Trying to preserve Hong Kong's history and identity, 25 years after handover from the UK to China

Published July 1, 2022 at 12:40 PM CDT

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People wave Chinese and Hong Kong flags as fishing boats with banners and flags to mark the 25th anniversary of the Handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China sail through Hong Kongs Victoria harbour on June 28, 2022. (Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images)

Twenty-five years ago Friday, Hong Kong was handed over from Great Britain to the People’s Republic of China, ending 156 years as a British colony.

The agreement between the two countries was that for 50 years, the city would operate under a policy of one country, two systems. And the promise that Hong Kong could preserve its way of life for those 50 years has been eroded by the crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations and the reach of Beijing.

Louisa Lim, journalist and author of the book “Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong,” talks to Here & Now‘s Scott Tong about what’s happened to Hong Kong’s identity since the handover. Lim is also the host of a new podcast, “The King of Kowloon.”

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.