Peerless Evil Monarch

On August 10, 1990, Ceng Yanyun carried his passport, went through customs checks on the bus, and successfully entered the heaven on earth's oriental pearl.

It used to be a small fishing village on the edge of the South China Sea, a handmade workshop specializing in the production of Bodhisattva incense candles. The small fishing village and workshop became the earliest point of contact between China and the major powers more than 160 years ago. The intimate encounter left Hong Kong under the British colonial administration for 157 years. This humiliating history did not come to an end until 1 July 1997.

The Hong Kong of the eighties and nineties was no longer that quiet and nameless little fishing village, but an international metropolis that displayed its heroic beauty. It was the financial center, information center, tourism center and transportation center of Asia and the entire world. The success of Hong Kong was founded on the intelligence, hard work and dedication of the Chinese, the accumulation of the foundation of the rule of law, the rules of the game in the free economy and the increasingly perfect business environment. Let it be the brightest pearl in the East.

Hong Kong's status is determined by its special economic and political factors, and its most notable achievement is its high economic development, which is known as one of the four "small dragons" of the Asian economy. In the late 1980s, Hong Kong was ranked 15th among the world's leading exporting countries and regions. She was also the third largest diamond trading center in the world, after the United States and Japan.

The Hong Kong Free Port covers the entire territory of Hong Kong and is known as the Free Harbour City. In Hong Kong, the general goods not only duty-free and free to enter and leave, but also can be processed and manufactured. Citizens may live in free ports, and local residents and foreign tourists may freely buy and sell foreign goods in the ports. Compared with the traditional free ports that still exist in the world, Hong Kong has the highest degree of freedom.

In 1990, Hong Kong developed from a single port of exchange into a free port with diversified economic structure. It is an international center for finance, trade, industry, shipping, tourism, information and so on. And business, real estate, construction and catering services are all well-developed. The many functions of the Port of Freedom were not disorderly and disorganized, but rather well-structured and powerful.

Hong Kong allows multiple parties to reap the benefits. Hong Kong's free port policy provides a favourable environment for the economic activities of many countries, making it a good place for business to make a lot of money. In many sectors, interest rates are much higher than in others, such as banking, which returned an average of 13.8 per cent a year in 1988, and real estate, which averaged 10 per cent. Investment from the US, Europe, Japan, Australia and Southeast Asia continued to expand, with huge gains from Hong Kong.

The United States and Japan alone have invested more than $6 billion in Hong Kong. The United States has made Hong Kong its main export market in the Asian region. In 1988, the average value of American purchases by Hong Kong residents amounted to $998, a lot more than the European Community's $234, Japan's $308 and Taiwan's $613 purchases. The United States also uses Hong Kong as its business base in the Asian region.

It is self-evident that British investment in Hong Kong, its colony, has the best interest. The UK has a wide range of business institutions and investments in Hong Kong and more than 400 British companies have been set up in the form of wholly British affiliates or consortia. Moreover, many of the largest companies in Hong Kong are managed by the British and most of the shares are held by the British.

Since the introduction of China's policy of openness, the amount of capital invested in Hong Kong has increased significantly. In addition to Bank of China, China Resources, China Merchants' Bureau, China Travel and other groups, other large companies and provinces and cities are also investing in Hong Kong. The economic activities of Chinese institutions have also promoted economic ties between China and Hong Kong, which has become Hong Kong's largest trading partner and its most important partner. Between 1978 and 1988, China attracted investment from Hong Kong, which accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total amount of foreign investment contracted by China.

With the development of Hong Kong's free port economy, the Chinese investment in Hong Kong made a good profit in the postwar decades, and the wealth of Hong Kong increased sharply, which resulted in the huge wealth of Chinese such as Li Cheng, Ganggang, Guo Desheng and Zheng Yutong. The firms they operate have very high profit margins, such as Long Guild, which had capital of just over HK $90 million when it became a listed company in 1972 and had a stock market value of 21.2 billion by the end of 1989.

Once upon a time, thousands of people poured into Hong Kong from mainland China, from Southeast Asia, and from all over the world in an attempt to survive and make a fortune. After the reform and opening up to the outside world, countless Chinese were even more infatuated with Hong Kong than ever, eager to achieve their dreams by developing their own great talents in Hong Kong.

After the reform and opening up, China's comprehensive national power and China's position and role in international affairs have been strengthened rapidly. The leaders of the Chinese government expressed a common position on different occasions: to restore sovereignty over Hong Kong and to maintain its stability and prosperity.

At the invitation of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Trade in March 1979, the governor of Hong Kong, Malihau, visited Beijing and the head of the Chinese government said during a meeting: "We have always believed that Hong Kong's sovereignty belongs to the People's Republic of China, and that Hong Kong has a special status. When we negotiate a solution to Hong Kong's problems, we will assume that Hong Kong is a part of China." But we will treat Hong Kong as a special area to ensure that the interests of all parties are not compromised.

In May 1979, Song Zhiguang, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs of China, answered the questions of the French delegation concerning the visit of the Governor of Hong Kong to China and the future of Hong Kong. "Hong Kong is part of the territory of China. When the lease expires, we will resolve this issue in an appropriate manner."

In October 1979, the head of the Chinese government visited Britain for the first time and said he wanted to protect foreign investment in Hong Kong.

In April 1981, during a visit to China by British Foreign Secretary John Carrington, the Head of State said that if Hong Kong's future status changed, the interests of foreign investors would not be harmed.

