Abstract: With 100 days left to Hong Kong's return, a comprehensive review of the arduous journey of my country's recovery of Hong Kong over the past hundred years will help to truly understand the profound meaning of Hong Kong's return to the motherland.

In 1841, after Britain occupied Hong Kong Island, the Qing government tried to recover it by force. Emperor Daoguang issued dozens of decrees for this, and some officials from the border also submitted memorials, but the Qing government was unable to defend the national territorial integrity and sovereignty and independence.

During the Beijing government, at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 and the Washington Conference in 1921, Chinese representatives raised the issue of reclaiming the leased land. However, they were severely frustrated due to Britain's stubborn refusal and the warlords at that time, political instability and lack of strength to support diplomatic support.

After the Revolution of 1911, Mr. Sun Yat-sen clearly put forward the goal of abolishing the unequal treaty imposed on China by imperialism, in the declaration passed by the First National Congress of the Kuomintang, and putting a prominent position in the cancellation of the land leased in China.

The National Government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, never formally proposed to Britain to return the land of Kowloon to the British. From the outbreak of the Pacific War in 1941 to the unconditional surrender of Japan in August 1945, there were two opportunities to recover the land of Hong Kong and Kowloon. However, the Chiang Kai-shek government implemented the wrong policies and lost the opportunity to recover twice.

The return of Hong Kong is a successful practice of the great concept of "one country, two systems" and the policy of Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong. The regaining of Hong Kong's more than a hundred years of history once again proves to us that the indissoluble truth that the weak country will be beaten, and that the weak country will not have diplomacy has proved that only socialism can ultimately realize the long-cherished wish of the Chinese nation for several generations.

Learning from history, we can know the rise and fall. From the British invasion of Hong Kong Island by force in 1841 to the one and a half centuries when Hong Kong returned to the motherland in 1997, China experienced the late Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China (including the Beijing Government and the National Government) period and the New China period. Both the Qing government and the Beijing Government and the National Government of the Republic of China period had made efforts to regain Hong Kong. However, all these efforts failed. History shows that only the New China can finally realize the long-cherished wish of the Chinese nation for generations. Today, when the return of Hong Kong is in front of us, a comprehensive review of my country's arduous journey of regaining Hong Kong over the past hundred years will help truly understand the profound meaning of Hong Kong's return to the motherland and get due enlightenment from it.

The British occupation of Hong Kong Island and the Qing government's plan to recapture Hong Kong Island by force

Since the British occupied Hong Kong Island by force in January 1841, the Qing government launched a struggle to recapture the island. In order to illustrate the situation of this struggle, it is first necessary to clarify the process of Britain's occupation of the island.

So far, some writings and media have described how Britain occupied Hong Kong Island during the Opium War: In August 1840, after occupying Dinghai, the British army headed north to Baihekou, Tianjin. The panicked Qing government urgently sent Zhili Governor Qi Shan to Dagu to negotiate with British envoy Yilu and Elliot. On January 25, 1841, Qi Shan signed the infamous "Winning the Nose Grass Treaty", and the first paragraph of the treaty was to cut Hong Kong Island from Britain. The next day, the British army occupied Hong Kong Island. This statement seemed to believe that Britain had a definite "treaty basis" in occupying Hong Kong Island. In fact, Britain occupied the island without any treaty basis. Emperor Daoguang had never heard of it in advance, nor did it allow it. Therefore, it was urgent to seek recovery.

According to archives of China and Britain, on August 30, 1840, Elliot went to Dagu, Tianjin to submit the "Virgium Bamaizun to the Prime Minister of the Chinese Emperor's Reign" to the Qing government, proposing to ced the islands or several islands on the southeast coast to Britain and other demands for invasion. Qishan rejected the British demand for invasion based on Emperor Daoguang's decree, and persuaded the British army to return to Guangdong and continue negotiations. A few months later, Qishan arrived in Guangzhou to continue negotiations with the British side. Emperor Daoguang clearly instructed Qishan that if the British side insisted on its aggression request, it would take decisive measures and resolutely use force to fight the invaders. However, Qishan was frightened by the British army's strong ships and cannons, and sought to compromise. Because Emperor Daoguang's attitude was very tough, Qishan only agreed to compensate the tobacco prices when negotiating with Elliot and refused to cede Hong Kong Island.

