Jimmy Lai, the newspaper tycoon of Hong Kong, has been found guilty  and sentenced to 20 years in prison.  This has once again brought the complex and contentious legal and political system of Hong Kong into the forefront. The fact that Lai was granted bail in the early stages of his trial, when the Hong Kong court granted him temporary bail, was seen as a display of the autonomy of the legal system in Hong Kong despite the political pressure from mainland China. Illustration

When British merchant ships unloaded their cargo of opium on Chinese shores, they weren't just trading in drugs – they were igniting a...