In 1997, the British handed Hong Kong back to China, the end of a 99-year-long lease and an event that was dreaded and anticipated by the residents, the Chinese, the English, and the rest of the world. Hong Kong includes 426 square miles of territory in the South China Sea, and it is today one of the most densely occupied and economically independent parts of the world. That lease came about as a result of wars over trade imbalances, opium, and the shifting power of Queen Victoria’s British empire.

Why Did China Lease Hong Kong to Britain?