The reform proposals was first carried out in the Green Paper: the Further Development of Representative Government in Hong Kong in July 1984 right before the Sino-British Joint Declaration in December.
[1] A further democratic reform was considered in the Green Paper of 1984 published in July, months before the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed which the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China governments agreed on handing over Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule in 1997.
The Green Paper indicated a review to consider the possibility of introducing direct election on a constituency basis or a single territory-wide list.
[9] The White Paper: the Further Development of Representative Government in Hong Kong was published in November 1984, summing up the public responses to the constitutional reform proposal.
However, the government concluded that "there was little evidence of support in public comment on the Green Paper for any move towards direct elections in 1985.
The White Paper stated that proposals on the functioning of unofficial members as a ministerial system and the position of the Governor were subject to review in 1987.
In order to achieve a more balanced and adequate representation the District Boards would be grouped into ten geographical constituencies each representing approximately 500,000 people.
[9] Nine functional constituencies representing economic and professional sectors of the Hong Kong society would return an overall total of 12 unofficial members to the Legislative Council in the elections planned for September 1985.