History Book - Handing over Hong Kong

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Today is Monday, June 27th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming up next, the WORLD History Book. This week marks a special anniversary for America’s national bird, as well as the anniversary of Britain’s giving up Hong Kong.

REICHARD: But first, America’s most prestigious children’s-book award celebrates its centennial. Here’s WORLD arts and media editor Collin Garbarino.

SONG: “ANGEL CHILD” BY AL JOLSON

COLLIN GARBARINO: On June 27th, 1922, the American Library Association gave the first John Newbery Medal to Hendrik Willem van Loon for his book The Story of Mankind. They named the award after John Newbery, an eighteenth century publisher in England who prioritized children’s literature.

Each year since that first award, the ALA gives the Newbery to the American book that made the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature the previous year. But who gets to decide? Cara Frank of Clermont County Public Library explains.

FRANK: Every year they pick a new committee to choose the Newbery Medal, so you never really know what you’re going to get, because they all kind of start from scratch, other than that manual. Because everything’s confidential, you don’t know what the previous committee talked about or how they made their choices, which is a really cool way to go about it, because every year’s awards are really different based on that committee.

Lately Newbery winners appeal more to the tastes of progressive librarians than the tastes of children. For example, last year’s winner slipped a lesbian romance into the final pages of the book.

By today’s standards, van Loon’s The Story of Mankind seems out of place with its celebration of Western Civilization. But even in 1922, the award honored progressive literature. In the The Story of Mankind’s first chapter, van Loon offered a Darwinian view of humanity. And in a brief chapter later in the book he describes Jesus only from the Roman perspective, never mentioning miracles or the resurrection.

From handing out awards to handing over a territory.

CLIP: “GOD SAVE THE QUEEN” FROM CEREMONY

Twenty-five years ago in a midnight ceremony, the Union Jack was lowered in Hong Kong as Great Britain handed the colony to China. Britain had controlled Hong Kong for 156 years. And in 1898, the British government expanded the colony on the mainland with a 99-year lease from China. In the 1980s, Britain agreed to handover the entire colony to China when the lease expired.

Prince Charles and newly elected Prime Minister Tony Blair attended the ceremony along with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Prince Charles offered the justification for the handover in Britain’s farewell address.

PRINCE CHARLES: Britain learned long ago that Hong Kong people know best what is good for Hong Kong. We have no doubt that Hong Kong people can run Hong Kong, as the Joint Declaration promises, and that faithful implementation of the Joint Declaration is the key to Hong Kong’s continued success. The eyes of the world are on Hong Kong today.

The Joint Declaration created the Hong Kong special administrative region. Communist China agreed to respect Hong Kong’s economic and political institutions for 50 years. Most world leaders, including U.S. President Bill Clinton voiced optimism about the transition.

BILL CLINTON: Well, the agreement says that there will be one China and two systems. And it’s hard to have a system with free elections and freedom of speech and an open press without dissent.

Despite the promise to allow Hong Kong autonomy for 50 years, in the last decade, the mainland’s communist government has curtailed dissent and civil liberties on the island and has punished pro-democracy groups.

From questions of national sovereignty to solutions about a national symbol.

SOUND: AMERICAN EAGLE

That’s the sound of America’s national bird, the bald eagle—a sound that three hundred years ago could be heard in every corner of North America, from the tip of Florida to the furthest reaches of Alaska. But bald eagles almost disappeared, and only recently made an amazing comeback.

Despite its status as a patriotic symbol, the bald eagle was almost driven to extinction. Americans used to shoot bald eagles considering them pests that threatened livestock. Some people even told stories about bald eagles snatching away children. Growing awareness and governmental regulation have brought back the eagles numbers. Conservationist Jeff Corwin talks about the success.

JEFF CORWIN: For me the bald eagle is not only a powerful symbol of the United States, but it is an incredible example of environmental stewardship, conservation, and the importance of the Endangered Species Act. Amazingly, not so long ago, this mighty bird species was pushed to the brink of extinction, but today it has recovered, and it is thriving because we all came together and we protected this amazing symbol of the United States.

In 1995, the bald eagle was transferred from the endangered species list to the threatened species list. Fifteen years ago this week, the government removed the bald eagle from its threatened species list, making it a species of least concern.

And the bald eagle’s numbers continue to grow. The Department of the Interior estimates the eagle population quadrupled between 2009 and 2021. More than 316,000 bald eagles now live in the lower 48 states.

That’s this week’s WORLD History Book. I’m Collin Garbarino.

MUSIC: [Steve Miller Band “Fly Like an Eagle”]

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