What is happening in Hong Kong? Hong Kong was British colony since 1841 and was returned to China in 1997 after over 150 years of British rule. Colonial life left its mark on Hong Kong in a sustainable way. That’s why people say that people from Hong Kong "share a way of life and core values that resembles at least as much as the average Londoner". In 1984, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and China’s premier Zhao Ziyang signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, agreeing that China would give Hong Kong some political and social autonomy through a “one country, two systems” policy for a 50-year-period. After the handover, Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of China, under the principle of “one country, two systems”. The “one country, two systems” principle is enshrined in a document called the Basic Law and the Basic Law is known as Hong Kong's mini constitution. Basic Law protects rights such as freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, neither of which exist in mainland China. Now China wants to reduce Hong Kong's autonomy and that is why in June this year China passed the National Security Law (NLS) for Hong Kong which made it easier to punish protesters and reduce HK's autonomy.