Hong Kong

Hongkong | Culture, Histories & Humans

Hongkong, Hong Kong, Pinyin: Tibetxingzhengq; Wade-Giles Romanization: T'e-pieh Hsing-cheng-ch'ü) from China, situated on the southern coastline of China eastward of the Pearl River (Xu Jiang). It borders the Guangdong provinces to the north, and the Southern China Sea to the south and west.

In 1842 China transferred the island of Hong Kong to Great Britain, in 1860 the south part of the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters (Ngong Shuen) Island (now connected to the mainland) and the New Territories, including the largely northern continental shelf, and 230 large and small off-shore islets, all of which were rented by China for 99 years from 1898 to 1997.

On 19 December 1984 the Sino-British Memorandum of Understanding opened the way for the return of the whole area to China, which took place on 1 July 1997. Hong Kong (Pinyin: Xianggang; Wade-Giles: Hsiang-kang) has grown over the years and has grown further as more of the country's seabed has been mined.

Hongkong Island and the surrounding islands have an area of only about 81 sq km, while the Kowloon Peninsula encompassing the Kowloon Peninsula just outside Boundary Street and Stonecutters Island are about 47 sq km. Victoria, on the sparse cliffs of the northwest shore of Hong Kong Island, is the place where the British first arrived in 1841 and has been the center of administration and business activity ever since.

Hongkong grew first because of its outstanding nature port (the name of China means "fragrant port") and the profitable China-trading, especially the opioum-trading. However, it was the extension of its area that provided the workforce and other necessary ressources for sustainable economic development, making it one of the world's most important trading and finance megacities.

It is still confined to areas and physical ressources and faces continuing issues of congestion, commercial volatility and sclerosis. Nevertheless, Hong Kong has developed strongly and prosperously, albeit with a changing roll, as an entrepreneur, a production and finance center and an important player in China's commerce and modernisation.

Hongkong has a jagged landscape and pronounced differences in terrain, which are in stark contrasts with the low-lying areas of the Pearl River Delta, but which are adapted to the well-cut highlands of the large South Chinese mountain range in geological and structural terms. Hong Kong harbor was created by flooding the naked center of the cupola.

Circumjacent highlands on the continent and Hong Kong Island are covered in parts by lava rock, and precipitous, sharp, concaved hillsides leading to the inner dock. It is a rugged, sometimes immersed highland that suddenly reaches altitudes of over 900 meters; its spine consists of a succession of mountain ranges that run from north-east to south-west and are intimately linked to the southern China structure.

There is a clear indication of this tendency in the orientation of Lantau Island and the Tolo Canal. The highest summit in the country from Mount Tai Mo at 957 meters - the ridge line stretches southwest to Lantau Island, where the land climbs to 934 meters on Lantau and 869 meters on Sunset Peak.

The port of Victoria (Hong Kong) is well shielded by hills on the island of Hong Kong, among them Victoria Peak in the western part, which climbs to 552m and Mt. Parker in the eastern part, which climbs to an altitude of about 531m. The Hong Kong region's lowland, which includes wetlands, riverbanks and recovered lands, occupies less than one-fifth of the country.

If recultivation is in progress, the area of the city, which stretches over both sides of the port, occupies only about one tenth of the flat surface. In Hong Kong there is no system of rivers of any kind, the only difference being in the northern part, where the Sham Chun (Shenzhen) rivulet, which is the border between Guangdong and Hong Kong, joins Deep Bay after it has collected a number of small creeks.

Generally, Hong Kong's soil is acid and of low fecundity. Hongkong is located on the north edge of the southern hemisphere. As a rule, hurricanes or typhoons hit Hong Kong between June and October, and of the 20 to 30 that form each year over the West North Pacific and the South China Sea, an annual mean of five to six can have an impact.

Flood rains and heavy wind, which often accompanies Typhoon, sometimes destroy the lives and properties of Hong Kong and the surrounding areas of Guangdong. Hongkong is known for the richness and variety of its flora. Today the most widespread species of wood is the Pinus, representative by indigenous South Chinese pine trees and by Australian imported slashes.