.On January 7, 1841, the British army savagely captured Dajiao and Shajiao at Humen, and then made demands for occupying Shajiao. Under the force of the British army, Qishan was helpless and followed the British side. If the British army retreated to Dinghai, Shajiao and other places, they could ask Emperor Daoguang to give a "residence" outside the Pearl River Estuary. On January 14, Elliot proposed to occupy Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, and Hong Kong. Qishan replied that he could only choose one place to "residence and moor boats" and wait for the British side to choose, and then he would submit an order. On January 20, Elliot suddenly announced that he had reached a "preliminary agreement" with Qishan, the first of which was to cede Hong Kong Island and the port to the British King. On January 26, the British army had no basis for any treaty.

From January 27 to 28, in order to force China to admit that it was legal to occupy Hong Kong Island, Elliot couldn't wait to hold talks with Qishan at Lotus Mountain. The two had a dispute over the important clause proposed by the British side, namely ceding Hong Kong Island and trading issues. Qishan said that the draft agreement drafted by the Yiluo firm could only be restored. This shows that the "preliminary agreement" announced by Elliot on January 20 is nonsense. On January 30, the British side repeated the same trick. The British Expeditionary Force naval commander Bo Mai wrote to the deputy general of the Chinese Dapeng Association, and once again lied that Elliot had "disputed everything and agreed to give the entire island of Hong Kong to the British head. There was already a document on the case," and demanded the withdrawal of Chinese officers and soldiers from all over the island.

Later, the British army posted a notice on Hong Kong Island, claiming that "there has been agreed upon with the imperial envoy, and the entire island of Hong Kong and other places was handed over to the British hostage. There was a documentary on the case. Therefore, the residents of Hong Kong and other places are now the sons of the Great British master." The historical fact is that under the guns of the British army, Qi Shan did allow the emperor to beg for the emperor and allow the British to beg for ships in Hong Kong. However, the word Hong Kong at that time did not refer to the entire island of Hong Kong, but only refers to a corner of the southwest of the island. However, the British side deliberately turned a corner into the entire island, turned "the mansion of ships" into seizure, and said that "the mansion of ships" was "an agreement" as "all matters" and "the mansion of the mansion" was "the mansion of the mansion" and "the mansion of the mansion" was "an agreement" and "the mansion of the mansion" was on the case." This fully demonstrated how the old colonial empire of Britain, a former colonial empire, used all means in diplomacy.

After the British occupied Hong Kong Island by force, the Qing government was extremely shocked and immediately deployed to retake Hong Kong Island by force. On February 26, 1841, Emperor Daoguang received a memorial from Guangdong Governor Yiliang that Qishan had a good position to deal with the British people, and the British army occupied Hong Kong Island and made false statements, that was, it was determined that the British army occupied Hong Kong Island because Qishan exceeded his authority and private affairs. The edict said: "I rule the world and have a single land, all the people are owned by the state. Qishan is good at dealing with Hong Kong, and is good at dealing with trade, and dares to beg me for the extra kindness," and ordered Qishan to be dismissed from office and removed from Beijing, and all the property was seized. Emperor Daoguang severely punished Qishan.

He was long dissatisfied with Qishan's behavior of compromising with the British in Guangdong. On January 27, Emperor Daoguang learned that Dajiao and Shajiao Fort were lost, and immediately ordered Qishan to be handed over to the Ministry for consultation. Three days later, he ordered Yishan, the Minister of the Imperial Guard, to be General Jingni, the Minister of Revenue, Long Wen, and the Admiral of Hunan, to go south to fight against British invaders. After the British army occupied Hong Kong Island, the recapture of Hong Kong Island by force became an important goal of Yishan and others' war. At that time, Yishan and others were still on their way south. Emperor Daoguang issued an edict saying: "Even if Hong Kong is not a critical point, it must be tried to take it back quickly, and it will not be possible.

