDACTED FOR COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY SENTIMENT, LONG LIVE THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA]
Sincerely, little girl!
Free Northern Ireland Scotland, Long live the Republican Army
One of the few times, colonialization was done as it should have been: impart Western institutions and allow the locals to benefit from it. The demolition of the freedoms in Hong Kong will go down as one of the greatest tragedies of the 21st Century.
Free Hong Kong!
@lati long I must disagree. First, establishing rule of law, property rights, and economic liberty do not benefit one party over another, and the video clearly shows that refugees were well able to establish themselves as entrepreneurs.
Second, Hong Kong was well known for its legal institutions which helped propagate the freedoms enshrined in the Basic Law. Perhaps, you could argue the colonial authorities were hypocrites at times, but that doesn't remotely compare to the open disregard for liberty shown by the Communist Party.
Western institutions... HK never got past being an oligarchy run by special interest groups. We'll see how well western institutions hold up in the UK with all that dirty money flowing through London. Then we will know who's being colonized.
Sad that Britain gave it to those thugs, The British Government should be ashamed.
They got no power tohold on, you wanna end up like Goa?
Edit: Mao could have marched into HK in 1950s if he wanted to, but he chose not to, giving the British the remaining 99 years "lease"
@@95ellington For a start The Chinese didn't have the bomb until 1962 so they couldn't have just strolled in during the 1950's without too much trouble, America already had the Bomb and Britian would in 1952. Britain should have fought them for it and they would have probably won with complete dominace in air and sea power compensating for its smaller but more proficient ground contingent. To liken Britain's cold war capabilities to Portuguese cold war capabilities is also insulting, Britain and Portugal are completely different. What Britain lacked was the will to hold on to her territories, Portugal if you look at the Mozambique conflict, or Angola it was far more of a material and manpower problem until towards the end when they also lacked the will. Also with the tyranny of the Chinese factions, particularly the communists after the Civil War ended when they engaged with things like the "Great leap forward" from 1958-62 causing the "'three years of great famine" involving the deaths of tens of millions, Britian could have leveraged a lot of support from inside China against the CCP.
@@ryanstewart3640 Yeah OK, British had a whole range of issue in 1950s, their hands are full with India subcontinent and Suez, Hong Kong was the least of her worries.
If China can go toe to toe with USA in Korea in 1950, and America had the Bomb already. Still Forced out the USA from north Korea with almost no air or sea power.
I don't see what Britain can do against an invasion of Hong Kong in the 1950s. And if you think British can leverage support of the Chinese against the CCP in China you are completely joking. The British came to China a hundred years ago to raid her wealth and poison her people. With that kind of track record you think the Chinese would be supportive of the British imperialists?
Here's an event, the Amethyst Incident in 1949, PLA fired at a British war ship, stranded her, but she later escaped a few weeks later. After that, no British ship cruised Chinese waters for the next 40 years.
Edit: Im Chinese my self, I was there in Shenzhen on the street watching the PLA marching into Hong Kong in 1997 after the handover.
Lol you missed the part where the British government were the thugs. Nice try white imperialist.
@@95ellington how did Goa end up?
Only the new territories were leased for 99 years, Hong Kong Island a d Kowloon were owned by UK in perpetuity.
HK was non viable without the new territories and without water from China: UK knew that if they rejected giving HK to China they would have a huge humanitarian crisis at end (potentially).
A place they were unable to support nor defend.
At the same time they saw the potential for closer commercial ties with China... We see today that maybe that wasn't a good idea.
The CCP didn't respect the deal they made for HK taking over without respect for its political independence... Again a proof of who we cannot trust
Nevertheless is something that stolen with the Opium Wars
tell that to Goa in India
@@Untiem Not stolen. Britain earned it as an imperial war trophy.
@@Austine1452 India ain't China.
@@CannibaLouiST so is Vietnam, but they kicked the French, who owned their land for years out. Britain got Hong Kong through brute force and if China had gotten it back through the same tactics, just like India did with goa, then that's it.
9:30
Excellent video, thank you. I loved HK. Small point, it's HMS T*amar* , hard A not HMS Taaaamar, soft A.
Isn't the PRC taking back complete control of Hong Kong in like 20 years? Like abolishing the whole system?
I'd say the recent national security law has already put an end to HK.
They already done it what you see is just a fake system puppet show.
The handoff already happened years ago
PRC never have word of honour.
where do you think china got lots of dollars from ?....hong kongs banking sector, which, during the 70;s and 80's laundered money for anyone rich enough, those dirty dollars ended up in state loans, which paid fpr chinas industrial revolution, and funded by drug and weapon money, a self feeding cycle that made china what it is.
Somebody's salty. Very very salty.
Cry
I'm pretty sure I can provide the best protection for ya' bell button that money can buy.
So, how much we talking about, anyway??
👍👍
That's a pretty sad sanitized version of what happened in Hong Kong. 😡
Every single case of fast economic growth in history is also a case of exploited workers. No exceptions whatsoever. Democracies always seem to fall in the middle-income trap because if workers aren't forced to work, they'll elect someone who gives them better conditions.
Hong Kong was also known as : The West Berlin in the far east!
Rightful British land. I can't believe we just abandoned millions of British subjects to a hostile foreign power. Yes, we won the territory through war, but we built that city and the people who came to Hong Kong chose to live under British rule. They could've left for the mainland whenever they wanted.
The recent BNO policy is a belated remedy
Lol. It was leased for 99 years and as britain and Portugal realised at the time the current China was not as weak as the Qing one.
@@dinte215 No, you're thinking of the new territories we got after another conflict. The island itself was ceded to us in perpetuity.
mate the uk is slowly breaking apart. Much like the rest of the rest of the empire they lost it because it became impossible to hold. The uk will not exist by the end of the century maybe much sooner.
@@52thephotoshop We'll see.
👏👍
well...........
Is not only the accent, but it simply lacks academic research, statistic, numbers, etc.
A very POOR CONTENTS of limited perspective: only ideological.
Very common in "influencers" and Americans. It might be the lack of own history, but everything tends to be a ideological - religious - missionary type of contents.
You mean it used to enjoy a special status. Now it's just like any other oppressed Chinese city.
The tankies will be coming!
Way back 1997; Hong Kong did lots of charity marathons and supporting china's earthquakes and floods... Today, they stopped doing TV charity programs and marathons. Zero democratic supporter; they stop rising funds and help china. Lot of TV is under state control. 2019 -2022 Hong Kong movie is terrible. They don't make good movies anymore. They could do better without national security law. Hong Kong's freedom is slowly dying. Lot of people fled Hong Kong. They want to run away from communist regime. Few foreigners decided to stay. They love the city & businesses but they don't politics. Hong Kong isn't doing good in 2022.
They don't feel Hong Kong is being Hong Kong.
Your ending is very biased. Typical Western narrative.
US and UK talk about HK democracy where was it? All the top positions etc.. All filled with White guys from UK. It was a UK colony nothing more. I'm sick of hearing HK is a democracy china destroyed. etc...
HK as a colony, they allow white people to go ahead of Chinese people inside HK. Literal colonial.
HK grew not because of the British, it was done by local Chinese. They still had a white person above chinese in everything policy. From investments to banking etc...
"protest" was literally finance by the US/UK what a load of bull.
@lati long That's because the British Empire didn't rule Hongkong the same way as the CCP does.