Whose hands is our fate in?

  Some private files of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were made public yesterday on the Margaret Thatcher Foundation's official website with the work of Cambridge University researchers. 

  It was in the early hours in the morning and I was about to go to bed after deciding to put the work on my term essay to a pause for the day. But glancing this headline drew me to find the original text of her papers relating to the handover of Hong Kong. 

 ( http://www.margaretthatcher.org/document/AA27A6DB4A994064855D295A5E8636D8.pdf)

  So I found this. Formerly secret notes of a meeting between Thatcher and the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping on September 24, 1982, the meeting after which the lady was well remembered tripping as she stepped out from the Great Hall of the People. 

  Much of the content of this meeting has been reported elsewhere, but a revisit of this part of history was still worth. 

  The issue discussed was pertinent to the future of all Hongkongers. But people on this piece of land were kept in the dark. 

  Reading this document dated about 30 years ago, I suddenly had a strong feeling that I have been betrayed by both governments from the time I was born

  Who decided on our fate, Hongkongers?

  Is this just a piece of land "colonised", "leased" and then "handed over", or is it home to millions of people with flesh and blood?

Traces of slave trade in Bristol

Just to put up a few pictures of places with traces of Bristol’s involvement in slave trade and its abolition at the end of the ‘Fair Trade Fortnight’.

Former residence of Henry Cruger, a British American merchant and a defender of slave trade, a Member of Parliament for Bristol and a New York State senator. A wealthy businessman who made a fortune by seizing collaterals from loan borrowers who could not repay their debts on time, he petitioned for those who supported the continuance of slave trade amid the abolitionist movement.

Why Superdry Store? Nothing to do with fashion. This is the historic site of the girls’ school set up by abolitionist Hannah Moore, the most prominent female campaigner against slavery and a key activist pushing forward the sugar boycott in 1791-2.

Pero’s Bridge, named after Pero (aka William Jones), a slave of the powerful Pinney family. He was bought by John Pinney in 1765 at the age of 12. John’s son Charles later became Mayor of Bristol in 1831. When slavery ended in 1834, Charles Pinney received compensation of £36,000 (estimated to be about £1.8 million today) from the British government for the slaves he freed.

Farrs Lane, named after Thomas Farr, who made a fortune with his slave ships. The lane is ironically located right across Pero’s Bridge.

The harbour from where slave ships sailed.

Abolitionists broke away from the Church of England, which was involved in slave trade. Members of the abolitionist church were buried here after their death.

Cambridge University student Thomas Clarkson arrived in Bristol in 1787 and conducted his investigation of slave trade with his base in the Seven Stars pub, with the support of landlord Mr. Thompson. Clarkson played an important role in the abolitionist campaign by presenting the evidences he had collected and gathering petitions to lobby MPs to outlaw slavery. This pub is still running on the old site!