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Hong Kong means 'fragrant harbor' in the Cantonese dialect.
The name Hong Kong refers to the main Hong Kong island, Kowloon, New Territories, Lantau Island and about 235 smaller islands. The main island has an area of about 82 square kilometers; Kowloon, nine square kilometers and New Territories, 945 square kilometers. Victoria is the capital city.
During the Opium War of 1839 to 1842, Hong Kong was occupied by the British. In the 1842 treaty of Nanking, Hong Kong was ceded to the British government and other surrounding territories were leased to them in 1860 and 1898.
Hong Kong was handed back to the People’s Republic of China formally on June 30, 1997 and has been a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China ever since. Under the agreement between the British government and China, Hong Kong will be an SAR for fifty years from the date of the handover. This means that Hong Kong is ruled differently under China in their “one country two system” policy. After the fifty years are over, Hong Kong will formally join with China.
Hong Kong is still a free port, meaning that import duties are only charged on a few items. This makes Hong Kong a shopping mecca. Hong Kong’s port is ideal for China, who uses it to trade with countries with whom political relations are non existent, like Taiwan and South Korea. The free market economy that has been the pillar of Hong Kong’s success has so far remained intact.
This Special Administrative Region of China is still one if the world’s biggest manufacturer of toys. It is not surprising then that Hong Kong’s mainstay of economy is manufacturing. Hong Kong also has a status as an international financial center. But this status may erode as Shanghai continues to prosper under China’s booming economic development.
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