Britain's 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China represented a momentous shift of power on the world stage, and it left Hong Kong at the mercy of the authoritarian rule of the Communist Party. How did it come to this? Michael Sheridan reveals Margaret Thatcher's anguish over the island's fate, and Beijing's determination to consolidate its power. Telling the story from the Opium Wars of the 19th century to the battle for democracy on the city's streets, Sheridan conveys what the ongoing unrest can teach us about China's bid to challenge the West.