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Patriotism should not lead to a single, Beijing-approved view of Hong Kong history
- In our attempt to bring Hong Kong’s account of its own history in line with the mainland Chinese version, there needs to be room to accommodate different points of view
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Australian-born Peter Kammerer has lived and worked in Hong Kong for more than 30 years, joining the Post in 1988.
History is fluid, being shaped over time by research and interpretation. A saying that it is “written by the victors” is also partly true.
Knowing that should have prepared me for a visit to the Hong Kong Museum of History. Still, I was surprised to read in the section on British colonial rule that “through three unequal treaties, Britain succeeded in illegally occupying the entire area of Hong Kong”.
It can’t be disputed that the Qing dynasty was in a weak bargaining position in the face of foreign pressure in the 19th century; two wars waged – the second with a combined military force from Britain and France – were lost and, each time, territory was conceded in treaties. That was how Hong Kong Island became part of the British empire in 1842, and the southern part of the Kowloon peninsula in 1860.
A third pact in 1898 gave it control of the New Territories. Negotiating from a weak position can be interpreted as “uneven”, but is an agreement that leads to the handing over of territory “illegal occupation”?
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