About Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong, which is not just a city-state, but one of the world’s major trading centers, began to grow in prominence when it became a British colony in 1842. In 1860, this colony grew from Hong Kong Island to the Kowloon Peninsula, and again into the New Territories in 1898. Hong Kong went through Japanese occupation during World War II, with Britain regaining control afterwards.
When Britain turned over control of Hong Kong to China in 1997, Hong Kong, like Macau, became part of what’s known as Special Administrative Regions of the People’s Republic of China (SARs) – Chinese territories that have political and legal autonomy. In practice, this means that Hong Kong maintains its own government, multi-party legislature, legal system, police force, monetary system, separate customs territory, immigration policies, national sports team, official languages, postal system, academic and educational system, and substantial competence in external relations that are different or independent from the People’s Republic of China.
For this reason, Hong Kong has been able to maintain its status as one of the world’s leading financial centers – complete with a major capitalist service economy characterized by low taxation and free trade, and its currency, the Hong Kong dollar, is the eighth most traded currency in the world. Over the years, Hong Kong’s economic development has gotten to the point where the construction of office and residential towers has made it the world’s most vertical city. Hong Kong still enjoys its status as one of the highest per capita incomes in the world.