One Country, Two Systems in Crisis
Hong Kong's Transformation since the Handover
Contributions by Brian Bridges, Albert H.Y. Chen, Anne S. Y. Cheung, Fung Ho-lup, Kenneth Ka-loh Chan, Beatrice K.F. Leung, Anita Y. K. Poon, Ting Wai, Timothy Ka-ying Wong Edited by Wong Yiu-chung
Publication date:
18 August 2004Length of book:
254 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksDimensions:
235x173mm7x9"
ISBN-13: 9780739104927
In the tumultuous negotiations of the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984, the United Kingdom willingly signed over Hong Kong's reigns to the People's Republic of China, but with the presupposition that the PRC would faithfully implement the principle of "one country, two systems" for the following fifty years. Yet since the handover in 1997, the PRC has failed to allow Hong Kong a higher degree of autonomy. "One Country, Two Systems" in Crisis elucidates how China's intervention has curtailed Hong Kong's civil liberties; how freedom of speech is at the mercy of the government; and how deception has turned the "Pearl of the Orient" into the rubber stamp of the Chinese Communist Party.
This edited volume covers a good range of topics related to post-1997 developments in Hong Kong. These include the major events and political and legal changes that shed light on the practice of 'one country, two systems' (state-society relations in the realms of education and, immigration policy, state-church relations), and Hong Kong's relationship with international actors such as the European Union, the United States, and Taiwan. All the chapters are written by scholars based in Hong Kong, and the book reflects developments accurately, in a way that can easily be understood by people outside Hong Kong. In devoting about a third of its contents to Hong Kong's changing relationship with the outside world, the book compares favorably with other edited volumes on post-1997 developments.