Hong kong casino island

Special administrative region of China

"HK" redirects here. For other uses, see Hong Kong (disambiguation) and HK (disambiguation).

Special administrative region in China

Hong Kong 香港
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
Location of Hong Kong within China
Sovereign state	China
British possession	26 January 1841
Treaty of Nanking	29 August 1842
Convention of Peking	24 October 1860
New Territories lease	9 June 1898
Imperial Japanese occupation	25 December 1941 to 30 August 1945
Redesignated as a British Dependent Territory	1 January 1981
Sino-British Joint Declaration	19 December 1984
Handover to China	1 July 1997
Administrative centre	Tamar
Largest district by population	Sha Tin
Official languages
Regional language	Cantonese[a]
Official scripts	Traditional Chinese[b] English alphabet
Ethnic groups (2021)	91.6% Chinese 2.7% Filipino 1.9% Indonesian 0.8% White 0.6% Indian 0.4% Nepalese 2% other[6]
Demonym(s)	Hongkonger Hongkongese
Government	Devolvedexecutive-led government within a unitaryone-party state[7]
• Chief Executive	John Lee
• Chief Secretary	Eric Chan
• Council President	Andrew Leung
• Chief Justice	Andrew Cheung
Legislature	Legislative Council
• National People's Congress	36 deputies
• Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference	203 delegates[8]
• Total	2,754.97[9] km2 (1,063.70 sq mi) (168th)
• Water (%)	59.70% (1,640.62 km2; 633.45 sq mi)[9]
• Land	1,114.35 km2 (430.25 sq mi)[9]
Highest elevation (Tai Mo Shan)	957 m (3,140 ft)
Lowest elevation (South China Sea)	0 m (0 ft)
• 2023 estimate	7,498,100[10]
• 2021 census	7,413,070[11]
• Density	6,801[12]/km2 (17,614.5/sq mi) (4th)
GDP (PPP)	2024 estimate
• Total	$570.082 billion[13] (44th)
• Per capita	$75,128[13] (12th)
GDP (nominal)	2024 estimate
• Total	$406.775 billion[13] (38th)
• Per capita	$53,606[13] (19th)
Gini (2016)	53.9[14] high
HDI (2022)	0.956[15] very high · 4th
Currency	Hong Kong dollar (HK$) (HKD)
Time zone	UTC+08:00 (HKT)
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy yyyy年mm月dd日
Mains electricity	220 V–50 Hz
Driving side	left[c]
Calling code	+852
ISO 3166 code
Internet TLD
Number plate prefixes	None for local vehicles, 粤Z for cross-boundary vehicles

Hong Kong^[d] is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China. With 7.4 million residents of various nationalities^[e] in a 1,104-square-kilometre (426 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated territories in the world.

Hong Kong was established as a colony of the British Empire after the Qing dynasty ceded Hong Kong Island in 1841–1842 as a consequence of losing the First Opium War. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and was further extended when the United Kingdom obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. Hong Kong was occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. The territory was handed over from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. Hong Kong maintains separate governing and economic systems from that of mainland China under the principle of one country, two systems.^[f]

Originally a sparsely populated area of farming and fishing villages,^[18] the territory is now one of the world's most significant financial centres and commercial ports. Hong Kong is the world's fourth-ranked global financial centre, ninth-largest exporter, and eighth-largest importer. Its currency, the Hong Kong dollar, is the ninth most traded currency in the world. Home to the seventh-highest number of billionaires of any city in the world, Hong Kong has the largest number of ultra high-net-worth individuals.^[20] Although the city has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, severe income inequality exists among the population. Despite having the largest number of skyscrapers of any city in the world, housing in Hong Kong has been well-documented to experience a chronic persistent shortage.

Hong Kong is a highly developed territory and has a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.956, ranking fourth in the world. The city has one of the highest life expectancies in the world, and a public transport rate exceeding 90 per cent.

Etymology

The name of the territory, first romanised as "He-Ong-Kong" in 1780,^[23] originally referred to a small inlet located between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was an initial point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen.^[24] Although the source of the romanised name is unknown, it is generally believed to be an early phonetic rendering of the Cantonese (or Tanka Cantonese) phrase hēung góng. The name translates as "fragrant harbour" or "incense harbour".^[21][22][25] "Fragrant" may refer to the sweet taste of the harbour's freshwater influx from the Pearl River or to the odour from incense factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Victoria Harbour was developed.^[25]Sir John Davis (the second colonial governor) offered an alternative origin; Davis said that the name derived from "Hoong-keang" ("red torrent"), reflecting the colour of soil over which a waterfall on the island flowed.^[26]

The simplified name Hong Kong was frequently used by 1810.^[27] The name was also commonly written as the single word Hongkong until 1926, when the government officially adopted the two-word name.^[28] Some corporations founded during the early colonial era still keep this name, including Hongkong Land, Hongkong Electric Company, Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC).^[29][30]

History

Main article: History of Hong Kong

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Hong Kong history.

