<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> British Hong Kong was the period during which Hong Kong was under British Crown rule from 1841 to 1997 (excluding the Japanese occupation from 1941 to 1945). It was established as a Crown colony and later designated a British Dependent Territory in 1981 . Hong Kong Island was ceded to the United Kingdom by the Qing dynasty of China after the First Opium War (1839--42). The Kowloon Peninsula was added to the colony after the Second Opium War (1856--60). Finally, in 1898, the New Territories were added under a 99 - year lease . Although Hong Kong Island and Kowloon were ceded to Britain in perpetuity, the New Territories--which comprised over 90 per cent of Hong Kong's land--had such a vital role in the economy that the British government agreed to transfer sovereignty of the entirety of Hong Kong to China upon the expiration of the lease in 1997 . The transfer has been credited by some as marking the end of the British Empire . </P> <P> In 1836, the Manchu Qing government undertook a major policy review of the opium trade . Lin Zexu volunteered to take on the task of suppressing opium . In March 1839, he became Special Imperial Commissioner in Canton, where he ordered the foreign traders to surrender their opium stock . He confined the British to the Canton Factories and cut off their supplies . Chief Superintendent of Trade, Charles Elliot, complied with Lin's demands to secure a safe exit for the British, with the costs involved to be resolved between the two governments . When Elliot promised that the British government would pay for their opium stock, the merchants surrendered their 20,283 chests of opium, which were destroyed in public . </P>

When did hong kong cease to be a british colony