He was allowed to give the barbarians to cause troubles." Later, he issued a decree to recover Hong Kong Island one after another: "When the gang occupied by the gang, we must try to recover the gangs and make them obey the gangs forever in order to live up to the gangs." Who knew that although the number of Yishan troops mobilized by Emperor Guang was several times that of the British army, they were all army, and they could only defend Guangzhou on land and were unable to attack Hong Kong Island at all. On May 18, 1841, the British army almost went all out to attack Guangzhou. Yishan responded hastily, the Qing army was defeated, and all the forts outside the city of Guangzhou were lost. Yishan was forced to establish a "city alliance", within a week

He paid 6 million yuan in compensation and withdrew the army from Guangzhou City. Afterwards, Yishan lied about military affairs and saw the defeat as a victory, which led Emperor Daoguang to mistakenly believe that the British army returned to Hong Kong Island from Guangzhou after the conditions were met, which was a victory for the Celestial Empire to fight against the "British and Barbara". As for Hong Kong Island, Emperor Daoguang accepted the new governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Qi Lanmu and agreed to suspend the map. At this time, Hong Kong Island was subjected to two hurricanes, and many British ships were sunk and destroyed. When Emperor Daoguang learned the news, he immediately issued the 20 pillars of the Daoguang incense, asking Yishan and others to go to various temples to thank the gods, and mistakenly believed that in the future, "the barbarians were shocked and dared not covet them anymore."

On August 21, 1841, Britain sent Pu Dingcha to replace Elliot's war of aggression against China, leaving behind a few army and five warships in Hong Kong, and personally led the main force to the north. Emperor Daoguang thought that the main force of the British army would go north and Hong Kong would be empty, which was a good opportunity to recover Hong Kong. He warned Yishan: "If we can try to recover Hong Kong, if we can do it in the past, we can still atone for the sins." After many times, he ordered Yishan and others to train village warriors to take the opportunity to recover Hong Kong. After the great defeat in the Battle of Guangzhou, Yishan was well aware of the strength of the British army, and the land attack was defeated, let alone crossing the sea to recover Hong Kong. In addition, the forts inside and outside Humen had long been shoveled into flat ground, without any danger, and the navy had no ships or cannons.

He believed that the current plan was to strictly guard the land route to prevent burning and looting. Although Emperor Daoguang repeatedly ordered the recovery of Hong Kong and did not delay waiting and watching, Guangdong still did his own thing, endured and did not seek attack and suppression. In October 1841, the British army successively captured Dinghai, Zhenhai and Ningbo, Zhejiang, and China and Britain began to fight on land. Emperor Daoguang believed that the land war was the leader of the Qing army. He appointed Yi Jing as General Yangwei, mobilized troops from all over the country, prepared to defeat the British army in one fell swoop, recover lost territory, and ordered Yishan and others to take advantage of the British ships on the Guangdong sea and Hong Kong was empty, and immediately suppressed the baptism and recover Hong Kong. Unexpectedly, the Qing army's land war was defeated again.

General Yangwei fled Hangzhou. The iron facts proved that the Qing army could not only be attacked by sea, but also not rely on the land. However, the British army's entrenchment in Hong Kong was still a heart-wrenching problem of Emperor Daoguang. On March 27, 1842, the Qing government appointed the Hangzhou General with the Elder Ying, and awarded him the imperial envoy Guan Fang on April 11. On May 18, the British army captured Zhapu. At this critical moment, Emperor Daoguang unexpectedly ordered the Elder Ying to take the imperial envoy Guan Fang to the position of General Guangzhou, and ordered him to say: "Where can you allow the rebels to be occupied for a long time when you go to Hong Kong? Now, if the fortifications such as Guangdong Fortress have been prepared, you can take the opportunity to advance, attack openly and secretly, recover Hong Kong, and extend the country.

"This is the last decree we can see to recover Hong Kong. However, 10 days later, Emperor Daoguang had to change his mind and ordered Qiying to temporarily suspend his trip to Guangdong, check the British movements in Zhejiang, and handle the matters of British detention. At this time, the detention had actually become synonymous with begging for surrender. When the British army captured Wusong, Shanghai and arrived directly in Zhenjiang, Emperor Daoguang even authorized Qiying to act cheaply and decided to surrender. Later, the British army captured Zhenjiang and approached Nanjing on August 4. Qiying and Yilibu accepted the peace agreement proposed by the British side, and signed the Sino-British Treaty of Nanjing on August 29, and finally ceded Hong Kong Island to Britain.