Prehistory and Imperial China

Earliest known human traces in what is now Hong Kong are dated by some to 35,000 and 39,000 years ago during the Paleolithic period. The claim is based on an archaeological investigation in Wong Tei Tung, Sai Kung in 2003. The archaeological works revealed knappedstone tools from deposits that were dated using optical luminescence dating.^[31]

During the Middle Neolithic period, about 6,000 years ago, the region had been widely occupied by humans.^[32] Neolithic to Bronze Age Hong Kong settlers were semi-coastal people. Early inhabitants are believed to be Austronesians in the Middle Neolithic period and later the Yue people.^[32] As hinted by the archaeological works in Sha Ha, Sai Kung, rice cultivation had been introduced since Late Neolithic period.^[33] Bronze Age Hong Kong featured coarse pottery, hard pottery, quartz and stone jewelry, as well as small bronze implements.^[32]

The Qin dynasty incorporated the Hong Kong area into China for the first time in 214 BCE, after conquering the indigenous Baiyue.^[34] The region was consolidated under the Nanyue kingdom (a predecessor state of Vietnam) after the Qin collapse^[35] and recaptured by China after the Han conquest.^[36] During the Mongol conquest of China in the 13th century, the Southern Song court was briefly located in modern-day Kowloon City (the Sung Wong Toi site) before its final defeat in the 1279 Battle of Yamen by the Yuan Dynasty.^[37] By the end of the Yuan dynasty, seven large families had settled in the region and owned most of the land. Settlers from nearby provinces migrated to Kowloon throughout the Ming dynasty.^[38]

The earliest European visitor was Portuguese explorer Jorge Álvares, who arrived in 1513.^[39][40] Portuguese merchants established a trading post called Tamão in Hong Kong waters and began regular trade with southern China. Although the traders were expelled after military clashes in the 1520s,^[41] Portuguese-Chinese trade relations were re-established by 1549. Portugal acquired a permanent lease for Macau in 1557.^[42]

After the Qing conquest, maritime trade was banned under the Haijin policies. From 1661 to 1683, the population of most of the area forming present day Hong Kong was cleared under the Great Clearance, turning the region into a wasteland.^[43] The Kangxi Emperor lifted the maritime trade prohibition, allowing foreigners to enter Chinese ports in 1684.^[44] Qing authorities established the Canton System in 1757 to regulate trade more strictly, restricting non-Russian ships to the port of Canton.^[45] Although European demand for Chinese commodities like tea, silk, and porcelain was high, Chinese interest in European manufactured goods was insignificant, so that Chinese goods could only be bought with precious metals. To reduce the trade imbalance, the British sold large amounts of Indian opium to China. Faced with a drug crisis, Qing officials pursued ever more aggressive actions to halt the opium trade.^[46]

British colony

Main article: British Hong Kong

In 1839, the Daoguang Emperor rejected proposals to legalise and tax opium and ordered imperial commissioner Lin Zexu to eradicate the opium trade. The commissioner destroyed opium stockpiles and halted all foreign trade,^[47] triggering a British military response and the First Opium War. The Qing surrendered early in the war and ceded Hong Kong Island in the Convention of Chuenpi. British forces began controlling Hong Kong shortly after the signing of the convention, from 26 January 1841.^[48] However, both countries were dissatisfied and did not ratify the agreement.^[49] After more than a year of further hostilities, Hong Kong Island was formally ceded to the United Kingdom in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking.^[50]

Administrative infrastructure was quickly built by early 1842, but piracy, disease, and hostile Qing policies initially prevented the government from attracting commerce. Conditions on the island improved during the Taiping Rebellion in the 1850s, when many Chinese refugees, including wealthy merchants, fled mainland turbulence and settled in the colony.^[18] Further tensions between the British and Qing over the opium trade escalated into the Second Opium War. The Qing were again defeated and forced to give up Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island in the Convention of Peking.^[51] By the end of this war, Hong Kong had evolved from a transient colonial outpost into a major entrepôt. Rapid economic improvement during the 1850s attracted foreign investment, as potential stakeholders became more confident in Hong Kong's future.^[52]

