On October 10, 1911, Sun's followers rose in rebellion. (The event is now celebrated in China as Double Ten, for the tenth day of the tenth month.) Although Sun was in the United States when the rebellion began, when he returned to China he was chosen head of the provisional government. The Manchus agreed to give up power in return for the guarantee of their safety. In 1912 the Republic of China was proclaimed. Hope for genuine reform was dashed by its first president, Yüan Shikai, who tried unsuccessfully to establish a new dynasty. Power passed to warlords in the provinces for

The catalyst for the decision to return Hong Kong was the impending expiry in 1997 of the United Kingdom's 99-year lease on the New Territories, part of the mainland bordering the Hong Kong islands acquired in 1898. Hong Kong itself, ceded to the British in 1842 during the Opium Wars, could theoretically have remained a British colony forever. But with the decolonization of the British Empire almost complete, the decision was made to return the entire possession, a liberal and westernized (though not truly democratic) community of over 6 million citizens whose entrepreneurial drive had made it one of the economic powerhouses of the region, to the control of an authoritarian (if not actively totalitarian) and still declaredly Communist state.

The Tiananmen Square protest was the culmination of a series of demonstrations that had begun April 15 in memory of Hu Yaobang, former Communist party general secretary and reformer. By May these demonstrations had evolved into demands for the removal of Communist government officials. On May 4 approximately 100,000 students demonstrated in Beijing demanding democratic reforms. The demonstrations continued in spite of several government orders to cease and the declaration of martial law. Some students went on hunger strike. The suppression of the Tiananmen Square protest was followed by executions, trials, arrests, and censorship.

Some topics in this essay:
Hong Kong, Tiananmen Square, Legislative Council, Hu Yaobang, Kuomintang Communists, Alliance Society, Chiang Kai-Shek, British Empire, Canton Guangzhou, Yüan Shikai, hong kong, tiananmen square, republic china, legislative council, 30 1997 sovereignty, square protest, british empire, decision return, demonstrations continued, returned china, people's republic, people's republic china, june 30 1997, tiananmen square protest,