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  • Protesters besiege Hong Kong plaza as crisis over ‘national education’ mounts

    I wonder what they put inside those "national education" course books.

    Protesters besiege Hong Kong plaza as crisis over ‘national education’ mounts - The Washington Post

    HONG KONG — Hunger-striking Hong Kong students and their supporters have taken control of a city plaza here amid accusations from Communist Party-controlled media of a Western-backed conspiracy by “black hands” intent on sowing chaos.

    The standoff — which features echoes of the 1989 pro-democracy protests in China’s Tiananmen Square — marks a dramatic escalation in a long campaign by students, teachers and parents against the introduction of “national education” courses in Hong Kong schools. The courses are part of an effort to boost a sense of shared identity with the rest of China.

  • #2
    I liked this part where it turns out that the people of Hong Kong identified with mainland China when under British rule. They may have chafed a bit under British rule and wished to be Chinese ruled. Then they get their wish and eventually find out Chinese (Beijing) rule is not all that it is cracked up to be. In fact, maybe worse than British rule so naturally they now identify less with the mainland. Reminds one to be careful of what you wish for.

    While the vast majority of Hong Kong’s 7 million people are ethnically Chinese, surveys show that bonds of shared identity with the rest of China have grown weaker, not stronger, since Britain pulled out in 1997. According to a poll released this summer by Hong Kong University, Hong Kongers have less trust in the central government in Beijing than at any time since China regained sovereignty.
    Then there is this one where the lament is that the youth are not identifying with mainland China. Of course not, they are identifying with Hong Kong. I'm sure many in Macau feel the same way just as Chinese in Malaysia or Indonesia. Does lead one to conclude that the mainland does want to "refine" the thinking of Hong Kong's youth. Good luck with that.

    In an editorial Tuesday, Ta Kung Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper controlled by the party, said students opposed to the classes are part of a “plot by Western anti-China, anti-Communist forces” to “separate Hong Kong youth from their nation and from identification with their country.”
    Last, talk about over the top...

    Elsie Leung Oi-sie, Hong Kong’s former justice secretary and a leading pro-Beijing figure, voiced support for the national education courses, which are to start this year in some schools but will not become mandatory for three more years. She told local media that the protesters’ tactics risk pushing Hong Kong into a “state of anarchy.”
    Last edited by tbm3fan; 08 Sep 12,, 01:05.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by tbm3fan View Post
      I liked this part where it turns out that the people of Hong Kong identified with mainland China when under British rule. They may have chafed a bit under British rule and wished to be Chinese ruled. Then they get their wish and eventually find out Chinese (Beijing) rule is not all that it is cracked up to be. In fact, maybe worse than British rule so naturally there now identify less with the mainland. Reminds one to be careful of what you wish for.
      .
      Take a look at the numbers of Hong Kongers immigrant to other Countries before 1997. Actions speak louder than words and polls.

      Comment


      • #4
        Student 1 - Beijing 0

        Hong Kong backs down on national education plan, after protests

        TODAYonline | World | China | Hong Kong backs down on national education plan, after protests

        HONG KONG - The Hong Kong government said on Saturday schools did not have to adopt a China-backed curriculum from 2015 in an apparent backdown following protests by tens of thousands of people who described it as an attempt to brainwash students.

        Comment


        • #5
          HK backs down on patriotism lessons

          HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's government on Saturday backed down on a plan to force school children to take Chinese patriotism classes, after weeks of protests and on the eve of crucial legislative polls.

          “The amendment of this policy means that we are giving the authority to the schools,” the city's leader, Leung Chun-ying, told reporters a day after activists said more than 100,000 protesters rallied at government headquarters.

          “The schools are given the authority to decide when and how they would like to introduce the moral and national education,” he added, blaming the mandatory nature of the policy on his predecessor's government.

          The proposal to introduce mandatory “national education” classes in all schools from 2016 was condemned as brainwashing by students and teachers, and sparked weeks of protests that brought scores of protesters onto the streets.

