ABSTRACT
Hong Kong is located on the south-eastern edge of China. It comprises Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula and the New Territories, which stretch from Kowloon to the border with Shenzhen province, and over 200 islands and islets. The British bought tea, silk and porcelain from China, but the Chinese were not interested in buying many items from Britain and so the Chinese were paid instead with silver. The British trade commissioner brazenly recommended a military response to force China to reimburse the British smugglers for their economic losses and protect them in the future. The 1842 Treaty of Nanjing that concluded the war was the first of what the Chinese refer to as the unequal treaties between China and foreign imperial powers. British Hong Kong was primarily ruled by the colonial government of Hong Kong with little interference from either London or China.
