Hong Kong independence a Hong Kong representative in the Sino-British negotiation was rejected by Beijing. In 1984, the British and Chinese governments signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration which stated that the sovereignty of Hong Kong should be transferred to the PRC on 1 July 1997, and Hong Kong should enjoy a "high degree of autonomy" under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle. From 1983 to 1997, Hong Kong saw an exodus of emigrants to overseas countries, especially in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, which more than a million Hongkongers showed up on the streets to support to student protesters in
Wellington Barracks, Hong Kong Wellington Barracks, Hong Kong Wellington Barracks () was a military barracks located to the east of Garden Road in Admiralty, Hong Kong. One of many military complexes constructed by the British Army in the area, the land was returned to the Hong Kong government in the 1970s and gradually reverted to civilian use. As a result, the barracks was closed at the end of that decade, demolished in the mid-1980s and replaced with Harcourt Garden. During the First Opium War, the British occupied Hong Kong in 1841 and one year later, Hong Kong Island was ceded to them in the