On September 30, 1981, Ye Jianying published the "Policy for Taiwan's return to its motherland to achieve peaceful reunification". Except for the entry of the Chinese army, all other policies are suitable for the return of Hong Kong and Macao to their motherland. This in effect indirectly exposed the Chinese Government's approach to Hong Kong, and on April 6, 1982, the Head of State, in a meeting with Edward Sith, the former British prime minister, reaffirmed the nine principles of reunification of Taiwan, which also applied to Hong Kong.

Margaret Sache, the Iron Lady who was elected Dao Minister in 1979, was the first female prime minister in British history. Taking advantage of her victory over Argentina in the case of the Ulvinas Islands from April to June 1982, she flew confidently to Beijing, China, on 22 September 1982, with the Hong Kong question. She adhered to the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, the Treaty of Beijing in 1860, and the Special Article on the Spreading of Hong Kong's Sites in 1898.

On September 24, 1982, the Head of State met with the Lady Sache, who explained in detail China's basic position on the question of Hong Kong. The strength and strength of her language deeply shocked the "iron woman" in Britain. The chief said: "Our basic position on the Hong Kong issue is clear. There are three main issues here. One is the question of sovereignty; the third is the question of how China will manage Hong Kong after 1997 and continue to prosper; and the third is that the governments of China and the UK will properly negotiate how to keep Hong Kong from fluctuating significantly over the 15 years from now to 1997. "

"On the issue of sovereignty, China has no room for manoeuvre. To be frank, the question of sovereignty is not an issue that can be discussed. Now that the time is ripe, it should be clear: China will reclaim Hong Kong in 1997. That is, it is not only the New Territories that China wants to reclaim, but also Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula and the New Territories. "

"If you don't take it back, it means that the Chinese government is the late Qing government and the Chinese leader is Li Hongzhang! If it does not return after 15 years, any Chinese government should go down and automatically withdraw from the political arena. There is no alternative. "

"The continued prosperity of Hong Kong is fundamentally dependent on the policy appropriate to Hong Kong under Chinese jurisdiction after China retracts it. Capitalism will remain in force in Hong Kong, and there are many suitable systems in place to maintain it. "

"As for the possibility of Hong Kong fluctuating once China announces that it will withdraw in 1997, my view is that small fluctuations are inevitable and that big fluctuations can be avoided if China and the UK work together to resolve the issue."

"What if there are serious fluctuations in Hong Kong during the 15-year transition period? The Chinese government will then be forced to adjust the timing of the recovery. "

"We recommend an agreement that the two sides agree to start negotiations on Hong Kong through diplomatic channels."

Following the meeting, the two sides issued a joint statement: "Today, the leaders of the two countries had an in-depth discussion on the future of Hong Kong in a friendly atmosphere. The two leaders stated their respective positions on this issue and, with the common purpose of maintaining stability and prosperity in Hong Kong, agreed to enter into negotiations through diplomatic channels after this visit. " Since then, the two countries have begun negotiations on Hong Kong.

At the outset, the topic of negotiations proposed by the British government was one of attribution, while the Chinese government raised three issues: the return of China to Hong Kong, the system to be implemented in Hong Kong in the future, and the arrangements for the transition period in Hong Kong. The negotiations were divided into two phases: the first phase, from the visit of British Prime Minister Mrs. Thatcher in September 1982 to June 1983, was dominated by talks on principles and procedures. The second phase, from July 1983 to September 1984, involved 22 rounds of talks on specific substantive issues. After careful and patient negotiations in the spirit of the overall situation and friendly cooperation, the two delegations reached an agreement on the whole issue on September 18, 1984, at which the talks between the Chinese and British Governments on Hong Kong were concluded.

The signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration has fulfilled the common aspiration of the people of the Chinese to reclaim Hong Kong for a long time, and has also promoted the settlement of the Macao issue, and will certainly have a far-reaching impact on the settlement of the Taiwan issue. The Taiwan issue was not the same as the Hong Kong issue, but the concept of a "one country, two systems" was equally applicable to a negotiated solution. The successful settlement of the Hong Kong issue is conducive to the preservation of peace in Asia and the world, and provides new and successful experience for the peaceful resolution of the historical legacy at the international level. The UN secretary-general at that time pointed out that the way China and Britain solved Hong Kong's problems should be strongly advocated, which is exactly what we need in the current international context.

Of course, in order to reclaim Hong Kong successfully and to allow it to continue to prosper, Hong Kong is only a special administrative region with a special regime and a high degree of autonomy. In accordance with the decision taken at the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress on 4 April 1990, the Special Administrative Region was established as of 1 July 1997; its regions include Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories. Its basic characteristics are as follows: First, the continuation of the capitalist system. Secondly, there is a high degree of autonomy. Third, it is administered by the central government. Fourthly, colonialism has been brought to an end completely. The Hong Kong people have taken control of the port and become more and more democratic. The unique legal status of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region may be summarized as follows: there is no colonialism, capitalism is retained, it is administered by the Central Government and there is a high degree of autonomy. " One country, two systems "would create a new, more prosperous and stable Hong Kong.

Ceng Yanyun who had experienced his life once knew that Hong Kong had returned successfully to his hometown in the year 97. Even though he had experienced a little pain, he still maintained the pattern of rapid development on the whole, proving the strength of the Head of State today. He knew that the current government will allow China to rise quickly, but after the return of Hong Kong in 1997, they caused some damage to the economy. Ceng Yanyun decided that he had to accumulate capital quickly to help the country, and make the oriental pearl shine.