January 20: Hong Kong island was occupied by the British (1841)

Hong Kong island

Hong Kong island became a colony of the British Empire when it defeated the Chinese in the First Opium War. When it was occupied in 1841 by the British, the island was almost uninhabited; the populations then was a few thousands. The British had occupied the island until the handover to China in 1997 except the Japanese occupation of the island between December 1941 and August 1945 during the Second World War. During the British occupation, Hong Kong had grown rapidly from a small town to a highly populated modern city and has played a central role in the Asian financial market. Hong Kong has a good cultural mix of the East and the West. Currently, Hong Kong is a Special Administration Region in China and it benefits from the booming economy of China.