          The government said the subject was important to foster a sense of national belonging and identity, amid rising anti-Beijing sentiment in the semi-autonomous southern city of seven million people.

          Schools were meant to adopt the subject voluntarily this year but many said they wanted more guidance from the government about how it should be taught.

          A survey released last week showed 69 percent of students opposed the classes.

          Course material funded by the government extolled the benefits of one-party rule, equated multi-party democracy to chaos, and glossed over events like the bloody Tiananmen crackdown and the mass starvation of Mao's regime.

          Lawmaker Anna Wu, who chaired a committee studying the policy, said the government had decided on a course of action that was “the most inclusive and most liberal.”

          “It is also very consistent with academic freedom and therefore I support this move,” she said.

          The former British colony goes to the polls on Sunday to elect a new 70-seat legislature, which will play a crucial role on the city's path to direct elections for its leader in 2017 and the legislature by 2020.

          Pro-democracy parties were using the education furor to galvanize their supporters, hoping to boost their representation in parliament and maintain a veto over constitutional amendments.

          Leung took office in July after being put in power by a small committee of mainly pro-Beijing elites.

          HK backs down on patriotism lessons - The China Post


          "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

          I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

          HAKUNA MATATA

          Comment


          • #6
            Divided democrats hold key minority in HK polls


            HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s democrats yesterday retained their critical legislative veto over constitutional amendments after an election dominated by mass protests over perceived interference from mainland China. The final official count after Sunday’s vote showed democratic candidates gaining four seats in the Asian financial centre’s Legislative Council, while pro-Beijing parties boosted their representation by six seats.

            The assembly expands from 60 to 70 seats for the next four-year term under changes meant to make it more representative. Pro-democrats hold only 27 seats even though they won some 60 percent of the popular vote, while the establishment camp won 43 seats thanks to an electoral system that is tilted in favour of big business groups and vested interests.

            The pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) is the strongest force with 13 seats. Turnout was a near record of around 53 percent, fuelled by protests against a plan to introduce mandatory Chinese patriotism classes that forced the government into an election-eve policy climbdown. “We were unsure about the impact from the national education issue… Fortunately, despite the high voter turnout, we still won,” DAB chairman Tam Yiu-chung told reporters.

            Tensions have also been brewing over corruption, the yawning gap between rich and poor, soaring property prices fuelled by wealthy mainlanders and the strains on public services from millions of mainland tourists. The democrats’ minority bloc means that the executive-under a leader who is chosen by a 1,200-strong committee packed with pro-establishment business leaders-will not be able to force through undemocratic amendments.

            But mainstream democrats lamented their failure to turn the rising anti-Beijing sentiment into more significant electoral gains. They blamed deep divisions within the democratic camp and the rising popularity of radical groups that want the immediate implementation of full democracy, rather than the slower, consensus-driven approach advocated by mainstream parties.

            The best-known pro-democracy party lost two seats despite the expanded number on offer, prompting chairman Albert Ho to resign and deliver an emotional apology to the party faithful. “For the serious failure in this election I have to accept full political responsibility as the chairman of the Democratic Party,” Ho said after bowing before the television cameras at a press conference.

            He said Hong Kong people had become “increasingly impatient” with the pro-Beijing government and a complicated electoral system that reserves almost half the legislature for mainly pro-Beijing elites. “I think a lot of voters have decided to choose some people who … play a much more aggressive role in the Legislative Council,” he said.

            Pro-democracy lawmaker Ronny Tong, from the Civic Party, said: “This is a dismal performance (for the pro-democracy camp). We paid a high price.” The final count means the Democratic Party shares its status as the biggest pro-democracy party in the legislature with the Civic Party, which also won six seats. The radical anti-Beijing People Power party added one seat to its previous tally of two, while the equally radical League of Social Democrats held on to its single seat with the return of maverick lawmaker “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung.

            The election was seen as a test of popular support for the pro-Beijing government, and by extension for the mainland authorities’ hold on the city 15 years after Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule as a semi-autonomous territory. Surveys show satisfaction with the Communist Party’s performance in governing China is at its lowest point since the 1997 handover.

