If just one or two small things had differed, prior to the 1997 hand-over, Hong Kong would likely still be a British colony. Chinese officialdom wasn't cognizant of the hand-over until British officials informed them in 1979, because of the cavalcade of tumultuous events which followed the 19th Century treaties which ceded HK to the British 'in perpetuity.' The first half of the book summarizes the actual true-life history of China, from the Portuguese and British trading ships of the 16th century, up until the 1997 hand-over of Hong Kong. The second half of the Hong Kong book offers a fictional scenario of what might have happened if just one or two lead-up incidents had been slightly altered. Hong Kong island and Kowloon could well have remained British, according to signed treaties.