The above facts show that after Britain occupied Hong Kong Island, the Qing government tried to recover it by force. Emperor Daoguang issued dozens of decrees for this. Some officials from the border also submitted a memorial and consulted Yishan to request the recovery of Hong Kong Island by force. However, the Qing government did not eventually recover Hong Kong Island, but instead ceded Hong Kong Island in the form of a treaty, indicating that the Qing government was no longer able to defend the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty and independence. The country's backwardness and corruption of the ruling class fundamentally determined this conclusion.

Bureau. In 1860, Britain forced the Qing government to sign the Sino-British Treaty of Beijing by force, and occupied the southern end of the Kowloon Peninsula and the Angchuan Continent. In 1898, in the craze of Western powers separating China, Britain took advantage of the situation and forced the Qing government to sign the Sino-British "Special Article on Expanding the Hong Kong Territory", seizing the "lease right" of large land in Xin'an County, my country and the vast waters of 235 islands and vast waters for 99 years. It was renamed the "New Territories" and incorporated into the British colony of Hong Kong.

China's efforts to recover Kowloon's leased land before the Pacific War

After the Xinhai Revolution, the Chinese government and people continued to make unremitting efforts to regain Hong Kong.

At the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, Chinese representatives proposed to the Peace Conference the issue of reclaiming the leased land (including the leased land of Kowloon) in accordance with the instructions of the Beijing government. Since the Peace Conference was controlled by the two main victory over the First World War, Britain and France, they had leased land in China and were not willing to give up their vested interests at all. The Peace Conference President and French Prime Minister Crimontso used the excuse that China's proposal was "not within the scope of the Peace Conference's authority" to infer that this matter should be considered by the League of Nations in the future and easily rejected it. As we all know, this Peace Conference, which advocated the establishment of "international justice" and aimed at "creating permanent world peace", treated China's May Fourth Movement with its extremely unfair decision, and induced China's May Fourth Movement through the resolution to transfer Germany's invasion rights in Shandong to Japan, and prompted the Chinese representative to refuse to sign the Peace Conference's Peace Conference's Peace Conference.

On December 3, 1921, Chinese representative Gu Weijun re-proposed a bill to abolish the leased lands of various countries in China at the Washington Conference. The bill listed the facts of the leased lands of the great powers in China that destroyed China's territory and administrative integrity, endangered China's national defense, and led China into the vortex of conflicts between the great powers and used by the great powers to establish their own sphere of influence, and demanded that "these leased lands be abolished or abolished as soon as possible." At that time, the post-war world national liberation movement was rising, and the people were promoted by the May Fourth Movement, and the wave of abolishing unequal treaties was surging. At the same time, the United States and Japan competed for the prosperity of each other in the Far East, and the United States tried to suppress Japan's aggressive expansion momentum, and there were many contradictions between the other great powers. The above two factors prompted Britain and Japan to agree to release the country respectively.

The land of Weihaiwei and Jiaozhou benzhe was abandoned. However, in the issue of abolishing the land of lending and land of Renda in Kowloon (i.e., Hong Kong New Territories), the Chinese representative was strongly opposed by the British and Japanese representatives. The representatives of the British and Japanese representatives at the meeting, the President of the Privy Council, Belford, who was known as a "bloody figure", resolutely refused to return the land of "without Kowloon, Hong Kong cannot defend itself." On December 7, Gu Weijun reasonably refuted Belford's fallacy at the Far East Committee of the meeting. Belford ignored this, the Japanese representative kept silent, while the US representative was indifferent and looked at it. Since then, the Washington Conference has no longer discussed the issue of land of Kowloon. China's legitimate demand to take back Kowloon's lease, but was seriously frustrated due to Britain's stubborn refusal with the Chinese warlords at that time, political instability and lack of strength to support diplomatic support.

After the Washington Conference, the Chinese people were greatly disappointed with the results of the conference. The abolition of the unequal treaty has become increasingly a common demand for all parties and people from all walks of life across the country. In January 1924, Mr. Sun Yat-sen presided over the First National Congress of the Kuomintang with the support and help of the Communist Party of China. In the conference declaration passed on the 23rd of the same month, it clearly put forward the goal of abolishing the unequal treaty imposed on China by imperialism, and the cancellation of the land of the great powers in China was placed in a prominent position. The declaration reads: "All unequal treaties, such as land leased by outsiders, consular judgment rights, outsiders' right to manage tariffs, and those who exercise all political power in China infringe on China should be abolished and the treaty on equality, mutual respect and sovereignty between the two sides." This passage became the guideline for China's diplomacy in a later period.