            Beijing has promised universal suffrage for Hong Kong’s next leadership election in 2017, and by 2020 for the legislature, but democrats are preparing for a fight amid fears the mainland will try to veto candidates. Hong Kong Institute of Education political analyst Sonny Lo said Beijing should be “alarmed” that 60 percent of Hong Kong people rejected pro-establishment candidates. “If Hong Kong was to democratise into one big constituency in which citizens will be able to cast their votes, democrats will gain the majority,” he said. – AFP

            Divided democrats hold key minority in HK polls | Kuwait Times


            "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

            I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

            HAKUNA MATATA

            Comment


            • #7
              Massive Protest in Hong Kong against China

              But Hong Kong has a complex system of multiple-seat geographic constituencies, in which voters choose slates of candidates. A "closed list" system of counting votes makes it relatively easy for the first person listed on each slate to be elected, but very hard for second and subsequent candidates on each slate to gain seats.

              The pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong used this arrangement to its advantage, running multiple slates in election districts across Hong Kong and using its formidable logistical network to guide tens of thousands of supporters to vote for one or another of its slates. As a result, the party won a series of seats for its top-of-the-slate candidates despite a weak overall vote count.

              In an interview after votes had been counted for half the seats in the Legislature, Tam Yiu-chung, the party's chairman, denied suggestions by democracy advocates that his party had been heavily subsidised by Beijing.

              Tam also denied accusations that his party had taken elderly people to the polls yesterday and had unfairly offered them various incentives to vote for the party's candidates.

              Tam said that his party had relied on local fund-raising and that "the elderly people support DAB because they want stability".

              The poorly financed Civic Party, lacking a grass-roots network to guide its supporters, ran a single slate in each constituency and tried to persuade as many voters as possible to vote for them.

              The party's best known politician, Audrey Eu, and its rising star, Tanya Chan, listed themselves second on slates in the New Territories West constituency and Hong Kong Island respectively. Both ended up losing their seats.

              Their slates were the biggest vote-getters by wide margins, gaining more than 70,000 votes in each case, compared with fewer than 45,000 votes for the next-best slate. But they still did not garner enough votes for either woman to be elected.

              Chan said in an interview after her defeat that the party could not have done anything differently.

              "It's quite difficult for us to estimate the supporters," she said. "You can see that the infrastructure built by the pro-establishment camp worked professionally."

              The Democratic Party, whittled down for years by defections to more radical political groupings, had the opposite problem from the Civic Party. It did try to run separate slates, but lacked the resources to coordinate voting by its supporters. The result was that several slates lost entirely, and the party ended up with a handful of seats despite a fairly strong vote count.

              Albert Ho, the party chairman, announced that he would submit his resignation at a meeting of the party's central committee on Monday evening, following a party tradition that the leader resign after an election setback.


              Democracy advocates did win three of the five new "super seats" in the Legislature, for which nearly all adults in the territory could vote. While the new seats have no extra voting power in the 70-seat Legislature, the breadth of the voting for them could give extra influence to these members.

              Mr. Ho was among the three winners, but said that he would still resign because his party lost at least three other seats. "This election was a defeat for our party," he said. In an interview, Mr. Ho said that Hong Kong businesspeople with operations on the mainland had told him of intense
              pressure from Beijing to give money to pro-Beijing parties in Hong Kong.

              Democracy advocates needed 24 seats to block major legislative initiatives. They won 27, but three of them were captured by members of the radical People Power party, which has refused to cooperate with other pro-democracy parties.

              On economic policy issues like raising the minimum wage, pro-business candidates won 21 seats and pro-labor candidates won 22 seats while centrists won the rest. Michael DeGolyer, a longtime pollster and political analyst at Hong Kong Baptist University said that the party alignments
              among the centrists also made them likely to tilt toward populism, and he predicted that Leung Chun-ying, the new chief executive who took office on July 1, would move in this direction as well.

