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China alike largely left Hong Kong alone. Except for the
riots in 1967, when hot-headed. Leftists in Hong Kong stirred up
anti-colonial disturbances as a counterpart to the Cultural
Revolution in China, the involvement of China in local affairs
was minimal and highly restrained. This also discouraged the Hong
Kong people from bringing their grievances against the Hong Kong
government to the Chinese authorities.
Hong Kong government's autonomy vis-a-vis both the British
and the Chinese governments had been critical to the assertion of
its authority in the territory. This helped create an image of it
as the ultimate powerholder, which in turn inspired awe and
respect from the colonial subjects and made for effective
colonial governance.
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(3) Monopoly on political power. Hong Kong government, as a
colonial government, naturally had a monopoly on political power.
Such a monopoly was enshrined in the constitutional documents of
the colony the Letters Patent and the Royal Instructions. What
distinguishes Hong Kong from other British colonies is that until
recently Hong Kong had not undergone any meaningful process of
transfer of power to the colonial subjects, whereas various forms
of power transfer had taken place in many other non-White British
colonies since the turn of the twentieth century.
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The monopolization of political power by the government
See for example Brian Lapping, End of Empire (London: Granada Publishing, 1985) and Wm. Roger Louis and Ronald Robinson, 'The United States and the Liquidation of British Empire in Tropical Africa, 1941-1951, in their The Transfer of Power in Africa, op. cit., pp. 31-54.
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