The handover ceremony of Hong Kong in 1997
The
handover ceremony of Hong Kong in 1997 officially marked the
transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong from the
British back to the
Chinese. It was held on the night of
June 30,
1997 at the new
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) in
Wan Chai.
The principal British guest was
The Prince of Wales who read a farewell speech on behalf of
Queen Elizabeth II. Also representing Britain were
Tony Blair (newly elected
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom),
Chris Patten (last
Governor of Hong Kong),
Robin Cook (
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs), and
Charles Guthrie (then-
Chief of the Defence Staff).
Representing the People's Republic of China were
Jiang Zemin (then-
President of the People's Republic of China),
Tung Chee-hwa (first
Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region),
Li Peng (then-
Premier of the People's Republic of China),
Qian Qichen (then-Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China), and
Zhang Wannian (then Vice-Chairman of the
Central Military Commission).
As midnight approached, the
Union Jack was slowly lowered to the British anthem
God Save the Queen, symbolizing the end of British colonial rule in Hong Kong. At promptly midnight,
1 July 1997, the
flag of the People's Republic of China is flown to the Chinese anthem
March of the Volunteers. Prince Charles and Jiang Zemin each gave a speech before and after the switch.
After the handover ceremony, there was a swear-in ceremony in the HKCEC for various Hong Kong SAR officials including Tung Chee-hwa,
Anson Chan,
Donald Tsang,
Elsie Leung, and others. The British representatives did not attend the swear-in ceremony. Prince Charles and Chris Patten, with his family, bid the citizens of Hong Kong farewell in the
Tamar site and boarded the
HM Yacht Britannia on its last voyage back to Britain. The boat was escorted by
HMS Chatham (F87). Tony Blair and other British officials, on the other hand, went back to Britain by plane.
In
2005, the British
Mail on Sunday revealed Prince Charles's diary entries, where he referred to the transfer as the "Great Chinese Takeaway", and the Chinese officials as "appalling old waxworks". In another reported extract, Prince Charles described the ceremony as an "awful Soviet-style" performance and dismissed the speech by Jiang Zemin as "propaganda", complete with loud cheering "by the bussed-in party faithful at the suitable moment in the text." He also says the
People's Liberation Army marches in "goosesteps" in the ceremony and claims his trip on the HMY Britannia out of Hong Kong was closely watched by Chinese warships.
*
Row over Prince's China diaries, BBC News, 13 November 2005*
Footage of the handover ceremony on Google Video (in Cantonese, Mandarin and English)
