olony of Hongkong was ceded by China to Great Britain in
January, 1841; the cession was confirmed by the treaty of Nanking in
August, 1842; and the charter bears date April 5, 1843. Hongkong is the
great center for British commerce with China and Japan, and a military
and naval station of first-class importance."

Thus the Statesman's Year Book. This authority, however, omits to
mention just exactly _how_ this important piece of Chinese territory
came to be ceded to Great Britain. It was the reward that Great
Britain took unto herself as an "indemnity" following the successful
prosecution of what is sometimes spoken of as the first opium war--a
war of protest on the part of China against Great Britain's insistence
on her right to deluge China with opium. China's resistance was in
vain--her efforts to stem the tide of opium were fruitless--the might,
majesty, dominion and power of the British Empire triumphed, and China
was beaten. The island on which Hongkong is situated was at that time a
blank piece of land; but strategically well placed--ninety miles south
of the great Chinese city of Canton, the market for British opium.

The opposite peninsula of Kowloon, on the mainland, was ceded to Great
Britain by treaty in 1861, and now forms part of Hongkong. By a
convention signed at Peking in June, 1898, there was also leased to
Great Britain for 99 years a portion of Chinese territory mainly
agricultural, together with the waters of Mirs Bay and Deep Bay, and
the island of Lan-tao. Its area is 356 square miles, with about 91,000
inhabitants, exclusively Chinese. Area of Old Kowloon is 3 square
miles. Total area of colony, 391 square miles.

The population of Hongkong, excluding the Military and Naval
establishments, and that portion of the new territory outside New
Kowloon, was according to the 1911 census, 366,145 inhabitants. Of this
number the Chinese numbered 354,187.

This colony is, of course, governed by Great Britain, and is not
subject to Chinese control. Here is situated a Government opium
factory, and the imports of Indian opium into Hongkong for the past
several years are as follows:

1903-4 3,576,431 pounds sterling
1904-5 4,036,436
1905-6 3,775,826
1906-7 3,771,409
1907-8 3,145,403
1908-9 2,230,755
1909-10 3,377,222
1910-11 3,963,264
1911-12 3,019,858
1912-13 2,406,084
1913-14 1,084,093
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