XIANGGANG CANGSANG, SHANGBU YI JI: WUWANG GUOCHI
{GREAT CHANGES IN HONG KONG, CHAPTER 1, PT. 1: NEVER
FORGET THE NATIONAL HUMILIATION} {MANDARIN
CHINESE} (TV)
Summary
The second of two programs on this tape. Part one of
Chapter One of a documentary chronicling the debates
over the last 150 years about Hong Kong between the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and the People's
Republic of China. The program includes historical
footage of key British/Chinese meetings on Hong Kong
and interviews with senior officials from China,
Britain, and Hong Kong, as well as additional comments
from historians and business leaders. This part focuses
on the initial British takeover of Hong Kong in the
nineteenth century, beginning 150 years of British
dominance on the island. The program opens with
interviews of locals on "Possession Street" in Hong
Kong; many are unaware that the street's name comes
from its being the site where British soldiers first
landed on the island in 1841. Next, the program covers
the three nineteenth-century British incursions in Hong
Kong, collectively known as the Opium Wars, that
resulted in the takeover of Hong Kong Island in 1841,
Kowloon in 1860, and finally, Xinjie in 1898. Yu
Shengwu of the China Social Studies Academy and Huang
Hongzao, a history professor at Nanjing University,
discuss the origins of the conflict, including the
failed efforts of the British from the late 1700s to
the early 1800s to develop China as an overseas market
for UK products, and their subsequent attempt to rectify
the trade imbalance through opium sales. Next the
program covers the First Opium War, beginning with
Chinese Emperor Daoguang's 1838 ban on the drug in
Guangzhou. The war lasted for four years led by British
Captain Charles Elliot and later by Harry Pottinger who
wore out a string of Chinese officials including Lin
Zexu, Qishan, and Qiying; it ended with the signing of
the Nanjing Treaty on August 29, 1842, making Hong Kong
Island the property of the UK. The events of the war
are told against a background of pictures of the time
and shots of modern-day China, Hong Kong and the UK, and
are discussed in detail by three Chinese historians:
Zhong Zhuoan, Chen Shenglin, and Liu Shuyong. Next, the
program gives an account of the Second Opium War that
began in 1856 over Kowloon. The events of the second
war, including British Lord Elgin's overwhelming
military defeat of Chinese General Ye Mingchen in
Guangdong, the burning of the magnificent summer palace
of Yuanmingyuan in Beijing, and the final "Beijing
Treaty" of 1860, are told against a background of
photographs of the time and discussed in detail by
Chinese historians Zhong Zhuoan and Liu Shuyong. The
program then shifts to the Shenzhen River in Shenzhen
City, the site of the border between Hong Kong and China
and the Third Opium War in 1895. Interviews with
locals, including a local farm woman and a border patrol
officer named Xu Huiping, highlight the unnatural divide
created by the border. Next the program covers the
Third Opium War including the British takeover of
Xinjie, which lies on the south side of the Shenzhen
River and north of Hong Kong Island, and how the famous
Chinese official Li Hongzhang was forced to sign the
"Expansion of Hong Kong Borders Treaty" on June 9, 1898,
proclaiming Xinjie as part of Hong Kong. Historian Liu
Cunkuan and engineer Lin Fangquan then argue that the
British in fact took over more than the treaty had
specified, occupying not only south of the river but
also a significant area to its north. Next, the program
states the position of the Chinese government, seeing
all three treaties as forced upon the Chinese people,
and therefore not binding. It also shows testimony by
everyday citizens of China, Hong Kong, and the UK, all
stating that Hong Kong was unlawfully taken by the
British and that it should be returned to China. The
program ends with an interview with the former Chinese
Ambassador to the United Nations, Ling Qing, who in
1984 submitted to the UN Legal Affairs Division the
"Joint Declaration" between China and UK, which set the
return of Hong Kong to China on July 1, 1997. By
coincidence, Ling Qing is a fifth-generation descendant
of Lin Zexu, whom the Emperor sent to ban opium in
1840, starting the First Opium War. In the final shot,
we see Ling Qing holding a memorial ceremony in front of
Lin's tomb, saying he anxiously awaits July 1, 1997,
when Hong Kong will be officially transferred to China,
and he will return to pay another visit to his ancestor
to tell him of the good news.
(This program is in Mandarin Chinese. While the
narration is not subtitled, interviews in various
Chinese dialects (Cantonese, Mandarin, Wu, and Xiang),
English, and Japanese are all subtitled in Simplified
Chinese.)
Cataloging of this program was made possible by Sun TV,
2002.
Details
- NETWORK: CCTV (China)
- DATE:
- RUNNING TIME: 0:48:30
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:70827.002
- GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
- SUBJECT HEADING: China - History -- 19th century; China - History -- British intervention; China - History -- Opium Wars; Hong Kong; International Collection - China; Xinjie; Kowloon
- SERIES RUN: CCTV (China) - TV series
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Su Daqing … Producer
- Xu Pu … Managing Producer
- Zhou Zhengtian … Director, Writer
- Wu Mingxun … Director, Writer
- Zhang Ou … Director, Writer
- Wang Kanghong … Director, Writer
- Tian Jun … Director, Writer
- Liu Zhouquan … Director, Writer
- Jiang Ruojin … Director, Writer
- Zhou Zhentian … Writing (Misc.), Senior Editor
- Yu Dan … Writing (Misc.), Editor
- Liu Weiguang … Music by
- Guo Rongrong … Music (Misc.), Music Editor
- Central Orchestra … Symphony Orchestra
- Li Yong … Narrator
- Chen Shenglin
- Charles Elliot
- Emperor Daoguang
- Huang Hongzao
- Li Hongzhang
- Lin Fangquan
- Lin Zexu
- Ling Qing
- Liu Cunkuan
- Liu Shuyong
- Lord Elgin
- Qishan
- Qiying
- Henry Pottinger
- Xu Huiping
- Ye Mingchen
- Yu Shengwu
- Zhong Zhuoan