Why did the UK decide to give Hong Kong back to China?

Answer 1

HK Island was ceded to the British after the First Opium war.. there was never a "lease" so to speak -- the British won the war and took HK as their prize. After the 2nd Opium War, China was forced to sign a perpetual lease on the Kowloon penninsula. In 1898, the British signed a 99-year lease on the New Territories with the desire to secure the surrounding land around HK for defense purposes. This lease would expire on June 30th, 1997.

In the years before 1997, there was significant debate on whether the British would uphold their agreement on returning the New Territories to China. In the end, the British not only decided to give the New Territories back, but also the Kowloon Penninsula and HK Island. This followed a trend 50 year trend of the British returning occupied lands during the colonial period (much like India). The reasons for doing so were purely political -- not returning HK would have caused a political nightmare for the British and cause increased Sino-British tension.

Answer 2

It was all part of the deal.
The UK took Hong Kong hundreds of years ago in an argument. Basically the Chinese weren't impressed with our importing and exporting of opium so we took Hong Kong to teach them a lesson. We said that we'd give it back just before 2000 which was in the distant future. It was only after that HK became such a prosperous port - but by that time the treaties were signed and we had no choice but to give it back.

Answer 3

UK only actually owned bottm half of Kowloon Peninsula and the whole of HK Island. The rest of the places in HK were on lease until 1997. Hong Kong is so small you can't seperate it into small parts to rule. UK just gave the Peninsula and HK Island back to China as well on the expiry date.

Answer 4

the UK only ever had a lease on Hong Kong... they never owned it.

So truth be told, Hong Kong never belonged to anyone, but Hong Kong! The Brits paid the CHinese for Hong Kong - wierd eh!

Answer 5

Hong Kong was leased from the Chinese Governmant and the lease ran out. Chinia did not want to renew it so Britain gave it back. There is an old history here from the 1800's you should read up on.

Answer 6

You need to check what band it is. Most are tri or quad band so should work in all areas. However be careful as many of the sellers in China and HK are crooks and will rip you off. E-bay are no help either. Check for good feedback from the uk, usa etc as some people give themselves good comments.

Answer 7

we had a 99 year lease and they liked what we had done to the garden so they decided they would move in themselves at the end of the 99 years, a shame really as we had planned really nice conservatory and we had been model tennants but hey we have our eye on a little island off france for the next 99 years

Answer 8

To be honest, it was forcibly occupied by British forces, they forced China to give up it when China was weak, they should have tried during the Ming dynasty when China was the ultimate superpower and could have occupied the whole world. UK decided to give back also because it knew that China was no longer the weak giant it used to be, and China could kick their gay british ***.

Answer 9

The UK had a 99 year lease....China would not renew it

Answer 10

The lease was up on the New Territories, and the rest of the city, held in perpetuity, was non-viable without the NT.