Hisotry timeline(Humanities project) By Kelvin Cheung Oct 29, 1839 Start of Opium war Oct 29, 1842 End of Opium war Jan 1, 1879 First bank note was made First bank note was made Dec 28, 1931 The Japanese invaded all of China. Dec 1, 1941 The British took control over Hong Kong Oct 29, 1945 The Japanese were then defeated and they stopped invading HK Oct 29, 1980 Hong Kong became one of the largest exporters Jul 1, 1997 Hong Kong returned to China (reunion)