The Day The Union Jack Was Lowered: Remembering the Hong Kong Handover Twenty Years Later

Twenty years ago today the Union Jack of Great Britain was lowered for the last time over Hong Kong as 156 years of colonial rule ended.  At the stroke of midnight the flags changed over the territory and the People’s Republic of China abruptly took control of the lives of seven million people..

I happened to be one of those seven million people…

During my first seven years in the territory Hong Kong was not a “Special Administrative Region” (SAR) but a “Crown Colony” and I soon learned the looming change in it’s status was cause for a lot of anxiety in the local Hong Kong Chinese population.  Most had fled to Hong Kong trying to get away from China but in just a few short years China would finally catch up with them.

Admittedly I was totally naive to the geo-politics of Hong kong before arriving in the fall of 1990. (Now of course I’m an expert…at least in the pub)  My interaction on the phone with the Hong Kong travel agent I had been recommended to use highlights my introduction to a volatile topic:

Hong Kong Travel Agent: Hi Mr. Hackman, how may I help you today

Me: Hi yes, I’m travelling to China in October and need to arrange a flight.

Hong Kong Travel Agent: Certainly, what city in China do you need to travel to?

Me: Hong Kong

(pause on the other end)

Hong Kong Travel Agent: Hong Kong is not China!

That was my first, but certainly not last, exposure to an issue that has raged in Hong Kong for the years leading up to handover as well as for the twenty years since.

But here’s what I remember from that time

A Few Memories

About a month or so before the July 1 handover date the very first PLA soldiers from China were allowed to come in as an advance team to begin preparations for the transfer of sovereignty. It was a big media event because for the first time Chinese troops would be in Hong Kong.

I went down to to the British barracks in Central previously known as The Prince of Wales building because fortunately I had a camera on me at the time.  (Yes, these days we all have cameras with us but was much less common in 1997)  I was able to snap a few photos of the incoming Chinese contingent alongside their British counterparts.  For years CNN had my photos on their ireporter webpage surrounding the Hong Kong Handover.

On the morning of June 30 Tammy and I met with our friend Brett Moore.  We decided we would spend the last day of “colonial” Hong Kong exploring it’s colonialism knowing much of it would disappear in less than 24 hours.  We went to Central and snapped pictures of the Union Jack flying over various government buildings ranging from post offices to libraries.  I snapped a picture at the Cenotaph, a memorial to the veterans who died in the World Wars from Hong Kong.  Sadly the Cenotaph has remained “flag-less” for twenty years now.

We then decided to have lunch “colonial” style and headed out to Repulse Bay to dine at the century old Veranda restaurant.  We had then planned to go down to HMS Tamar (the barracks in Central along the waterfront) to see the British farewell ceremony together.  However, as people often comment in their handover day recollections, it began raining like crazy (and no it was not God crying…much) so we retreated to Brett’s spacious mid-levels apartment flat on Robinson Road to watch Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten and Prince Charles give their good-bye speeches to Hong Kong as the Union Jack was lowered.

I turned to Tammy and saw tears running down her face.  Safe to say their were a lot of emotions at that moment both in the room we were in as well as across all of Hong Kong.  Later at midnight we saw the official sovereignty change as the Chinese flag was hoisted for the first time over Hong Kong at the Convention Center.  Governor Patten then joined his family onboard the Britannia  and sailed out of Victoria Harbor taking 156 years of British rule over Hong Kong with him.

Tammy and I went home…

The next morning I went out to get a newspaper and passed the same government building I had passed the previous few years.  For the first time however it was flying the Chinese flag over it instead of the British.  I gulped and muttered to myself, “Toto, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore” 

In the seven years I lived in Hong Kong leading up to the July 1, 1997 handover there was one question that was constantly on the minds of everyone in the territory, “What will happen to Hong Kong after?  

The joke now of course is it’s only been twenty years since the handover… so its to soon to tell.

One thing I can say though is how grateful Tammy and I were to have been part of this incredible moment of history in the city we have called home.

Peace,

Steve