Yesterday

Voting for water and surviving a hurricane

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes.We learn why, in 2004, Uruguayans voted to enshrine water as a human right in their constitution - the first country in the world to do so. And environmental historian Ellen Arnold reveals how water has shap ... Show More

1 h

Aug 22

The battle of Mandalay and the New World screwworm

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes from the BBC World Service.Our guest is Dr Elisabeth Fondren, Associate Professor of Journalism at St John's University in New York, USA.We start by hearing some groundbreaking frontline reporting from the B ... Show More

1 h

Aug 15

The Mau Mau uprising and man-eating lions

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History episodes focussing on Kenya.We hear about Muthoni Kirima, one of the last Mau Mau fighters to come out of hiding and lay down her arms.Caroline Elkins, Professor of History at Harvard University, discusses the brutal ... Show More

1 h

Jun 2022

Hong Kong: The handover

In 1997 Hong Kong was a buzzing hub of capitalism surrounded by a communist state. It was also a colonial relic - still ruled largely from Britain. It was the job of former Governor General, Chris Patten, to hand it over to China. He tells Louise Hidalgo about it.(Photo of Chris ... Show More

8m 56s

Jun 2022

Hong Kong: Democracy campaigner

In 1997 Hong Kong was handed back to China after more than 150 years of British rule. There were ceremonies and fireworks to celebrate the end of colonialism - but some residents were not happy. Emily Lau was a leading democracy campaigner at the time and tells Mike Gallagher abo ... Show More

9m 2s

Jul 2022

Hong Kong: 25 years on

Twenty-five years since the handover of Hong Kong from the British back to China, journalist and former BBC Hong Kong correspondent Juliana Liu explores the cultural impact in Hong Kong itself and in the diaspora.Billy Tang is the new Executive Director and curator of Para Site, ... Show More

27m 30s

Jun 2022

Hong Kong's 25 year slide from democracy

This week marks 25 years since the UK handover of Hong Kong to China, with the promise of ‘one country, two systems’. Then, the former British colony was told its freedom would endure, but has a security crackdown turned it into just another Chinese city?This podcast was brought ... Show More

33m 27s

Jun 2022

Lord Patten: Were promises to Hong Kong broken?

When the UK handed Hong Kong back to China 25 years ago, the last words of the departing British Governor to the people of the territory were: “Now Hong Kong people are to run Hong Kong. That is the promise. And that is the unshakeable destiny.” Sarah Montague speaks to Lord Patt ... Show More

22m 58s

Jun 2022

Hong Kong - Kowloon Walled City

A unique way of life came to an end in Hong Kong in 1993 when Kowloon Walled City was demolished. When the rest of Hong Kong was a British colony, the seven acres of the Walled City were still nominally under the control of mainland China - but it became a lawless world of its ow ... Show More

9m 5s

May 2020

Hong Kong

Last week, the Chinese government made the latest and perhaps the most serious move yet to crack down on Hong Kong's semi-autonomy. It's just the latest such effort by Beijing in the decades-long tensions between China and Hong Kong and it seems to take advantage of the quarantin ... Show More

43m 43s

Oct 2019

A Borrowed Time

Over the past six months, demonstrations in Hong Kong have increasingly become more violent and more determined. What started out as a protest against a proposed extradition law has now become a call for China to recognize Hong Kong's semi-autonomy. But what is at the root of thi ... Show More

42m 20s

Hong Kong: 25 years since the handover f...