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Government rewrites history of Hong Kong’s 1997 handover, one inconvenient phrase at a time
‘Handover of sovereignty’ no longer an acceptable way to refer to the events of 1997, according to government department
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The Hong Kong government is rewriting the city’s history, one phrase at a time.
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After the proposed removal of the words “taking back” from school textbooks to describe the return of the city to China in 1997, the Post has learned that the official protocol office has changed its website to erase any mention of a “handover of sovereignty”.
The Protocol Division, which is responsible for receiving foreign dignitaries and consuls general, was found to have made the changes after the Post filed an inquiry about the guidelines on terms used by the government to describe the handover from Britain.
Originally, the division’s website read: “Since the handover of sovereignty over Hong Kong on 1 July 1997, a number of foreign state or government leaders have visited Hong Kong.”
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The sentence now begins, simply, “Since July 1, 1997”.
In the Chinese version of the website, the phrase “handover of sovereignty” (主權移交) has been removed from the same paragraph. However, in a separate paragraph in the Chinese version, the phrase “since the handover of sovereignty” remains.
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