Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Hong Kong

Episode Date: March 24, 2024

Located on a peninsula and series of islands off the southeastern coast of China lies what is today called the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong.  Hong Kong didn’t play a central role in the thousands of years of Chinese history. However, it has played a pivotal role in the region for the last 200 years.  It went from being a backwater to becoming one of the most important financial and business hubs in the world.  Learn more about Hong Kong, its past, present and future on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors Available nationally, look for a bottle of Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond at your local store. Find out more at heavenhilldistillery.com/hh-bottled-in-bond.php Sign up today at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to choose your free offer and get $20 off. Visit BetterHelp.com/everywhere today to get 10% off your first month. Use the code EverythingEverywhere for a 20% discount on a subscription at Newspapers.com. Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Benji Long & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Located on a peninsula and a series of islands off the southeastern coast of China lies what is today called the special administrative region of Hong Kong. Hong Kong did not play a central role in the thousands of years of Chinese history. However, it has played a pivotal role in the region for the last 200 years. It went from being a backwater to becoming one of the most important financial and business hubs on the planet. Learn more about Hong Kong, its past and its present, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night and how it shaped the world now.

Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. The story of Hong Kong is the story of politics and geography. Throughout the grand sweep of Chinese history, The area that we know today as Hong Kong barely merits a mention. It wasn't the seat of power for any empire. It wasn't a major trading port that connected China to the outside world, and it wasn't a center of industry or agriculture. Nonetheless, the story of how Hong Kong became one of the most important commercial centers in the world

does start in the distant past. Hong Kong roughly consists of two parts, a peninsula that juts into the South China Sea and about 200,000, islands just off the coast of the peninsula. The entire area is mountainous, and the coastline of the peninsula and the islands have a highly irregular shape that almost look like a fractal. More importantly, it's located at the mouth of the Pearl River. Humans have inhabited Hong Kong since the Paleolithic era. The earliest evidence of human settlement dates back somewhere between 35,000 to 39,000 years ago. Hong Kong probably had some continuous human settlement for

most of its history. However, it was little more than a collection of small fishing villages. The earliest settlers in the region were most probably Austronesians, who were the ancestors of the native people of Taiwan, the people of Southeast Asia, and the islands of the Pacific. By the Bronze Age, the area had become widely populated with many villages occupying the region. The area wasn't formally part of China until the year 214 BC, when it was incorporated into the Chin Dynasty. This means that it was relatively late to become part of China compared to the rest of the country. This was simply due to its location in the south and on the coast, which was far from the centers of imperial power. After the collapse

of the Chin Dynasty, the area fell under the control of the Nam Viet, which was an early four-runner to what would become Vietnam. It was later reconquered by the Han Dynasty and remained under the control of various Chinese dynasties for the next several centuries. Perhaps the most significant period for Hong Kong was during the Southern Song Dynasty in the 13th century. As the Mongols began moving south, the southern Song set up their royal court in what is now known as Kowloon. Eventually, it came under the control of the Mongols in the Yuan Dynasty when seven well-connected families owned most of the land. During the Ming Dynasty, people were still migrating to the area, but it was never a major population center. There were trading ports that were established, but it was never considered to be a major hub for trade.

The first Europeans to arrive for the Portuguese in 1513, they established a small trading hub settlement there known as Tamau. They were expelled in 1520, but later managed to reestablish trade with China and received a long-term lease to the nearby territory of Macau. However, beginning in 1661, the Qing Dynasty issued a series of decrees known as the Great Clearance. This depopulated the coastal areas in southeastern China in an effort to fight Ming loyalist groups operating in the region. However, the decisions were reversed in 1884, which resulted in an influx of immigrants, into the region, as well as a reopening of China to international trade. However, in 1757, the Qing eventually restricted all foreign trade to the single port of Canton,

now known as the city of Guangzhou. Fast forward to the mid-19th century. Britain desperately wanted to restore the balance of trade with China. The British were importing much more than they were exporting. As I mentioned in a previous episode, they exported opium to China and managed to create a generation of opium attics. The resulting conflict known as the Opium Wars resulted in a British victory in 1842, and their imposing lopsided peace terms on the Chinese government in the Treaty of Nan King. One of the terms of the treaty was that the Chinese government would cede the island of Hong Kong

to the British to use as a trading port. The British wisely chose the location for their trading settlement. For starters, it was located at the mouth of the important Pearl River, which was the location of other important trading ports such as Macau and Canton. More importantly, Hong Kong had a great harbor. It was an extremely deep natural harbor that provided excellent protection for ships. The British expanded their territory in October 1860 in the Convention of Peking, acquiring Kalloon, the part of the peninsula directly on the other side of the harbor, now dubbed Victoria Harbor after Queen Victoria. The Convention of Peking is considered to be one of the unequal treaties that China was forced to sign with Western powers in the 19th century.

In 1898, the British dramatically increased the territory under their control under the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory. This land was ceded to the British under a 99-year lease, and it was called the New Territories. Here I should note that the initial treaty of Nanking, signed in 1842, seated the island of Hong Kong to the British in perpetuity. More on that in a bit. Hong Kong grew rapidly as a British crown colony. The British established Western institutions such as churches, hospitals, and schools, which drew people from nearby areas who were looking for more opportunities. In the early 20th century, the freedom offered in Hong Kong made at the center of the movement to overthrow the Qing dynasty and establish a Chinese republic.

