After the start of the British domination in Hong Kong, many companies transferred their companies from Guangzhou to Hong Kong which did not help relations between Britain and China and led to the Second Opium War. During the 1940s and the Second World War, Hong Kong was invaded by Japan from the 25th of December 1941, (since known as the Black Christmas), until the 15th of August of 1945. Under the Japanese occupation, Hong Kong and its population suffered greatly and when it was eventually liberated by the British and the Chinese troops, the population was cut in half from 1.6 million before the war down to 600 000. Luckily for Hong Kong when China became communist in 1949 the island had a large population of immigrants from mainland China. After that, during the 1950s, Hong Kong undertook an economic growth and expansion and started to manufacture products and not just be an international trade port. In the 1970s with the rise of China, Hong Kong had to diversify its activities and tourism became a big business there. In the meantime, Hong Kong was preparing for its future by investing in education.
In 1982, the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was preparing the hand-over of Hong Kong to China which was inevitable but they agreed that it would be one country with 2 systems. The handover happened on the first of July 1997 and again during this period, a massive emigration took place so that people wouldn’t come under the communist China influence. The handover did not change fundamentally the way Hong Kong is administrated apart from some symbolic changes like the word ‘Royal’ has been dropped for most institutions and the post boxes are now green rather than red.
Since the handover and within the years 2000s, people in Hong Kong have actually adapted and life goes on. The business there is still flourishing and the island still remains a pearl to discover in South-East Asia.