The colony was further expanded in 1898 when the United Kingdom obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories.^[53] The University of Hong Kong was established in 1911 as the territory's first institution of higher education.^[54]Kai Tak Airport began operation in 1924, and the colony avoided a prolonged economic downturn after the 1925–26 Canton–Hong Kong strike.^[55][56] At the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937, Governor Geoffry Northcote declared Hong Kong a neutral zone to safeguard its status as a free port.^[57] The colonial government prepared for a possible attack, evacuating all British women and children in 1940.^[58] The Imperial Japanese Armyattacked Hong Kong on 8 December 1941, the same morning as its attack on Pearl Harbor.^[59] Hong Kong was occupied by Japan for almost four years before the British resumed control on 30 August 1945.^[60]

Its population rebounded quickly after the war, as skilled Chinese migrants fled from the Chinese Civil War and more refugees crossed the border when the Chinese Communist Party took control of mainland China in 1949.^[61] Hong Kong became the first of the Four Asian Tiger economies to industrialise during the 1950s.^[62] With a rapidly increasing population, the colonial government attempted reforms to improve infrastructure and public services. The public-housing estate programme, Independent Commission Against Corruption, and Mass Transit Railway were all established during the post-war decades to provide safer housing, integrity in the civil service, and more reliable transportation.^[63][64]

Nevertheless, widespread public discontent resulted in multiple protests from the 1950s to 1980s, including pro-Republic of China and pro-Chinese Communist Party protests. In the 1967 Hong Kong riots, pro-PRC protestors clashed with the British colonial government. As many as 51 were killed and 802 were injured in the violence, including dozens killed by the Royal Hong Kong Police via beatings and shootings.^[65]

Although the territory's competitiveness in manufacturing gradually declined because of rising labour and property costs, it transitioned to a service-based economy. By the early 1990s, Hong Kong had established itself as a global financial centre and shipping hub.^[66]

Chinese special administrative region

Further information: Handover of Hong Kong

The colony faced an uncertain future as the end of the New Territories lease approached, and Governor Murray MacLehose raised the question of Hong Kong's status with Deng Xiaoping in 1979.^[67] Diplomatic negotiations with China resulted in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, in which the United Kingdom agreed the handover of the colony in 1997 and China would guarantee Hong Kong's economic and political systems for 50 years after the handover.^[68] The impending handover triggered a wave of mass emigration as residents feared an erosion of civil rights, the rule of law, and quality of life.^[69] Over half a million people left the territory during the peak migration period, from 1987 to 1996.^[70] The Legislative Council became a fully elected legislature for the first time in 1995 and extensively expanded its functions and organisations throughout the last years of the colonial rule.^[71] The handover of Hong Kong to China was at midnight on 1 July 1997, after 156 years of British rule.^[72]

Immediately after the handover, Hong Kong was severely affected by several crises. The Hong Kong government was forced to use substantial foreign exchange reserves to maintain the Hong Kong dollar's currency peg during the 1997 Asian financial crisis,^[61] and the recovery from this was muted by an H5N1 avian-flu outbreak^[73] and a housing surplus.^[74] This was followed by the 2003 SARS epidemic, during which the territory experienced its most serious economic downturn.^[75]

Chinese communists portrayed the return of Hong Kong as key moment in the PRC's rise to great power status.^[76]: 51

Political debates after the handover have centred around the region's democratic development and the Chinese central government's adherence to the "one country, two systems" principle. After reversal of the last colonial era Legislative Council democratic reforms following the handover,^[77] the regional government unsuccessfully attempted to enact national security legislation pursuant to Article 23 of the Basic Law.^[78] The central government decision to implement nominee pre-screening before allowing chief executive elections triggered a series of protests in 2014 which became known as the Umbrella Revolution.^[79] Discrepancies in the electoral registry and disqualification of elected legislators after the 2016 Legislative Council elections^[80][81][82] and enforcement of national law in the West Kowloon high-speed railway station raised further concerns about the region's autonomy.^[83] In June 2019, mass protests erupted in response to a proposed extradition amendment bill permitting the extradition of fugitives to mainland China. The protests are the largest in Hong Kong's history,^[84] with organisers claiming to have attracted more than three million Hong Kong residents.

