Image via inmediahk.net. Used with permission. Thousands of Hongkongers queued outside the British Consulate-General's office on September 10th and 11th to pay tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II who passed away on September 8, 2022. Hong Kong was under British colonial rule for more than 150 years, from 1841 after the First Opium War between Britain and Qing Dynasty until July 1, 1997, when the city’s sovereignty was handed over to the People's Republic of China. The news about the death of the 96-year-old Queen triggered strong emotional reactions on Hong Kong social media over the weekend. September 12 was a public holiday to celebrate the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival, but instead, thousands of Hongkongers flocked to offer flowers and place condolence messages outside the British Consulate-General. Xinqi Su, Agence France-Presse's Hong Kong correspondent posted a video of the long queue on Twitter: Easily hundreds, maybe over 1,000 in queue now outside the British consulate in Hong Kong waiting in sweltering, stuffy heat to dedicate flowers to late Queen Elizabeth II. The consulate estimated waiting time to be 2-3 hours. pic.twitter.com/4KvAshuv3C — Xinqi Su 蘇昕琪 (@XinqiSu) September 12, 2022 By evening, the British Consulate was surrounded by a sea of flowers: Mourners continue to pay tribute at Hong Kong’s British Consulate after dark on Monday, after crowds queued for hours to sign a book of condolence for the late Queen Elizabeth. pic.twitter.com/QfSULDVG2V — Daniel Suen (@danielchsuen) September 12, 2022 Some pro-Beijingers were upset about Hongkongers’ praise of the late British Queen, accusing them of whitewashing the repressive nature of the city’s colonial history. Several pro-China commentators, such as @qiaocollective, hence highlighted the police's violent crackdown on the 1967 riots to remind people about the dark side of the city's colonial history: In 1967, British colonial police in Hong Kong brutally suppressed Chinese protests, led by left-wing groups with ties to the CPC. At least 22 people were killed by the police. Two years later, Queen Elizabeth granted the police force the “Royal” title for their conduct. pic.twitter.com/lPkqHii4fG — Qiao Collective (@qiaocollective) September 8, 2022 In 1967, against the backdrop of the Cultural Revolution in mainland China, organisations and groups affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party attempted to “liberate” Hong Kong by mobilising large-scale protests against the British colonial governments in the city. The police responded with violent crackdowns, and the protests eventually escalated into street bombing attacks. Among the 51 causalities, at least 22 were killed by the police and 15 civilians, including two children, died in bomb attacks. Nine police officers died in the riots. The colonial government also implemented repressive laws to suppress the riots. Among these laws was the Sedition Law, which was used to shut down publications and punish those who insulted the Queen and colonial government. Indeed, after the 1967 riots, the colonial government stopped using the Sedition Law to repress government critics, and it fell into obscurity. Ironically, in the aftermath of the 2019 anti-China extradition protests, the colonial relic was resurrected to punish dissents in Hong Kong, as exemplified in the sedition charges of Stand News staff members in 2021. The most recent case is the sentencing of five to 19-month imprisonment for a set of children’s books: [Recap] BREAKING: 5 Hong Kong speech therapists jailed for 19 months each for sedition over children’s bookshttps://t.co/TSucwf9fiy — Hong Kong Free Press HKFP (@hkfp) September 10, 2022 While the violent crackdown of protesters in the 1960s represents the dark side of the British colonial legacy, it has found its successor in current Hong Kong. The British colonial history, however, is more than its repressive political system. After the 1967 riots, the British government introduced a series of social reforms to the city. In fact, Queen Elizabeth’s first visit to Hong Kong in 1975 symbolised the transformation of the colonial regime from repressive to benevolent. The late Queen’s itinerary on this visit was carefully designed to connect with grassroots campaigns and remake the image of the colonial government. One of her stops was Oi Man Estate (愛民邨), a public housing compound completed in 1975. The Chinese name of the estate means “Love the People”: Queen Elizabeth II meets with residents of Oi Man Estate, a public housing estate in Hong Kong. (1975) pic.twitter.com/nuaf617kLk — MoreThanPolitics (@MoreThanPol) September 8, 2022 Many Hongkongers still remember the Queen for her support of grassroots organizations during her first visit.