Democracy activists brings Union flags to rallies in HK (Picture: Lam Yik Fei/Getty Images)

Residents in Hong Kong have started calling for the return of their former colonial rulers.

Britain left the Far East 20 years ago on July 1, but citizens in the administrative region are now calling for their return.

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Alice Lai has now set up the HK-UK Reunification Campaign group.

A traditional junk and a Navy vessel during the colonial era (Picture: Jodi Cobb/National Geographic/Getty)

The 39-year-old said: ‘Hong Kong and the UK coexisted in a proven, well-functioning system for close to two centuries.’



The legacy – banks, rattling trams, street names and horse racing – are self-evident.

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‘China is simply unfit to be governing Hong Kong – it’s a different way of thinking, a different way of life,’ Lai adds.

Since the handover, attended by Prince Charles, inequality has become more apparent and Chinese investors have sent house prices spiralling.

‘During the past 20 years things have gradually changed. Living standards, people’s liberties – it’s a disaster,’ retired bank worker Sarah Ng explained.

Alice Lai, heads a small protest group called HK-UK Reunification Campaign (Picture: ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images)

Hong Kong was long seen as the shining example of the British Empire after first coming under UK influence in 1841.

Historian John Carroll said the colonial powers mostly shied away from the ‘kind of excesses’ seen elsewhere.

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But those with memories beyond the last 20 years of British rule might recall something different.

Riots in 1967 went hand-in-hand with widespread corruption and poverty.

The iconic Kowloon Walled City on the New Territories was run by gangs and saw 33,000 people in a 6.4 acre space.

Mong Kok in the New Territories show the busy new Hong Kong (Picture: Getty)

‘I do think it ironic that some people are calling for a return to the UK, given that it deprived Hong Kong people of these rights for so long,’ Carroll added.

The past has not dented the affection clearly felt by some.

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Post boxes two years ago were planned to lose their British insignia until Hong Kong residents erupted in outrage.

The regally titled Queen’s Pier was set for demolition when residents locked themselves to it.

China has regularly seen mass protests against their treatment of the island.

A colonial flag flutters by the harbour ahead of the handover (Picture: Schleuning/ullstein bild/Getty)

The ‘Umbrella Revolution’ saw thousands on the streets of Central and Admiralty – the heart of the island – to demand democratic safeguards.

Colonial flags were spotted throughout the protest, despite organisers trying to discourage them from being flown.

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Yet Albert Lam MBE, who served in the British Army for 24 years, remembers things were not all perfect.

During his time in the military he had to work harder than non-Chinese recruits.

He said: ‘Hong Kong people don’t have any hard feelings against the British. But I wouldn’t particularly say the British were a lot better than the Chinese.’

Kowloon was once the most densely populated place on earth (Picture: Eric VANDEVILLE/Gamma-Raphe/Getty)

The Chinese leadership, he points out, have allowed mass protests something never tolerated under Brits.

Now, 20 years on from the handover, the anniversary will give a chance to reflect on colonialism on the island.

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Yet it is also just 30 years until the agreement between Britain and China is dissolved and the new power takes full control of the island.



Whether the nostalgia for the British is kept up until then is anyone’s guess.

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