After the establishment of the National Government headed by Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing, although it had a great dependence on imperialism, especially Britain and the United States, in order to consolidate its own status, it had to consider the urgent desires of the general public and Mr. Sun Yat-sen's desire for "China's freedom and equality", and proposed the diplomatic policy of "amending the unequal treaty", and repeatedly asked the great powers to abolish the concessions and leased land. However, this diplomatic amendment, except for the tariff autonomy, the recovery of several concessions and the withdrawal of Weihaiwei in 1930 in accordance with Britain's previous commitment, the other results were very little. Until the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Nanjing National Government never even formally proposed to Britain to return the leased land of Kowloon to the UK.

In contrast to the National Government, the British government and the British Hong Kong authorities have always been concerned about the future of the Kowloon leased land, and are nervously watching the movements of the National Government and Chinese public opinion on this issue. Hong Kong Governor Kim Wentai not only firmly opposed the return of the leased land, but also repeatedly suggested that the government formally seize it. The method was to return Weihaiwei as a condition of exchange, or deliberately provoke a conflict with China to create an opportunity for mergers. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, another Hong Kong Governor Luo Fuguo also tried to take advantage of the danger and proposed in 1938 that China urgently needed foreign loans to support its currency. It might as well use this opportunity to exchange for it to ced the Kowloon leased land or extend its lease term. However, the suggestions of the above two Hong Kong Governors were not adopted by the British government, so it would rather take the policy of delaying, silence and avoiding this matter. As long as China does not propose it, it will never take the initiative to deal with this issue.

Although the British government strictly guarded China on the issue of land leases in Kowloon, it did not notice that its policies were posing a fatal danger to its rule over Hong Kong. For many years, Britain has been pursuing, pleasing and indulging in Japan, and fantasizing about reaching a compromise with Japan to safeguard its colonial interests in the Far East and Southeast Asia. Who knew that this policy did not work, but instead encouraged the southward advance of Japanese militarism, which played a role in attracting wolves into the house, and finally led to the outbreak of the Pacific War and Japan's occupation of the entire Hong Kong region, shooting itself in the foot. As an Australian scholar said, "In this period, it can almost be said that the greater threat to Hong Kong... was not only from the Chinese, but from the British Foreign Ministry."

In 1942, Sino-British negotiations on the return of Kowloon leased land and the loss of two opportunities to recover Hong Kong

At the end of 1941, the Pacific War broke out and the Japanese invading troops attacked Hong Kong. At that time, Britain was busy with European wars and defending its homeland. It was not strong in resistance in Hong Kong and left in just 18 days. Hong Kong Governor Yang Muqi surrendered to Japan on Christmas Day of the same year, and Britain's century-old rule over Hong Kong was replaced by Japan. At the same time, the British ace warships "Prince of Wales" and "Chodi" were destroyed by Japanese attacks on the Malay sea, and Britain's colonial system in the Far East and Southeast Asia quickly collapsed.

By June 1942, the British army had withdrawn from Malaya, Singapore, Myanmar and other places, and Japan had deployed troops to the Indian-Myanmar border, forming a trend of knocking on the gate of India. The British Empire's former glory in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia was wiped out. The great retreat of Britain in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia marked the complete destruction of the Far East international balance of powers established by the great powers through the Washington Conference after World War I. China, the United States, and Britain had become allies that jointly opposed Japanese aggression. This situation forced Britain to consider China's demand to abolish unequal treaties.

At that time, the anti-fascist wars in the East and the West were connected together, and China's War of Resistance and the wars of allies formed one. Changes in the international situation not only helped the Chinese people to win the victory of the War of Resistance, but also provided a good opportunity to regain Hong Kong. The US government led by Roosevelt was well aware of the huge impact of the Chinese battlefield on Japan. In order to make the National Government insist on fighting against Japan, and to fill the vacuum that Britain might leave in the Far East after the war, starting from its own interests, it also began to attack Britain's practices of retaining colonial privileges in China and not returning Hong Kong to China. The US's attitude was undoubtedly a pressure on Britain, an encouragement on the National Government, and prompted it to take action.

