Background
Political talks about the Second Convention of Peking resurfaced in the early 70s. The New Territories land lease agreement would end within 27 years in 1997. Then-Governor of Hong Kong Murray MacLehose began visiting Beijing to talk about the future of Hong Kong with PRC leaders.
The British government envisioned the possibility of extending the land lease agreement for many more years, thus shelving the problem for a long time. The fact was far from the vision, as the British and the PRC were engaged in a long and uncompromising negotiation eventually involving Margaret Thatcher. What was supposed to be a negotiation on extending the lease deal became a post-colonial framework timeline.
Read more about this topic: 1970s In Hong Kong
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In the true sense one’s native land, with its background of tradition, early impressions, reminiscences and other things dear to one, is not enough to make sensitive human beings feel at home.”
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)