Precarious Balance - Hong Kong Between China and Britain, 1842-1992

The "Hong Kong Becoming China" multi-volume series is published for an international readership. It aims to provide both expert analysis and the documentary basis for an informed understanding of Hong Kong's transition as a free society and capitalist economy toward socialist Chinese sovereignty under the "One country, Two systems" formula. This series explores the crucial dimensions of Hong Kong's current developments in this transitional process, as well as their global implications. This interdisciplinary volume focuses on major developments in Hong Kong during the past 150 years as a British colony dependent on the China market and populated by Chinese who have tried to maintain a precarious balance between their two masters. The nine essays in this book analyze the problematic China-Britain-Hong Kong triangle in contemporary and historical perspectives, leading to the current confidence crisis. The authors address such topics as popular mobilization against Britism imperialism, anti-Chinese legislation, Hong Kong-Canton linkages, world war and Cold War politics shaping Hong Kong's status, the emergence of a Hong Kong identity, and Sino-British power play from the 1970s to the 1990s.