SBS50: Biggest Stories 1984

1984 was the year Britain and China sealed Hong Kong’s fate. Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Zhao Ziyang signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, to return Hong Kong to China in 1997.

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang exchange signed copies of the Hong Kong handover agreement to China in Beijing. Credit: AP

Hong Kong was acquired by the British in three treaties signed in the 1800’s.

During the 1984 talks, China proposed a ‘One Country, Two Systems’ policy that would respect Hong Kong's capitalist system and way of life, to last for fifty years.

Prior to the handover, fear of the political and economic system China would impose was strong enough to spark a large migration of Hong Kong residents to Australia, Canada, Singapore and the USA.

Democracy protestors have continued with regular demonstrations each year around the handover date.

These culminated in September 2014 in a large-scale sit-in in Hong Kong’s CBD dubbed the ‘Umbrella Revolution.’

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