              "The business community is not going to be happy," Mr. DeGolyer said. Only 40 of the Legislature's seats are elected by the general public; the other 30 are chosen by industries like banking and by professions like the law and Chinese medicine. These functional constituencies, as they are known, are mostly dominated by people who have connections to mainland China, many of whom have investments there; they tend to choose pro-Beijing lawmakers.

              The Hong Kong government retreated early Saturday evening from its previous insistence that "moral and national education" become mandatory in the territory's schools by 2015. Instead, the government said, each school would be allowed to decide whether to offer the subject.

              The initial insistence that the program be mandatory touched off a 10-day sit-in at the local government's headquarters by students wearing black T-shirts. By Friday night, the crowd at the sit-in numbered 120,000, the organizers said, and on Saturday night, 100,000; the police's estimates were about one-third of those totals.

              Scholarism, the student group that led the protests, decided Saturday night to end the sit-in. By Sunday evening, students had packed up most of their gear, although 20 tents remained at the protest site.

              Heidi Ma, a spokeswoman for Scholarism who was helping to coordinate the cleanup, said that those tents would also be removed, but she added that the group could yet hold further protests because many members were dissatisfied that the education program had not been withdrawn completely.
              While the education plan antagonized many parents and students, it may have also prompted some voters to support candidates who seek a stronger local government and a closer relationship with the national government in Beijing.

              Walking the family dog, Edmond Chiu, a 53-year-old doctor, went to vote on Sunday evening and said afterward that he worried that Hong Kong was becoming too politicized.

              "I want to vote in such a way as to prevent Hong Kong from becoming ungovernable," he said, while declining to say which candidates he supported. "People are going to extremes. Parents are teaching their kids not to negotiate, not to compromise, not to reason."

              Regina Ip, a former secretary of security who mounted an unsuccessful effort in 2003 to introduce stringent internal security legislation, led her nascent political group, the pro-Beijing New People's Party, to win a seat in each of two geographic constituencies in the new legislature, a strong showing for a small organization. Flanked by supporters in dark pinstriped suits, she saidthat she planned to expand her party.
              \
              By making it easier for small parties and independents to win at least one seat, Hong Kong's electoral system has fragmented the territory's political parties and limited the influence of the Legislature. Over the years, that has helped the territory's chief executives and their ministers to dominate the political process.

              But in the last 10 days before the voting began on Sunday, the education dispute seemed at least temporarily to curb the fissiparous trend in Hong Kong politics. Political parties with clear positions on relations with mainland China fared better, at the expense of independents who tried
              to emphasize the economy.

              Christine Fong, an independent who campaigned on economic issues but also opposed the government's education plan, attributed her defeat to the public's intense focus on the territory's relationship with Beijing in the final days of the campaign, "rather than on livelihood."

              Pro-Beijing alliance gains in HK polls - Yahoo! News India


              "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

              I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

              HAKUNA MATATA

              Comment


              • #8
                In accordance with Article 26 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, permanent residents of Hong Kong are eligible to vote in direct elections for the 30 seats representing geographical constituencies in the 60-seat, unicameral Legislative Council (LegCo). The franchise for the other 30 seats is limited to about 180,000 voters in functional constituencies (composed of business and professional sectors).\

                Under the Basic Law, electoral law could be amended to allow for this as soon as 2007 (Hong Kong Basic Law Annex .1, Sect.7). Arguments over this issue seemed to be responsible for a series of Mainland Chinese newspapers commentaries in February 2004 which stated that power over Hong Kong was only fit for "patriots."

                The interpretation of the NPCSC to Annex I and II of the Basic Law, promulgated on 6 April 2004, made it clear that the National People's Congress' support is required over proposals to amend the electoral system under Basic Law. On 26 April 2004, the Standing Committee of National People's Congress denied the possibility of universal suffrage in 2007 (for the Chief Executive) and 2008 (for LegCo).\

                The 24 non-civil-service positions under the political appointment system comprise 11 undersecretaries and 13 political assistants.

