Hong Kong’s British Colonial Legacy
The mention of British colonialism harkens to most people’s minds images of Africa and India, or perhaps even Western commonwealth nations such as Canada or Australia. But just as significant in Britain’s colonial history was the occupation of Hong Kong between 1841 and 1997. Following its invasion of the territory during the Opium War, the British seized upon the opportunity to gain a stronghold in a strategic military and trade outpost in Asia that lasted for over 150 years.
The United Kingdom and Hong Kong have a long history rooted in trade relations that extend back to the 16th century. Following Portugal’s establishment of direct maritime trade with China in 1557, other European nations—including the United Kingdom—followed suit. Ships of the British East India Company started appearing on the coasts of China from 1635, although it would take nearly 100 years for trade with the United Kingdom to blossom into a significant market for silk, porcelain and tea, all of which could be sold in Europe for several times their cost in the East. By the early 19th century, the British Empire was heavily dependent on the imports, and in particular on tea, but there were few British items on demand in China. This resulted in an overwhelming imbalance in trade. This imbalance was remedied temporarily by the increasing demand for silver in China, which Britain could purchase from continental Europe and Mexico.
However, it didn’t take long for European silver supplies to run short, as mines in colonised South America couldn’t keep up with production demands. Western countries were thus left to find alternative methods of payment to China. The solution devised by the British was to counter-trade in the Indian narcotic opium. Opium, which was produced in cotton-growing regions of India that were controlled by the English East India Company, was an ideal trade item for many reasons. First of all, trading in opium grown in the India would make the British colony more profitable. Secondly, the growth and harvesting of opium was relatively inexpensive, meaning high profit margins. And lastly, the fact that opium is an addictive narcotic drug would secure consistent consumer demand.
At first, China freely permitted the trade of opium across its borders, and the drug flooded into China, penetrating all levels of society. By the late 1830s, foreign merchant vessels, including those of Britain and the United States, were landing over 40,000 chests of opium annually to meet the needs of an estimated 10 million opium smokers in China. However, decreases in the flow of silver, which the Qing dynasty needed to suppress rebellions, prompted the Qing government to make attempts to block the well-established opium trade with significant policy restrictions. But rather than eradicate it, these policies simply pushed the opium trade underground. The illegal importation of the drug then increased five-fold between 1821 and 1837.
To tackle this problem, China appointed scholar-official Lin Zexu to the post of Special Imperial Commissioner, with the expressed task of eradicating the opium trade. He arrived in Canton—now Hong Kong—in March of 1839, and took immediate action against foreign merchants and their Chinese counterparts. After a failed attempt at communication with Queen Victoria, Lin banned the sale of opium and required that all supplies be surrendered to the Chinese authorities. More than 1,600 arrests were made and 11,000 pounds of opium confiscated. The British superintendent of trade, Charles Elliot, attempted to negotiate a compromise but was unsuccessful. Lin went on to order the confiscation of another 20,000 crates of opium from foreign-controlled factories, holding the foreign merchants under arrest until they handed over $9 million dollars of opium. Once surrendered, the opium was publicly burned.
Lin’s next and fatal step was to close the port of Canton to all foreign merchants. In response, Elliot ordered the blockade of the Pearl River, and a naval battle ensued in November 1839, beginning what is now referred to as the Opium War. During the war, in January of 1941, Elliot proposed the Convention of Chuenpee to end the hostilities. The convention’s terms included the cession of Hong Kong to the British crown and an indemnity to the British government of $6 million dollars. The terms were unofficially agreed upon, but the convention was never signed. The war continued, finally ending in August of 1842 with the signing of the Treaty of Nanking that ceded Hong Kong to the United Kingdom ‘in perpetuity,” or indefinitely, marking the beginning of British rule over the island.