Hong Kong History

Hong Kong History

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Origins of Hong Kong

The region of Hong Kong, which had long been barren, rocky, and sparsely settled—its many islands and inlets a haven for coastal pirates—was occupied by the British during the Opium War (1839–42). The colony prospered as an east-west trading center, the commercial gateway to, and distribution center for, S China. It was efficiently governed, and its banking, insurance, and shipping services quickly became known as the most reliable in SE Asia. In 1921 the British agreed to limit the fortifications of the colony, and this contributed to its easy conquest (Dec. 25, 1941) by the Japanese. It was reoccupied by the British on Sept. 16, 1945.

Hong Kong and China

After 1949, when the Communists took control of mainland China, hundreds of thousands of refugees crossed the border, making Hong Kong's urban areas some of the most densely populated in the world. Problems of housing, health, drug addiction, and crime were the target of aggressive governmental programs, and Hong Kong's long-standing water problem was eased by the construction of an elaborate system of giant reservoirs and the piping in of water from China.

In May, 1967, Hong Kong was struck by a wave of riots and strikes inspired by China's Cultural Revolution. The government reacted firmly, and, although the Chinese retaliated by briefly stopping the piping of water and by attacking British representatives in Beijing, relations between Hong Kong and China soon resumed the surface harmony that had existed since the late 1950s.

Handing over the Keys

After several years of negotiations, on Dec. 19, 1984, Britain and the People's Republic of China agreed that Hong Kong (comprising Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories) would become a special administrative region of China as of July 1, 1997, when Britain's lease expired. Declaring a policy of “One Country, Two Systems,” China agreed to give Hong Kong considerable autonomy, allowing its existing social and economic systems to remain unchanged for a period of 50 years.

The crackdown in 1989 at Tiananmen Square in Beijing inspired fears that China would not respect Hong Kong's autonomy, and in the next few years many business people left, affecting Hong Kong's economy. In 1991, Hong Kong's first direct legislative elections (which accounted for about 30% of the seats) were won almost entirely by liberal, prodemocracy candidates, and no pro-China candidates were elected.

In 1992, Britain introduced a number of democratic measures, which were denounced by China. Talks between the two countries proved fruitless, and in 1994 Hong Kong's legislature approved further democratic reforms in the colony in defiance of strong Chinese objections. In the subsequent elections (1995) prodemocracy candidates received about 60% of the popular vote. Upon Hong's return to China, Beijing abolished the legislature set up by the British and established a provisional legislature; a chief executive, Tung Chee-hwa, was also appointed. Elections were held in 1998, with prodemocracy parties taking 16 of the 20 directly elected seats (the rest of the 60 seats were mostly chosen by professional constituencies).

Hong Kong was affected by the Asian financial crisis of 1997–98, but its economy began to rebound in 1999. A setback to Hong Kong's independent judicial system occurred in 1999, when Beijing overturned a Hong Kong court ruling that had granted residency to children born in mainland China who had at least one parent living in Hong Kong. In the Sept., 2000, legislative council elections, prodemocracy parties won 15 of the 24 directly elected seats.

Hong Kong in the 21st Century

Tung was reelected as chief executive in 2002. Although not popular, he was supported by the Chinese government, and no other candidate was nominated by the electoral committee responsible for electing the executive. In 2003, Hong Kong's economy was hurt by measures undertaken to control an outbreak of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), which spread there from China. A trade agreeement was signed with China in June; the pact gave Hong Kong businesses greater access to Chinese markets. Proposed new antisubversion laws led to significant antigovernment demonstrations the following month, and Tung subsequently withdrew the legislation. In Apr., 2004, the Chinese government ruled that Hong Kong would have to petition China in order to make any changes in its electoral laws, including increasing the number of legislators chosen by direct election. In 2004 half the legislators were directly elected, but prodemocracy forces won a total of only 25 seats in the election, which was fiercely contested and marked by heavy-handed Chinese tactics. Tung resigned in Mar., 2005, and was replaced as chief executive by Donald Tsang, who had been chief secretary.

Big Trouble in Big China

During the first 20 years of the 21st century China was torn apart at the seems. It started with the pressures attributed to the resource rush. As natural resources began to run low the costs of these commodities rocketed. Corruption and illegal operations began to cause serious national problems. Corporations started to exploit regions leaving terrible environmental consequences. To combat this, in 2006 the worst effected area of China the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan and Zhejiang formed the Greater Canton Economic Development Council to deal with the increased foreign investment and economic boom caused by the Resource Rush. This new found regional autonomy drew more power away from the central Chinese government.