                ****************

                Democracy for you!:red:


                "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

                I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

                HAKUNA MATATA

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Ray View Post
                  In accordance with Article 26 of the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, permanent residents of Hong Kong are eligible to vote in direct elections for the 30 seats representing geographical constituencies in the 60-seat, unicameral Legislative Council (LegCo). The franchise for the other 30 seats is limited to about 180,000 voters in functional constituencies (composed of business and professional sectors).\

                  Under the Basic Law, electoral law could be amended to allow for this as soon as 2007 (Hong Kong Basic Law Annex .1, Sect.7). Arguments over this issue seemed to be responsible for a series of Mainland Chinese newspapers commentaries in February 2004 which stated that power over Hong Kong was only fit for "patriots."

                  The interpretation of the NPCSC to Annex I and II of the Basic Law, promulgated on 6 April 2004, made it clear that the National People's Congress' support is required over proposals to amend the electoral system under Basic Law. On 26 April 2004, the Standing Committee of National People's Congress denied the possibility of universal suffrage in 2007 (for the Chief Executive) and 2008 (for LegCo).\

                  The 24 non-civil-service positions under the political appointment system comprise 11 undersecretaries and 13 political assistants.

                  ****************

                  Democracy for you!:red:
                  The first direct elections of the Hong Kong Legislative Council were held in 1991 after one hundred years of British colonization. I guess the British finally find its conscience to implement democratic reform after they were forced to handover HK.

                  "The 1991 Hong Kong legislative election for members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (LegCo); the election of the members of functional constituencies was held on 12 September 1991 and the election of geographical constituency seats was held on 15 September. It was the first ever direct election of the legislative council in Hong Kong history. There were 18 members from directly elected geographical constituencies, 20 members from functional constituencies, 17 members appointed by the Governor, and 3 official members."


                  However, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region inherited the old British legislative voting system which is more a bicameral legislature than unicameral legislature where the upper house is elected by Functional constituencies and the lower house is directly elected.

                  Furthermore, your information is outdated. Under the constitutional reform passed in 2010, the 2012 legislative election has a total of 70 seats. Permanent HK residents are allowed to vote in direct elections for the 35 seats and five super seats by 3.2 million eligible electors.

                  "Beijing has promised universal suffrage for Hong Kong’s next leadership election in 2017, and by 2020 for the legislature", I still have no idea what kind of universal suffrage Beijing has in mind but I am sure HKers are ready to participate a more representative universal suffrage.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    A patient of mine, just back from a rotating business trip to Hong Kong, was aware of this. We talked of it and he feels that there still will be a push to get it into the elementary schools nonetheless as the top guy is pro-Beijing from Beijing. Yes? Maybe? Not over my dead body?

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      The top guy in HK might be pro-Beijing but he is a Hong Konger.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by kyli View Post
                        The top guy in HK might be pro-Beijing but he is a Hong Konger.
                        That is like dual citizenship, double agent, or divided loyalties.

                        If push came to shove and he was on the hot seat between what the people want and what Beijing wants then which way would he go???

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          The first direct elections of the Hong Kong Legislative Council were held in 1991 after one hundred years of British colonization. I guess the British finally find its conscience to implement democratic reform after they were forced to handover HK.
                          As is known, a colony is by no stretch of imagination taken by the colonial power as a democracy.

                          Therefore, to expect the British to have democratic elections would be asking for too much, more so, since it was a mere island and could not pose too much of a threat to the British through uprisings.

                          In so far a China is concerned vis a vis Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Basic Law, is its constitutional document, which stipulates that Hong Kong shall have a "high degree of autonomy" in all matters except foreign relations and military defence, its political system.

                          While the first two aspects are understandable, the third i.e. 'except political system', does not indicate a democracy in its real form. Democracy is not merely the right to vote. It also empowers Constitution Amendments to keep with the wishes of the people.

                          It is a popular misconception perpetuated that Britain had to hand over Hong Kong to China after a 99 years lease.

                          The actual facts are:

                          1. In 1860 after China's defeat in the Second Opium War, the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutter's Island were ceded in perpetuity to Britain under the Convention of Peking.

