Hong Kong Legacies And Prospects Of Development

This title was first published in 2003. Hong Kong is a society of contrasts and paradoxes. The city has a contrasting and yet fluid intermingling of social and cultural images - east and west, local and colonial, modern and traditional, extravagant and frugal. In this volume, the editor has selected essays dealing with a variety of aspects of Hong Kong including change and development, culture and identity, trends in political development, economy and society, social issues and social policy.

After ruling Hong Kong for 155 years, what did the British leave behind when they withdrew at midnight on 30 June 1997? C. K. Lau answers this question for the lay reader. Whether you are a long-time resident or merely a newcomer to the territory, Hong Kong's Colonial Legacy promises to deepen your understanding of this Pearl of the Orient. Questions this book tackles include: (1) What is the attitude of Hong Kong Chinese towards British rule and the resumption of Chinese sovereignty? (2) Why have most of them failed to master English despite a century and a half of colonial rule? (3) What is the future of the common law after 1997? (4) What do Hong Kong's leaders mean by executive-led government? (5) What is Hong Kong's recipe for economic success? (6) What is the future of press freedom in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region?

This title was first published in 1979:

Hong Kong is widely regarded as an exemplar of authoritarian jurisdictions with a positive history of adhering to Rule of Law–shaped governance systems. British Hong Kong provides a remarkable story of the effective development and consolidation of such a system, which has continued to apply since 1997, when it became the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) within the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This book adopts a fresh approach in examining the evolution of Hong Kong’s political-legal experience. It establishes that these prominent governance achievements were built on particular British constitutional foundations forged over many centuries. The work shows how the analysis of the British theorist Albert Dicey and, in particular, “Diceyan Constitutionalism” was fundamental, within the pivotal context of “Chinese Familism”, in shaping the development of governance institutions and operational procedures within the new British Colony. It discusses how Hong Kong’s system of Authoritarian Legality has come to pass. Exploring the essence of that system, the study probes how thoroughly it has been stress-tested, not least in 2019, and how well it may be placed to cope with tests yet to come. It also analyzes Hong Kong–Beijing relations and the long-term prospects for the HKSAR within the PRC based on a balanced contemporary assessment of China’s exceptional One Party State.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is located on the southeastern coast of China, and the Macao SAR can be found off of China's southern coast. Both regions have recently been released from European colonial rule: Hong Kong from British control in 1997 and Macao from Portugal in 1999. As SARs, Hong Kong and Macao retain a high degree of autonomy, and they control all issues except those of state (e.g. diplomatic relations and national defense). The A to Z of the Hong Kong SAR and the Macao SAR includes maps, photographs, a list of acronyms, a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on important persons, places, and events as well as political, economic and social background. However, unlike the rest of the series, all these sections are presented in duplicate: one for Hong Kong and one for Macao. The authoritative analysis and informative data presented clearly elucidate the unique situation of these two territories.

Hong Kong is at the heart of modern China's position as a regional - and potential world - superpower. In this important and original history of the region, Steve Tsang argues that its current prosperity is a direct by-product of the British administrators who ran the place as a colony before the handover in 1997.The British administration of Hong Kong uniquely derived its practices from the best traditions of Imperial Chinese government and its philosophical, Confucian basis. It stressed efficiency, honesty, fairness, benevolent paternalism and individual freedom. The result was a hugely successful colony, especially in industry and finance, and it remains so today with its new status of Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.Under British imperial administration, Hong Kong grew from a collection of fishing villages to an international entrepot, an industrial power and an international financial centre. British and Chinese interests dovetailed and the Chinese population was satisfied by the welfare reform and economic advancement perpetuated by Britain's administrative officers. Demand for constitutional reform and a sense of Hong Kong Chinese identity grew only as the handover to China approached.This definitive history of the colourful individuals who administered the colony on behalf of the British government sheds light on two empires inextricably linked in nature and on the philosophy of government.

Hong Kong has an urbanisation history of an interesting course -- from fishing village of the Qing dynasty under the Manchu rule, to British colony with 98 per cent of its population being Chinese, to global city with great wealth and business activities, to Communist China's Special Administrative Region (SAR) from 1 July 1997. China resumed sovereignty over Hong Kong and granted Hong Kong the right to self-government for at least 50 years, except over diplomatic and defense matters. Long before the return of Hong Kong to China, the colony had already firmly established itself as a regional business centre. It had been at the forefront of the East Asian economic 'miracle' between the 1970s and the mid 1990s. Lightened by multi-coloured neon signs of commercial advertisements, the semi-westernised Chinese city is more attractive in night than in daytime. Hong Kong is full of contrasts and paradoxes. The wide variety of the city's contrasting and yet fluid and interesting social and cultural images, aptly has been described as, 'east and west', local and colonial, modern and traditional, extravagant and frugal -- has earned it the epithet 'a cultural kaleidoscope'. The author explores these contrasts and paradoxes not only from economic, cultural, and social perspectives, but also from perspectives of non-linear theory and Adam Smith's and Confucian philosophies -- an endeavour which no other author has systematically made before.