In 2010 VITAS smashed through China and its provinces. The only place to emerge relatively unscathed was Hong Kong Island. After its experience with SARS in the 1990's Hong Kong and it corporations were ready to institute an emergency plan which lead to the isolation of Hong Kong Island for a period of 1 month. During which time all resources entering Hong Kong Island were decontaminated thoroughly and government and corporate forces imposed a strict maritime exclusion zone. The Kowloon lowlands of Hong Kong however where effected just as bad as rest of China, and this began the regions slump towards the slums of Hong Kong.

The last nail in the coffin of a central Chinese government was the magical isolation of Tibet on December the 24th 2011 as a magical barrier spang up around the country. This heralded the beginning of the 6th world in China. With the power of the Chinese government at an all time low the province of Xinjiang seceded in 2013. Hong Kong with the backing of the United Kingdom and a consortium of Mega Corporations followed suit in 2015 heralding a new age of for Hong Kong.

Betrayal of the Empire and New Beginning

The United Kingdom government fully expected that after their international support for the succession of Hong Kong they would return to the pre 1997 arrangement, but the new fledgling Mega Corps had other ideas. Sensing an opportunity to carve out an area of the world as their own a the Mega Corps froze out the UK and declared Hong Kong a Free Enterprise Zone, to be rules by the Hong Kong Executive Council. This left the UK government with zip to show for their efforts!

Awakening: Hong Kong Style

With Hong Kongs exotic culture the adjustment to the 6th world was far easier than many countries. In fact the awakening was embraced buy many families as their ancestor spirits came to visit their homes. Goblinization also was almost taken in the stride of Hong Kong and many meta humans fled to Hong Kong from their persecution elsewhere including even a small number of Japanese. A sizable population of Oni (an Orc Meta variants) were also goblinzed, in fact over half of all orcs in Hong Kong are Oni.

Crash on 29

Hong Kong was one of the most hi-tech places in the world pre 2029 even on par with Singapore and Malaysia. All buildings had high speed internet links and integrated systems became the norm. When the crash hit the Hong Kong came crashing down. Thousands of people were locked in their computer controlled homes. Some people even starved being their security systems. The computer controlled commuting system when mad sending many to their deaths. The main Hong Kong air port was closed after a super jumbo smashed into the runway believing it was still at 200 m on approach. Corporate buildings were looted and many corporations went bankrupt. A sizable corporate army was rallied to provide martial law through out Hong Kong. The crash would have a long term effect on the psychology of the nation as technology was no longer held in such high regard. If fact the crash lead to a huge upsurge in trust for magic and many people turned to charms, spirits and spells in the aftermarth of the carsh to rebuild Hong Kong.

Rebirth

The rebuilding effort in the aftermath of the crash was slow but the Mega Corps ploughed as much money as possible to restore their private playground (with the exception of Kowloon which had to fight for every nuyen. With magic a new and respected force in the nations psyche, the next generation of corporate architects turned to a new design method for their buildings, Geomancy. Corporate buildings had to be aligned and designed in specific ways to maximise the Feng-Shui of the site. Geomancers became one of the most well paid and respected people in Hong Kong.. and it worked. Hong Kong was one of the most successful rebirth stories after the crash, sending it to the top of the list of the most prominent economic cities, second only to Neo-Tokyo.

Wild Magic

By the 2050's Hong Kong was one of the most "Magical" places in the world, but then strange things began to happen. It started as the odd tale of a spell of two going wild and then spiralled out of control. The Astral space aroudn Hong Kong was so saturated by magical activity that the very fabric of astral space began to distort. Spells and spirits began predictable. The effect of this wild magic was limited only to Hong Kong Island and mainly in the Central district. Kowloon was mainly unaffected. This was put down to the facts the magicians were more balanced in their use of mana in Kowloon while those magicians in central Hong Kong has overused magic to breaking point.

Hong Kong Bugs

After 2055 and the Chicago incident, the Hong Kong Executive Council mobilised the military to search for insect nests... and the found them. Several insect spirits nest had been established in Kowloon as well as a large nest on Hong Kong Island. For over a month a battle between the military and the sprits raged across Hong Kong. Corporations began to text new ways to combat these creatures and many tests were made in the area of Kowloon leading to further devestaion of the region. Although the government one the battle, there are rumours of colonies still in islated regions on other islands or in the mountains and valleys of Kowloon).

Dragons Will

In 2057, Wuxing INC and its owners received several unusual bequests from Dunkelzahn in his will. Wuxing received 200 million nuyen, which helped finance its buy-in to the Corporate Court and obtain extraterritorial status. Wu Lung-Wei received a statue called the "Jade Dragon Of Wind And Fire". His wife received the "Third Coin Of Luck". From that point on, Wuxing's growth skyrocketed, vaulting Wuxing from barely a megacorporation to a Prime AAA Megacorporation on the Corporate Court.

Pacific Prosperity Group

In 2059, Wuxing INC and several other Pacific Rim corporations form the Pacific Prosperity Group, the culmination of years of effort to create a competitive power group outside the Japanese megas.

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