Hong Kong, China : A Political History of the British Crown Colony's Transfer to Chinese Rule

On July 1, 1997, what we now know as Hong Kong and its six million residents will return to China. Journalist Shipp here presents an historical account of Hong Kong, especially from 1979. Drawing on his long experience in the region, he relies on day-to-day journalistic dispatches published in magazines and newspapers in Hong Kong, England, the United States, and Canada to narrate this account. Shipp admirably achieves his purpose of presenting the transition in a sequential series of events, situations, and negotiated changes. His first two chapters briefly outline Hong Kong's political history from the British beginnings in 1842 through the 1970s; the remaining 16 chapters examine in more detail the period since 1979. This well-written work is aided by five appendixes containing the complete texts of the 1984 Joint Declaration, the Basic Law, the Bill of Rights, a 1989 statement by British Foreign Secretary Howe, and a detailed chronology of political events. Recommended not only for historians but also for executives and government officials interested in doing business with Hong Kong.?Joseph W. Leonard, Miami Univ., Oxford, OhioCopyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.