Esing Bakery Incident in Hong Kong

Date: January 15, 1857 • Location: Central, Hong Kong

In British Hong Kong, hundreds of Europeans were non-lethally poisoned by arsenic in bread from a locally owned bakery, leading to geopolitical tension.

Hong Kong was a Crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 to 1982, and a dependent territory from 1 January 1983 to 30 June 1997, except it was occupied by the Empire of Japan from 1941 to 1945 during the Second World War. The British rule began with the British occupation of Hong Kong Island under the Convention of Chuenpi in 1841 during the Victorian era, and ended with the handover of Hong Kong in July 1997.