Kowloon Hotel on Nathan Road in Kowloon
Man Mo Tao Temple & Antique Stores on Hollywood Road
Hong Kong is one of Asia’s liveliest and most prosperous urban areas. As a world leader in trade, Hong Kong operates one of the busiest container ports in the world. The region is also an international banking and financial center. When Britain took possession of Hong Kong Island after the First Opium War (1839-1843) with China, some British officials dismissed it as an insignificant backwater place. Today, more than 6 million people live and work in this thriving metropolis.
The British control of Hong Kong began in 1842, when China was forced to cede Hong Kong Island to Britain after the First Opium War. In 1984 Britain and China signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which stipulated that Hong Kong return to Chinese rule in 1997 as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. The Joint Declaration and a Chinese law called the Basic Law, which followed in 1990, provide for the SAR to operate with a high degree of economic autonomy for 50 years beyond 1997.
Hong Kong, administrative region of China, consisting of a mainland portion located on the country’s southeastern coast and more than 200 islands. Hong Kong is bordered on the north by Guangdong Province and on the east, west, and south by the South China Sea. Hong Kong was a British dependency from the 1840s until July 1, 1997, when it passed to Chinese sovereignty as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).