China–Hong Kong football rivalry China–Hong Kong football rivalry The China–Hong Kong football rivalry is a sports rivalry between the national association football teams of the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong. The rivalry has been exacerbated by Hong Kong's status as a Special Administrative Region of China, which means that it does not practise communism as on the mainland, a legacy of having been under British rule until the transfer of sovereignty in 1997. China and Hong Kong have been playing each other in football matches since a friendly in Hong Kong in 1978. In 1985, Hong Kong, then a British dependent territory,
Hong Kong Observers Kong government to infiltrate pressure groups and monitor their activities. The greatest emphasis was placed on the Hong Kong Observers. Due to political pressure the committee ceased to exist in 1983. The group's main concern in 1980s was the Sino-British negotiation over the sovereignty of Hong Kong. They called for Hong Kong people to express their views and conducted an opinion poll on Hong Kong future. In 1983 before Beijing and London began negotiation over Hong Kong’s future, Anna Wu led a group of legal confrères to Beijing and met with the then Director of the Hong Kong and Macau