Hong Kong marks 25 years because it was returned to Chinese rule on July 1.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is predicted to travel to the territory to mark the event, which comes three years after mass protests calling for democracy that led to the introduction of a sweeping National Security Law that critics say has “decimated” Hong Kong’s freedoms.
Xi will oversee the inauguration of former safety chief John Lee because the territory’s new chief. Lee, who began his profession within the police, has promised “strong governance” and to handle the territory’s housing points, which Beijing has pinpointed as a supply of upset in one of many world’s most unequal cities.
Below are the main occasions which have taken place in Hong Kong for the reason that handover in 1997.
June 30, 1997
Just earlier than midnight on a wet Monday night, Prince Charles, United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair and Hong Kong’s 28th and closing British governor Chris Patten attend a sombre ceremony that brings 156 years of colonial rule to an finish.
Patten and the opposite officers go away the territory on the Royal Yacht Britannia.
July 1, 1997
Shipping tycoon Tung Chee-hwa is sworn in as Hong Kong’s chief govt and the territory’s first post-colonial chief at a specially-built conference centre overlooking the harbour. Veteran civil servant Anson Chan turns into his deputy.
Under the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984, Beijing had promised to respect Hong Kong’s freedoms and “way of life” for not less than 50 years, and the territory was to be ruled below the so-called “one country, two systems” framework.
July 1998
Hong Kong’s new airport opens on a synthetic island at Chek Lap Kok, changing Kai Tak after greater than 70 years.
Then Chinese President Jiang Zemin declares the power, designed by British architect Norman Foster, formally open.
March 2003
An outbreak of a brand new respiratory illness, SARS, hits Hong Kong onerous.
At least 298 individuals die from the virus.
July 2003
Mass protests erupt in opposition to the federal government’s plan to implement “anti-subversion laws” below Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini structure.
Nearly half one million individuals be a part of the protests. The administration is compelled to drop the proposals.
March 2005
Tung quits, blaming poor well being. He had been criticised by Chinese president Hu Jintao in December 2004.
Former high administration official Donald Tsang takes over in June.
July 2006
Tens of 1000’s of individuals rally for full democracy in Hong Kong.
July 2007
Donald Tsang’s administration is sworn in after successful an election and publicizes a plan for full democracy.
December 2007
Beijing says the individuals of Hong Kong shall be allowed to immediately elect their chief in 2017, and their legislators in 2020.
September 2008
Pro-democracy camp wins greater than a 3rd of the seats within the Legislative Council, giving them a veto over laws.
2010
The International Commerce Centre (ICC) in Kowloon turns into Hong Kong’s tallest constructing.
July 2012
CY Leung turns into Hong Kong’s chief govt.
August 2014
Beijing modifications its earlier promise on elections for the territory’s chief and says solely Beijing-backed candidates can stand.
September 2014
Tens of 1000’s of individuals occupy Hong Kong’s metropolis centre in protests calling for an open nomination of candidates for town’s chief.
Leung declares the Occupy Central protests unlawful.
December 2014
Police clear Occupy Central’s predominant camp.
October – December 2015
Five Hong Kong booksellers disappear between October and December, later rising in mainland China the place their “confessions” are broadcast on state tv.
November 2016
The excessive court docket disqualifies pro-independence legislators Sixtus Leung and Yau Wai-Ching from taking their seats within the Legislative Council after they refused to pledge allegiance to China throughout a swearing-in ceremony.
February 2017
Former Chief Executive Donald Tsang is sentenced to 20 months in jail for misconduct in public workplace after he was discovered to have rented a luxurious condo in China from a tycoon whose broadcast licence he additionally permitted.
March 2017
Carrie Lam, born in Hong Kong in 1957 and a lifelong civil servant, turns into the territory’s subsequent chief govt, promising to unite a territory more and more anxious about China’s tightening grip.
February 2019
Lam introduces proposals to permit extradition to mainland China, triggering widespread concern.
Hong Kong’s extradition preparations had been negotiated in 1997 when the United Kingdom returned the territory to China, and Taiwan, Macau and the mainland weren’t included in that settlement.
The Hong Kong Bar Association has mentioned that was a “deliberate decision” given the “fundamentally different criminal justice system operating in the mainland and concerns over the mainland’s track record on the protection of fundamental rights”.
June 4, 2019
Organisers say some 180,000 individuals be a part of the annual Tiananmen Square vigil in Victoria Park, marking 30 years for the reason that crackdown within the Chinese capital.
Police put the turnout at 37,000.
June 9, 2019
Hundreds of 1000’s of individuals march by way of the streets of Hong Kong to indicate their opposition to the extradition invoice. Many see it as an additional erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy and fear that it’s going to enable the federal government in Beijing to pursue its opponents.
Mainland courts, that are managed by the Communist Party, have a 99 p.c conviction charge.
July 1, 2019
Protesters drive their manner by way of police barricades and storm the Legislative Council constructing, daubing the partitions with graffiti.
September 2019
Lam lastly publicizes the formal withdrawal of the extradition invoice, which she beforehand mentioned was “dead”.
But after months of unrest and a way that the federal government is ignoring them, the protests evolve right into a broader marketing campaign to incorporate direct elections, an inquiry into police brutality and the discharge of all these detained throughout the protests.
November 2019
Confrontations between police and protesters escalate into fiery violence on the campuses of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Police use tear gasoline, rubber-coated bullets and water cannons in opposition to protesters armed with petrol bombs, slingshots and even javelins.
July 1, 2020
China imposes a National Security Law at 11pm on June 30. The regulation punishes any act Beijing deems as subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with international forces with life in jail.
December 2020
Media tycoon Jimmy Lai is arrested below the safety regulation after which jailed after a court docket decides to revoke bail that had been granted on stringent circumstances.
March 2021
The National People’s Congress in Beijing approves modifications to Hong Kong elections to make sure solely “patriots” are in a position to run for workplace.
June 2021
The Apple Daily, Lai’s unapologetically pro-democracy tabloid, publicizes it’ll shut after a sequence of police raids on its workplaces concentrating on senior executives and journalists. The writer prints a million copies of the paper’s closing version and Hong Kong individuals queue up early within the morning to purchase it.
July 2021
Former waiter Tong Ying-kit is sentenced to 9 years in jail below the National Security Law after changing into the primary individual to be convicted below the regulation.
Tong was discovered responsible of “terrorism” for driving his bike into three cops, and “secession” for flying the “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” flag at a rally.
November 2021
The M+ modern artwork museum lastly opens.
Fourteen years within the making, the Herzog and de Meuron-designed constructing is the crown jewel of Hong Kong’s West Kowloon cultural district.
December 2021
The postponed Legislative Council election takes place below the Beijing-crafted “patriots only” rules and turnout falls to its lowest degree for the reason that handover.
Under cowl of darkness, the University of Hong Kong removes the ‘Pillar of Shame’ – a tribute to the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown – triggering an outcry from college students, the sculpture’s Danish artist and human rights advocates.
The sculpture had stood in a quad at Hong Kong’s high college since 1997.
February 2022
A wave of Omicron-fuelled coronavirus instances rips by way of an unvaccinated and apparently unprepared Hong Kong.
Hospitals are inundated and aged sufferers are compelled to attend in short-term tents outdoors.
By March, the territory is struggling the world’s highest dying charge.
April 2022
Carrie Lam says she won’t stand for a second time period in workplace, citing household causes.
Lee steps ahead as the one candidate for chief govt and is confirmed within the submit in May.
He received 1,416 votes from the 1,500-strong Election Committee.
