Ok, I have this project where I need to find the story of Hong Kong and how and why it was given back to China. My grade is in how much I describe the actual situation and I need views or positions on China reclaiming Hong Kong in 1997 - the trick is, i need five historical/famous/ well-known people… not the average joe.
Can anyone help? 
Chris Patten was the last British Governor of HK. He has plenty of views. Prince Charles was there for the handover as well.
Mike Chinoy from CNN perhaps.
On the chinese side, google Xin hua news agency (new China news agency), which is the official government mouthpiece of the PRC.
It was covered by Newsweek, Time, Far Eastern Economic Review, etc.
I was there but not famous enough for you.
Aww… heh… thanks… It’s not my choice… it’s mah teacher’s. It’s the last project for the year and I don’t want to screw up my perfect GPA by getting a “B” in World Cultures…
Margaret Thatcher and Deng Xiao PIng. The negotiations started at the beginning of the 80s and were extremely detailed and prolonged. (Memories of Percy Craddock come flooding back… It was boring.)
I was there, too. It rained. Here’s an [http://www.geocities.com/hkhemlock/ntscmp-qq-jun97.html](eyewitness account)
…eyewitness account.
P. J. O’Rourke, who is a reasonably well-known humorist and the Foreign Affairs guy for Rolling Stone had a chapter on the handover in his book Eat the Rich.
The Far Eastern Economic Review is available free online at http://www.feer.com though I’m not sure whether or not their web archive extends that far back.
Perhaps James Clavell, who wrote a few novels about Hong Kong, made some comments about it that could be dug up. I think he died after 1997.
As for the why of it happening, you may have to go back to the mid-eighties when the deal was made. Of course, the New Territories (everything north of Boundary Street in Kowloon) were merely leased until 1997. And Kowloon City was never technically British territory.
This is a common misconception regarding the walled city/kowloon city.
The Island of Hong Kong was on a perpetual lease. The New Territories and some of the other islands were on a 99 year lease. China could have taken back Hong Kong anytime from the 1980’s just by turning off the water and food supplies. They didn’t and let the 99 year lease play out for their own reasons.
I think this was true even earlier, if I recall correctly from an old article (National Geographic?) from the late 60s or early 70s. The account discussed student unrest at the border and within the colony — the cultural revolution was underway. Overshadowing this was China’s threat to cut off water. Or perhaps they actually did for awhile. In any case, as you stated, Beijing apparently had other plans, and let the water flow.
Indeed, any time from 1949 onwards. UK government papers released after 50 years show that the British would not have attempted to defend HK in the event of a military assault. As well as its dependency on Mainland food and water, HK also relied on Mainland border security’s efforts to control refugees - they could have simply flooded the place.
And plentifully expressed in East and West. There’s a sticker on the book jacket (when I bought it, at least) proudly announcing it as “the book Rupert Murdoch refused to publish,” so I’m sure Mr. Murdoch has some opinions as well.
The guy who replaced Patten is Tung Chee Hwa.
Thanks guys for your imput… my project is due tomorrow and I have chosen the following views :
Margaret Thatcher
Deng Xiaoping
Tung Chee-hwa
Chris Patten
Bill Clinton (<~~ I was on my last legs with this one… and a bit lazy)