The 1997 Transfer of Sovereignty and Jean-Claude Van Damme

Hong Kong is considered a special administrative region. Their political system is different from the rest of China. A non-communist government, but rather a independent judiciary that functions under the common law framework, which is a law developed by judges through decisions of courts rather than through legislative statues.

“One country, two systems.”

So why is this?

Well, where were you on the 1st of July in 1997? That was the day that marked the end of British rule, and the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong to Chinese rule. Hong Kong was acquired by the UK through three treaties. The Treaty of Nanking in 1842, the Treaty of Beijing in 1860, and the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong territory in 1898. This granted the UK a lease of 99 years, which makes me wonder what the payments were? Anyway, by the time of the late 70’s the PRC was getting involved in the discussions of what will happen at the expiration of the lease. There was a lot of conflict between PRC and the British Empire for over a decade.  To keep peace and having invested trillions of dollars and enriching the lives of millions HK gave it back to China, but under only one condition. That was to keep HK the way it is for 50 years.

However, there’s a much bigger side story going, which was the story of counterfeit jeans and nano-bombs. The story didn’t get much press because we know how China likes to keep everyone in the dark. Regardless, the story leaked and like any juicy story Hollywood got their hands on it.

Transportation

1. 你 怎 么 去 机 场？
2. 我 想 坐 公 共 汽 车。
3. 公 共 汽 车 太 贵！
4. 我 有 很 多 钱！
5. 好。 你 坐 公 共 汽 。  我  去 看 电 影。