BASIC
INFORMATION
Full
Country Name: HONGKONG
Capital
none
Official language(s)
Chinese, English
Government
Democratic Socialist Republic
Area 1,103 km²
Population
- 2005 est. 7,041,000
Currency Hong Kong
dollar (HKD)
Time
zone (UTC+8)
Internet
TLD .hk
Calling
code +852
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GEOGRAPHY
& BACKGROUND
Hong
Kong has been inhabited since the Palaeolithic
Age. The area now known as Hong Kong became
an important trading region and a significant
strategic location for the Chinese mainland
during the Tang and Song dynasties. These
populated townships or villages had never
been collectively known as Hong Kong before
the British administration. The area began
to attract the attention of China and the
rest of the world again in the 19th century,
when it was ceded to Britain after the Opium
Wars. Hong Kong's earliest recorded non-Asian
visitor was the Portuguese mariner Jorge
Álvares who arrived in 1513. Álvares
began trading with the Chinese, and the
Portuguese continued to make periodic trade
stops at various locations along the coast.
Tea,
silk, and other Asian luxury goods were
introduced in Europe by the Portuguese,
and by the mid-18th century these items
were in high demand, particularly tea. The
British, to redress their net outflow of
payments to China for tea and to force China
to conduct relations like other states,
invaded China, winning the First Opium War
in 1841. During the war, Hong Kong Island
was first occupied by the British, and then
formally ceded by the Qing Dynasty of China
in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanking.
The
waterfall where foreign ships got fresh
water. Near the waterfall was a village
called Hong Kong Village (???), which prompted
foreigners to incorrectly name the island
Hong Kong.Hong Kong became a crown colony
in 1843. The first urban settlement was
named Victoria City. The Kowloon Peninsula
south of Boundary Street and Stonecutter's
Island was ceded to the British in 1860
under the Convention of Peking after the
Second Opium War. Various adjacent lands,
known as the New Territories (including
New Kowloon and Lantau Island), were then
leased by Britain for 99 years, from 1 July
1898 to 30 June 1997. For the first 20 years
there was little contact between the European
and Chinese communities. The first specially-recruited
Hong Kong civil servants to be taught Cantonese
were recruited in 1862, markedly improving
relations.
Hong
Kong entered a dark age during the Japanese
Occupation of World War II, which lasted
for three years and eight months. Many Hong
Kongers were executed by the Japanese army
during the war. There was a significant
resistance movement most notably on Lantau
Island. After their defeat by the allied
forces, the Japanese surrendered on 15 August
1945. The port was quickly re-opened and
welcomed a mass migration of Chinese refugees
in 1949 from the civil war. Many refugees
escaped to Hong Kong fearing the new Communist
government in China.
Hong
Kong had been a trade port ever since the
British occupation, but its position as
an entrepot declined greatly after the United
Nations ordered a trade embargo against
the People's Republic of China as a result
of the Korean War. In response, a textile
industry was established, taking advantage
of the new pool of workers from China who
were willing to work for almost any wage.
During this period, the economy grew extremely
rapidly. Towards the 1970s, Hong Kong began
to move away from the textile industry and
develop its financial and banking economy.
This led to even greater growth, and Hong
Kong quickly became one of the wealthiest
territories in the world. Its position as
an entrepot was revived when the Open Door
Policy was adopted by the PRC in the late
1970s under Deng Xiaoping.
The
liberation of Hong Kong in 1945 was celebrated
at the Cenotaph in Victoria with the raising
of the Union Flag and the Flag of the Republic
of China.In the 1980s, with the lease on
the New Territories running out, the British
government, led by Margaret Thatcher, decided
to negotiate the question of the sovereignty
of Hong Kong. Although the British would
have been legally required to transfer only
the New Territories to the PRC, Whitehall
decided that maintaining a rump colony would
not be worthwhile - the majority of Hong
Kong's land was in the New Territories,
and failure to return the entire colony
would undoubtedly have generated political
friction between the UK and PRC.
Flag
of Hong Kong before 1st July, 1997Pursuant
to an agreement known as the Sino-British
Joint Declaration, signed by the People's
Republic of China and the United Kingdom
on 19 December 1984, the whole territory
of Hong Kong under British colonial rule
became the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region of the PRC on 1 July 1997. In the
Joint Declaration, the PRC promised that
under the "One Country, Two Systems"
policy proposed by Deng Xiaoping, the socialist
economic system in mainland China would
not be practised in Hong Kong, and Hong
Kong's previous capitalist system and life-style
would remain unchanged for at least 50 years,
or until 2047. Hong Kong would enjoy a high
degree of autonomy in all matters except
diplomatic affairs and national defence.
The
Joint Declaration came into particular focus
in June 1989 when the PRC authorities in
Beijing moved with particular severity against
"pro-democracy" demonstrators
in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in Beijing.
The loss of life amongst their Chinese brethren
in the Chinese capital led to literally
millions of Hong Kong Chinese protesting
openly in the streets of Hong Kong. In the
(then) colony of Hong Kong there was immediate
concern about Hong Kong's future, a fall
in the stock market and general disquiet.
HK
Convention and Exhibition Centre: It served
as the site of the handover ceremony, which
signified the end of British ruleHong Kong
was transferred to the PRC at midnight on
1 July 1997, with the last governor, Chris
Patten, leaving on the royal yacht. Soon
after the handover in July, land values
in Hong Kong collapsed substantially and
expedited the burst of the bubble economy,
as part of the Asian financial crisis. This
was exacerbated by Tung Chee Hwa's unsubstantiated
pledge to supply 85,000 new flats annually
[2]; which essentially manipulated the region's
real estate prices. In some areas, land
values fell by over half; and the Hang Seng
Index fell by over 1,500 points on 28 October
1997, losing 22.8% of its value in a week.
Hong
Kong was hit badly by the outbreak of the
SARS virus beginning in mid-March through
the summer of 2003. This exacerbated the
region's economic problems, especially in
the effect that it had on travel to and
from Hong Kong.
City
of Hong Kong nightOn 1 July the same year,
half a million people marched in the largest
protest rally ever aimed at the government
of Hong Kong, voicing concerns about a proposed
anti-subversion bill that would have eroded
freedom of the press, of religion and of
association arising from Article 23 of the
Hong Kong Basic Law, as well as dissatisfaction
with the poor state of the economy. Regina
Ip, then Secretary for Security, and Antony
Leung, then Financial Secretary, were forced
to leave office in 2003 under public pressure
(though Antony Leung left office for reason
unrelated to the SARS and Article 23 crisis,
he gave in to public pressure after his
involvement in the 'Lexusgate' scandal).
On
10 March 2005, Tung Chee Hwa submitted his
resignation as chief executive of Hong Kong.
Donald Tsang, the Chief Secretary for Administration
of Hong Kong, served as Acting Chief Executive
until 25 May, when he, too, resigned to
take part in the campaign for the new Chief
Executive election. Following an interim
government headed by Henry Tang, Tsang was
elected as Chief Executive.
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