At the end of August 1942, the National Government formally asked the United States to hold negotiations with China to abolish unequal treaties, which in order to prompt Britain and China to hold similar negotiations. After hearing about this, the British Foreign Office panicked and hurriedly instructed its ambassador to China Xue Mu to "take the initiative". On October 10, the United States and Britain issued statements respectively, preparing to negotiate with the Chinese government about "immediately giving up the legal power outside the rule of law in China and resolving relevant issues." Negotiations on the abolition of unequal treaties by China and the United States, China and Britain began immediately. The negotiations involved the abandonment of the concession in China. The National Government believed that the leased land and the concession belonged to the same category, and took advantage of the opportunity to propose the return of the leased land in Kowloon (i.e., the Hong Kong New Territories). This was a natural thing.

Since then, the United States and Britain have proposed drafts on the New Testament for consideration. The Sino-British negotiations were held in Chongqing, and the Foreign Ministers of the National Government Song Ziwen and Xue Mu represent the two countries respectively. The British draft includes abolishing the extraterritorial power in China, terminating the Xinchou Treaty in 1901, and returning some concessions to China. However, although the British side knew that China was very concerned about taking back Hong Kong (at least the New Territories), they deliberately did not raise this issue in their draft. On November 10, British wartime cabinet Prime Minister Churchill took action personally and declared toughly on the Hong Kong issue: "I am the prime minister of the king not to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire", and said that he "will never give up any territory of the British Empire", which shows Britain's stubborn position on Hong Kong colonial rule.

On November 13, the National Government proposed a "Revised Draft" on the British draft, which added the content of the "Special Article on Expanding Hong Kong Border Sites" in June 1898: "The administrative and management rights of the British land leased in Kowloon, together with its official assets and official debts, should be transferred to the Government of the Republic of China." It should be said that it is only proposed to return the land leased in Kowloon here, but not requesting the return of the entire Hong Kong region, which is a compromise and concession. At that time, Chongqing public opinion was very enthusiastic and opposed any foreign countries' continued occupation of Chinese territory. The American public opinion also sympathized with and supported China's legitimate demands. The situation was favorable to China.

When the UK received the Chinese "Draft Amendment", it hurriedly studied countermeasures. Ge Shanli (Clark), Director of the Far East Department of the British Foreign Ministry, proposed three alternative plans: (1) Accept the request; (2) Dispelling it; (3) Try to delay it. He believed that the first plan was not possible because the New Territories were economically and strategically important to Hong Kong; the second plan was not possible, which would cause dissatisfaction and criticism from the United States (Britain had a great dependence on the United States during the war). Therefore, he believed that

In order to choose the third plan, if possible, it should be delayed. Foreign Minister Aiden believed that the Secretary-General was neither determined nor clear, and tried his best to oppose it. He tended to adopt the second plan, that is, to flatly declare that Kowloon's leased land does not fall within the scope of this treaty and refused to return it. Aiden's proposal was strongly supported by Churchill, and a corresponding resolution was made at the British wartime cabinet meeting on November 30. The British policy on Kowloon's leased land was decided by a large-scale decision.

On November 30, Xue Mu announced to Song Ziwen that the UK was not ready to negotiate the issue of Kowloon leased land with China. Song Ziwen repeatedly reiterated China's principled position to take back the leased land. The two sides had a dispute, but there was no result. After learning about this situation, Chiang Kai-shek said that if the content of the New Territories was not included in the Chinese-British New Testament, he refused to sign the treaty. The negotiations were deadlocked.

Under this circumstance, the chief representative of China, Song Ziwen, was shaken. In order to break the negotiation deadlock, he prepared to make a transaction based on principles and concessions to Britain on the issue of land leased by Kowloon. However, he did not dare to make his claims to Chiang Kai-shek, so he asked Gu Weijun, the veteran of the diplomatic circle who was returning to China to report his duties at the time, to persuade Chiang Kai-shek to make concessions to Britain. Gu Weijun was entrusted to go and told Chiang Kai-shek that he "understand the Chairman's meaning and said that the gifts he sent should be delivered at once, but Britain was willing to give them in two." "In my opinion, it would be better to accept this first one first, which could imply that we are waiting for the arrival of this second gift so that we will not cause any misunderstandings"; and, in addition, the "unity" and "extremely important" among the allies during the war. Gu Weijun's persuasion played a considerable role in Chiang Kai-shek.

