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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Helen Davidson in Taipei

New Hong Kong textbooks ‘will claim city never was a British colony’

Hong Kong Carrie Lam John Lee Tang Fei Xi Jinping China National Security
Thousands of protesters carrying the British flag march in Hong Kong in July 2019.
Thousands of protesters carrying the British flag march in Hong Kong in July 2019. Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

New Hong Kong textbooks will teach students that the city was never a British colony, after an overhaul of a school subject that authorities have blamed for driving the pro-democracy protests.

According to local reports, the new texts will teach students that the Chinese government didn’t recognise the treaties that ceded the city to Britain after the opium wars. They ended in 1997 when Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese control, and therefore the texts claim Hong Kong was never a British colony.

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