                          2. In 1898 under the terms of the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory, Britain obtained a 99-year lease of Lantau Island and the adjacent northern lands, which became known as the New Territories.

                          Therefore, if the British wanted they would not have to leave Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutter's Island because it was their in perpetuity.

                          It is just that the British found holding territories in the East untenable.

                          They also left Aden which was an important strategic chokepoint.
                          Last edited by Ray; 25 Sep 12,, 15:48.


                          "Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

                          I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

                          HAKUNA MATATA

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by tbm3fan View Post
                            That is like dual citizenship, double agent, or divided loyalties.

                            If push came to shove and he was on the hot seat between what the people want and what Beijing wants then which way would he go???
                            His permanent resident card states that he is a citizen of China. His job title states that he needs to be loyal to China.


                            If push came to shove, he doesn't need to choose because CCP is willing to appease the Hong Kongers for now as it has demonstrated for the abandonment of article 23. Other than the article 23, I don't see anything particular that the CCP would care enough to go against the popular voice of HKers.

                            National education course is just politics, as it is mere an attempt to discredit the new government and weaken the Pro-Beijing parties. Back in the old days, I was educated to salute to the Queen and song the glory of the Great Britain. It was not a problem back then, and how it became an issue right now it is beyond me. I look into the textbooks and find nothing about the little red book. As long as they didn't teach communism, I don't see it as a problem.
                            Last edited by kyli; 25 Sep 12,, 18:13.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Ray View Post
                              As is known, a colony is by no stretch of imagination taken by the colonial power as a democracy.

                              Therefore, to expect the British to have democratic elections would be asking for too much, more so, since it was a mere island and could not pose too much of a threat to the British through uprisings.
                              In the 70s, the highest ranking Chinese police officers in HK were detective superintendents. If you understand the ranking of the HK police, you would understand how pathetic it was. Under the so call rule of law in HK the British is above the law. Asking too much, maybe so but if democratic is universal rights of human beings then should we apply the same standard when we are doing the critique. We can't be so forgiving for one's sin but not the other.

                              In so far a China is concerned vis a vis Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Basic Law, is its constitutional document, which stipulates that Hong Kong shall have a "high degree of autonomy" in all matters except foreign relations and military defence, its political system.

                              While the first two aspects are understandable, the third i.e. 'except political system', does not indicate a democracy in its real form. Democracy is not merely the right to vote. It also empowers Constitution Amendments to keep with the wishes of the people.
                              The highest law of the land in HK is the PRC constitution not the Basic Law. The PRC constitution grants the Basic Law the rights not the other way around. A City-State constitution amendments couldn't challenge the supreme law of the land.
                              It is a popular misconception perpetuated that Britain had to hand over Hong Kong to China after a 99 years lease.

                              The actual facts are:

                              1. In 1860 after China's defeat in the Second Opium War, the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutter's Island were ceded in perpetuity to Britain under the Convention of Peking.

                              2. In 1898 under the terms of the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory, Britain obtained a 99-year lease of Lantau Island and the adjacent northern lands, which became known as the New Territories.

                              Therefore, if the British wanted they would not have to leave Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutter's Island because it was their in perpetuity.

                              It is just that the British found holding territories in the East untenable.

                              They also left Aden which was an important strategic chokepoint.
                              The British had to handover HK because they are not giving a choice. Unless of course................The Portuguese actually had even more legitimacy to keep Macao but they decided against it. Why, it is not worth it.

                              The Great Britain government envisioned the possibility of extending the land lease agreement(that is one of the reasons why they didn't do much to fix the problems in HK until the late 70s and early 80s), but they didn't anticipate Deng's hardlineness. Beside as a HKer that witnessed the changes in 80s and early 90s in HK, I probably know more about this part of history than you do. The fact is it is not only the British tried to negotiate the extension of the lease but many HK businessmen also tried to negotiate with the CCP for a right to lease HK.;)
                              Last edited by kyli; 25 Sep 12,, 18:15.

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