In the subsequent negotiations, the British side continued to adhere to the stubborn colonial stance. In order to prevent the negotiations from being completely broken, Song Ziwen asked the British side to issue a statement expressing his intention to return the Kowloon leased land in the future. For this reason, China will never urge Britain to return the Kowloon leased land before the end of the war. At the same time, it was important to announce that if the British side did not even express such an intention, China would not sign the treaty. In response, Britain only agreed to "discuss the future of the leased land after the victory of the war" and was unwilling to make any promises on the return of the leased land after the war, and even threatened that the British side would "refusing to sign a new contract". At this time, Japan, which was conducting bloody and barbaric invasion of China, in order to disrupt the hearts of the people and provoke relations between allies, proposed to "revoke" the privileges of Japan's concession in China and extraterritorial legal rights as soon as possible to show "China-Japan goodwill" in order to seize China and the United States, China and Britain and Wang puppet before

Contracting the contract. Chiang Kai-shek "refusing to sign a new contract" in the UK. Under the double pressure of the two countries and Britain, the Japanese and puppets made fundamental concessions to the UK. On December 31, 1942, he instructed the National Government to formally agree not to merge the issue of revoking Kowloon's leased land and abolishing extraterritorial legal rights. He wrote in his diary that day: "It is quite difficult to deal with British diplomacy." "The issue of Kowloon (loan land) is returned to the issue of Ying Jian unwilling to go to the new contract.

He had to "sustain it for a while" and agreed to sign the Sino-British treaty; "After I sign it, I will explain it in another book to return the Kowloon issue to the temporary reservation, waiting for future negotiations to be the basis for future negotiations." He also swears that as a "last means", he planned to "as soon as the war is over, he will use military means (the land of Kowloon leased) to be retrieved by the Japanese army. Even if he is cunning, he will have no choice."

Chiang Kai-shek's original intention was to sign the Sino-US and the New Testament of China and the United States on New Year's Day in 1943 before the Japanese and puppets. However, due to Britain's delay, the two treaties were not signed until January 11, 1943 (the Japanese-puppet treaty signed on January 9). In the "Treaty on the Abolition of Britain's Extraordinary Rights in China and its Related Privileges" signed in Chongqing on the same day, there was no mention of the issue of Kowloon's leased land. On the same day, Song Ziwen sent a note to Xue Mu, stating that the Chinese government "reserved the right to discuss the Kowloon's leased land in the future." During the war, China's negotiations to take back the Kowloon's leased land, and then ended with China's failure.

1942 was a favorable opportunity for China to abolish the privileges and unequal treaties in China. It cannot be concealed that although the National Government, led by Chiang Kai-shek, had a serious dependence on Britain and the United States, did want to take the opportunity to reclaim as many foreigners as possible in China. Through the new Sino-British Testament in January 1943, China abolished the British extraterritorial rights in China and the Xin Chou Treaty in 1901, and reclaimed the Peking Embassy Concession, Shanghai and Xiamen Public Concessions.

The administrative power of the Chinese government has taken back the British concession in Tianjin and Guangzhou, and so on. This happened when Britain opened the door of China with gunboats and forced the signing of the Treaty of Nanjing in China and the 100th anniversary of China's decline to become a semi-colonial land. It is a historical coincidence. This is a major event in the history of the struggle of the Chinese nation to abolish the unequal treaty. The achievement of this achievement should be fundamentally attributed to the Chinese people who are fighting bloody battles with the Japanese invaders.

