ABSTRACT
The stress testing originally designated the process of deliberately operating a mechanical product beyond normal limits to determine what might be its failure point. This chapter looks at serious stresses applied to the broadly contiguous "through train" political systems of British Hong Kong (BHK) and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). The creation of BHK in 1841–1842 was a direct product of warfare between Britain and Qing Dynasty China. Real pressure on BHK stability was experienced during the first decades after the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of the fledgeling, unstable, Republic of China in 1912. The BHK economy was very badly affected for some months and many Hong Kong Chinese fled the Crown Colony seeking sanctuary in adjacent Guangdong Province. In 2003, early in the second term of the first HKSAR Government, the Government tried to enact new national security laws under Article 23 of the Basic Law.