And here I'll refer you to my episode on Sun Yat-sen. The biggest event in the history of Hong Kong up until that point was the invasion of the Japanese in December of 1940. At the time of the invasion, Hong Kong had a population of 1.6 million people, many of whom fled there because of the Japanese invasion of China. The invasion began on December 8, 1941, just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. With the British occupied in Europe and with simultaneous attacks on Singapore and Hawaii, neither the British nor the Americans were able to do anything to help Hong Kong. On Christmas Day, 1941, Hong Kong officials surrendered. in person to the Japanese.

For the next three years and eight months, Hong Kong was under Japanese military rule. They replaced the Hong Kong dollar with the military yen, a currency that resulted in hyperinflation. The Japanese cut food rations so they could feed soldiers, which resulted in starvation and famine. Over 10,000 people were executed during the war, along with thousands more who were tortured.

The Japanese occupation ended on August 30, 1945. By the end of the occupation, the population of Hong Kong had dropped by 1 million people to just 600,000. However, the drop in population proved to be short-lived. With the communist revolution in mainland China in 1949, the territory saw a flood of refugees entering from China. The post-war period also saw Hong Kong experience an unprecedented economic boom, transforming itself from a colonial port city to a manufacturing powerhouse. This period was characterized by rapid industrial growth, spurred by an influx of skilled immigrants from mainland China and access to international markets. Much of this growth was due to the fact that Hong Kong during this period had perhaps the most liberal free market economy in the world.

They had very little regulation and free trade policies which allowed the economy to flourish. It became one of the four Asian tiger countries to rapidly industrialize, including South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore. By 1950, the population of Hong Kong had risen past its pre-war levels to 1.9 million people. For the next several decades, the population of Hong Kong steadily grew. Today, it has a population of approximately 7.5 million people. One of the oddities of Hong Kong during this period was the walled city of Kowloon, the result of a border anomaly in which a small area was technically still part of China, but they had no means or desire to actually administer it.

The result was what was perhaps the most densely populated place in human history, and I'll refer you to my previous episode on the subject. Hong Kong also became a cultural power through its cinema. Hong Kong cinema produced talents such as Chow Yun-Fat, John Wu, Jackie Chan, and Bruce Lee. For all of the economic success of Hong Kong in the post-war era, there was one fact hanging over the head of the territory. It was the 99-year lease to the new territories, which was such as, to expire in 1997.

The new territories constituted 86.2% of the entire territory of Hong Kong. If it were returned to China, there wouldn't be much of Hong Kong left. Moreover, since the end of the war, Britain had been getting out of the whole colony game. In preparation for the end of the lease in 1997, China and Britain sat down to negotiate the future of Hong Kong in the early 1980s. Here I should note that while the UK did have to give up the new territory, it did not legally have to give up the island of Hong Kong or Kowloon. Britain initially wanted to negotiate an extension to the lease, but China was not interested.

So it was agreed that Britain would cede all of its territory to China. In exchange, China agreed to a policy called One Country Two Systems. Hong Kong would be a part of the People's Republic of China, but it would retain its own autonomy, currency, and host of other privileges, including its own passport. As part of the agreement, China agreed to keep the economic system of Hong Kong in place for 50 years. On the evening of June 30, 1997, officials from both countries attended a handover ceremony. British officials included Prime Minister Tony Blair and the then-Prince-Charles. Chinese officials included President Zhang Zemin and Chinese Premier Lee Peng. At the stroke of midnight, on July 1, 1997, Hong Kong went from being a British territory to becoming a special administrative.

administrative region of China. In the almost 30 years since the handover of Hong Kong, significant changes have been seen. Hong Kong continues to have its own passport and currency and still maintains border controls with China. It continues to be a global financial center, but not quite as dominant as it was previously. However, much of the autonomy that Hong Kong experienced is now gone. The PRC exerts more direct control over the territory than it did in the years after the handoff. It can determine who sits on the Hong Kong's Legislative Council, and there's been a series of laws enacted that prevent any protests aimed at the PRC. Despite many of the current problems in Hong Kong, it still managed to maintain

its high standard of living. If it were a country, it would have the 22nd highest GDP per capita in the world above countries such as the UK, New Zealand, and France. Likewise, it also has the highest life expectancy of any country or territory on Earth. Hong Kong is still an exciting place to visit. It Skyline and skyscrapers are matched only by New York City, and it's one of the best food cities in Asia. Hong Kong has come a long way in a very short amount of time. It went from being a humble collection of fishing villages to becoming a global financial center. But perhaps most significantly, it went from being a part of China to a part of Britain and then back to China again. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel.

The associate producers are Benji Long and Cameron Kiefer. I have several new Completionist Club members who have left reviews over on Spotify. The first review comes from E. Mara dash NZ who said, Kiaora, Gary. I've just caught up since starting your podcast nine months ago. Thanks for all your work. Love it. I look forward to joining the New Zealand Completionist Club.

Cheers, Dion. The next is from Jake, who writes, Whoa, I just became a member of the Completionist Club. I realize there's already a clubhouse and Callispell, Montana, but we may need one in Eastern Montana. May I suggest Billings? Keep up the great work. The final one comes from Tom Hughes, who wrote, This episode marked my entry into the Completionist Club.

Thank you so much, Gary, for keeping the joy of curiosity and knowledge alive and well. Well, thanks to all of you who have managed to listen to every episode of the podcast. Every day that a new episode comes out, the accomplishment becomes ever more impressive. Remember that if you leave a review or send me a boostagram, you too can have it read on the show.