However, it should be pointed out that the failure to reclaim Kowloon's leased land during this negotiation was indeed the incompetence of the National Government. In a statement issued on the second day after the signing of the Sino-US and the New Testament of China and the United States, the National Government announced that China has since gained a "complete independence, equality and freedom" with all countries, which is exaggerated. China's failure to reclaim Kowloon's leased land was certainly due to Britain's insistence on colonialism, but it is also directly related to the failure of the National Government to fight for it and its weak attitude. As mentioned above, there were excellent international and domestic conditions for the reclaim Kowloon's leased land at that time. We should have seized the opportunity, argued according to reason, adhered to principles, and sought success. Even if Britain stubbornly refused to allow it, it would be better to refuse to sign the new contract and wait for the future. Even so, Britain could not blame China for undermining the unity of allies. On the contrary, as an allied country, the UK, as a Chinese ally, seized the privilege of renting land in China, would be harmful to the allied team.

Therefore, the treaty failed and the loss of justice was still on the British side. In the world anti-fascist war at that time, the wave of national liberation was unprecedentedly high, and the collapse of the imperialist colonial system was irreversible. Even if the New Testament was not signed for the time being, how could Britain maintain its privileges and leased land in China for a long time after the victory of the war? As the chief representative of China, Song Ziwen could not understand the general trend of the world, short-sighted and weak mentally, and attempted to exchange for "unity" with Britain with compromise. As a result, China retreated more and more and more, Britain advanced, which finally caused China to be reasonable and frustrated, and the British won unreasonably. Song Ziwen could not give up on this. As for Chiang Kai-shek, although he wanted to take back the loan of Kowloon and made some efforts for this, he still did not stick to the end in the face of Britain's hard-working position, and ultimately compromised the British, resulting in the failure of the withdrawal of Kowloon's loan and missed the opportunity.

After Japan surrendered unconditionally in August 1945, the opportunity to regain Hong Kong came again. However, because Chiang Kai-shek pursued a wrong policy of internal and firmly and resolutely, and was eager to seize the fruits of victory in the War of Resistance, he had already forgotten his oath of re-proposing post-war negotiations and "retrieving the Kowloon loan from the Japanese army with military force" to the sky; on the contrary, he hurriedly announced to Britain that he had "no ambitions" for Hong Kong. The result was that Britain had the first to recapture Hong Kong. Not only that, Chiang Kai-shek, as the supreme commander of the Allied China Theater (Hong Kong belongs to the Chinese Theater), had the right to accept the surrender of the Hong Kong Japanese army, but in the end, even the right to be surrendered was actually taken away by the British. This was the second time the National Government had missed a good opportunity in the issue of regaining Hong Kong, a great irony to China, one of the "Four Strongest" China, and a historical tragedy.

The founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 declared the end of China's semi-colonial era and laid a solid foundation for the return of Hong Kong for the first time. With the increasing national strength of our country, the expiration of the New Territories lease period in Hong Kong and favorable changes in the international situation, and by the early 1980s, the revocation of Hong Kong was put on the agenda. In principle, the Sino-British Joint Statement on the Hong Kong Issues finally solved the issue of Hong Kong's return. According to the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region was not long ago, and the main officials of the government of the Special Administrative Region were appointed. Hong Kong's smooth return and smooth transition was expected. This was a successful practice of the great concept of "one country, two systems" and the Hong Kong people's policy of governing Hong Kong. A century of humiliation was about to be washed away. All Chinese people were proud of this and were full of confidence in the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong after the return.

While celebrating Hong Kong's coming back, we must not forget the long and arduous journey of regaining Hong Kong, and think about the hard-won achievements of today. The regaining Hong Kong's more than a hundred years of history once again proves to us that the unbreakable truth that backward will be beaten, and that weak countries have no diplomacy has proved that a country that is indifferent to self-restrained, does not seek innovation, internal instability, weak national strength, and corrupt backward cannot maintain its independence and territorial integrity. It is also impossible to ask it to "clean up the old mountains and rivers" to "clean up the old mountains and rivers". Only under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, a loyal representative of the interests of all ethnic groups in China, can we finally realize the long-cherished wish of the Chinese nation for several generations of struggle. Only by reform and opening up, maintaining stability and unity, self-reliance and self-improvement, striving for advancement, and constantly enhancing national strength, can we be the only way to defend the country and develop the country. Only by reform and opening up, maintaining stability and unity, maintaining self-reliance, striving for advancement, and constantly enhancing national strength, can we be the only way to defend the country and develop the country.
Chapter completed!