But, as the handover to China in 1997 approached, Britain sowed the seeds for a democratic process.
In 1985, indirect elections started, with a council of 12 legislators chosen to represent the various sectors of the economy.
The following year, the first mass pro-democracy rally was held and in 1997, as Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule, a parting gift was written into the declaration signed by Lady Thatcher and Deng Xiaoping: the legislature of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region "shall be constituted by elections", it said.
China has kept to the agreement, although it has not granted universal suffrage. Instead, it has repeatedly foiled pro-democracy activists.
In 2004, the goal for a general election was pushed back from 2012 to 2017 without any explanation. The move reneged on a promise that Hong Kong itself would be allowed to set a timetable.
However, as Lord Patten of Barnes, the last governor of the island, noted: "Apart from a continuing adamantine refusal to countenance greater democracy, and one or two cack-handed interventions in the legal and political affairs of the community, China appears to have resisted the temptation to meddle constantly in Hong Kong's affairs [...] Hong Kong remains one of the freest cities in Asia".