The Hong Kong regional government and Chinese central government responded to the protests with a number of administrative measures to quell dissent. In June 2020, the Legislative Council passed the National Anthem Ordinance, which criminalised "insults to the national anthem of China".^[85] The Chinese central government meanwhile enacted the Hong Kong national security law to help quell protests in the region.^[86] Nine months later, in March 2021, the Chinese central government introduced amendments to Hong Kong's electoral system, which included the reduction of directly elected seats in the Legislative Council and the requirement that all candidates be vetted and approved by a Beijing-appointed Candidate Eligibility Review Committee.^[87]

In May 2023, the Legislative Council also introduced legislation to reduce the number of directly elected seats in the district councils, and a District Council Eligibility Review Committee was similarly established to vet candidates.^[88][89][90]

Government and politics

Main articles: Government of Hong Kong, Politics of Hong Kong, Elections in Hong Kong, and Separation of powers in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, with executive, legislative, and judicial powers devolved from the national government.^[91] The Sino-British Joint Declaration provided for economic and administrative continuity through the handover,^[68] resulting in an executive-led governing system largely inherited from the territory's history as a British colony.^[92] Under these terms and the "one country, two systems" principle, the Basic Law of Hong Kong is the regional constitution.^[93] The regional government is composed of three branches:

The chief executive is the head of government and serves for a maximum of two five-year terms. The State Council (led by the Premier of China) appoints the chief executive after nomination by the Election Committee, which is composed of 1500 business, community, and government leaders.^{[101][102][103]}

The Legislative Council has 90 members, each serving a four-year term. Twenty are directly elected from geographical constituencies, thirty-five represent functional constituencies (FC), and forty are chosen by an election committee consisting of representatives appointed by the Chinese central government.^[104] Thirty FC councillors are selected from limited electorates representing sectors of the economy or special interest groups,^[105] and the remaining five members are nominated from sitting district council members and selected in region-wide double direct elections.^[106] All popularly elected members are chosen by proportional representation. The 30 limited electorate functional constituencies fill their seats using first-past-the-post or instant-runoff voting.^[105]

Twenty-two political parties had representatives elected to the Legislative Council in the 2016 election.^[107] These parties have aligned themselves into three ideological groups: the pro-Beijing camp (the current government), the pro-democracy camp, and localist groups.^[108] The Chinese Communist Party does not have an official political presence in Hong Kong, and its members do not run in local elections.^[109] Hong Kong is represented in the National People's Congress by 36 deputies chosen through an electoral college and 203 delegates in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference appointed by the central government.^[8]

Chinese national law does not generally apply in the region, and Hong Kong is treated as a separate jurisdiction.^[99] Its judicial system is based on common law, continuing the legal tradition established during British rule.^[110] Local courts may refer to precedents set in English law and overseas jurisprudence.^[111] However, mainland criminal procedure law applies to cases investigated by the Office for Safeguarding National Security of the CPG in the HKSAR.^[112] Interpretative and amending power over the Basic Law and jurisdiction over acts of state lie with the central authority, making regional courts ultimately subordinate to the mainland's socialistcivil law system.^[113] Decisions made by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress override any territorial judicial process.^[114] Furthermore, in circumstances where the Standing Committee declares a state of emergency in Hong Kong, the State Council may enforce national law in the region.^[115]

The territory's jurisdictional independence is most apparent in its immigration and taxation policies. The Immigration Department issues passports for permanent residents which differ from those of the mainland or Macau,^[116] and the region maintains a regulated border with the rest of the country. All travellers between Hong Kong and China and Macau must pass through border controls, regardless of nationality.^[117] Mainland Chinese citizens do not have right of abode in Hong Kong and are subject to immigration controls.^[118] Public finances are handled separately from the national government; taxes levied in Hong Kong do not fund the central authority.^[119][120]

The Hong Kong Garrison of the People's Liberation Army is responsible for the region's defence.^[121] Although the Chairman of the Central Military Commission is supreme commander of the armed forces,^[122] the regional government may request assistance from the garrison.^[123] Hong Kong residents are not required to perform military service, and current law has no provision for local enlistment, so its defence is composed entirely of non-Hongkongers.^[124]

The central government and Ministry of Foreign Affairs handle diplomatic matters, but Hong Kong retains the ability to maintain separate economic and cultural relations with foreign nations.^[125] The territory actively participates in the World Trade Organization, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the International Olympic Committee, and many United Nations agencies.^{[126][127][128]} The regional government maintains trade offices in Greater China and other nations.^[129]

The imposition of the Hong Kong national security law by the central government in Beijing in June 2020 resulted in the suspension of bilateral extradition treaties by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, and Ireland.^[130]