However, many of Hong Kong's pristine flora has been damaged by hundreds of years of pruning and firing, so that only about one-sixth of the country is overgrown. Much of Hong Kong's forests today are the result of reforestation programmes since the Second World War that have reconstructed some of the populations of pines, eucalyptuses, banyas, casuarinas and palms.

The wildlife of Hong Kong is a mix of animals that adapt to the sub-tropical area. Most of the biggest carnivorous animals left are the southern China Redfox, the China Chestnut Panther, the seven-volume Cibet and the masking Palmenzibet. Most of the inhabitants are native Chineses, while the non-Chinese make up only a small part of the group.

Non-China groups are mainly Asian (mainly Filipinos, Indonesians and South Asians), with a small number of non-Asians (mainly Americans, Canadians and Australians). The vast bulk of the population comes from Guangdong and Hong Kong itself, rather than from other parts of China. Mandarin and English are standard language.

However, Mandarin, especially Mandarin in its pronunciation, is the shared and widely read lingua franca. In addition to Mandarin, the Guangdong and Hong Kong Chinas use traditional idioms such as Teochew, Hakka and Tanka. People from other parts of China will probably also use their own idioms, and likewise the non-Chinese will probably use their own mothertongue.

Mandarin Chinese has increased with Hong Kong's reintegration into China. Most of Hong Kong's people do not subscribe to a single religious belief. The Chinese have many more Buddhist and Taoist believers than other groups; a large number also follows Confucianism. Many Buddhist and Taoist churches and convents, several hundred years old, are important in the everyday lives of the American people.

The most important gods associated with the sea and the elements are for a fishery and commercial harbor, such as Dian Hau, heavenly gods and guardian of sailors, who is honored by shrines in practically every fishery harbor. Others are Guanyin (Avalokitesvara), the Buddhist Bodyhisattva of Charity; Hong Shing, South Seas Lord and weatherman; and Wong Daisin, a Taoist Holy and Dean.

Hong Kong's predominantly metropolitan areas are usually spread out in a linear fashion and follow the uneven coastal and traffic roads. Most of the main city areas are located on the island of Hong Kong and the Kowloon Peninsula, where about half of the entire populace is located. Most of the local people live in the area around Victoria Harbour and live on the confined lowlands, which are constantly being expanded through recultivation.

A number of important roads, especially those on the north bank of the island of Hong Kong, as well as the whole Kwun Tong industry area and much of the south tip of the Kowloon Peninsula, have been constructed on recovered lands. Faithful to its initial nature as a fishery harbour, Hong Kong has a considerable, albeit quickly disappearing, maritime population.

Inhabiting fishermen's villages such as Aberdeen, Shau Kei Wan and Cheung Chau as well as typhoons' lodgings in the docks. Like in many of the world's major cities, Hong Kong's populations grew by the end of the twentieth century and are still growing. From the 1950', the compound year-on-year increase has ranged between 2 and 4 per cent, partly due to the occasional influx of Chinese migrants.

Hongkong is one of the most populous places in the whole wide globe. Hong Kong, with its finite reserves of nature, is dependent on import for almost all its needs, which include commodities, foods and other consumables, investment goods and fuels. In 1951, when a United Nations ban on China and North Korea severely restricted it, the country's trading activities thrived under its unparalleled free haven state.

Over the following years, when China pursued a more open external policies, there was a rapid upturn in imports of entrepôts, while Hong Kong-China transactions jumped. Hongkong has not only evolved in production, commerce and navigation, but also as a local finance center and as a player in China's modernisation. Just 6 per cent of Hong Kong's surface area can be used for agriculture, another 2 per cent are under fish ponds.

Sea fisheries in the surrounding water is one of Hong Kong's main fisheries activity. Hongkong is virtually free of significant minerals. Hongkong is also poorly equipped with other indigenous resources: no commercially viable wood is extracted from its barren forests, and there is no hydropower capacity from the small and shallow creeks.

Despite the many dams, most of which were constructed before World War II, and some huge schemes such as the desalination plants at Castle Peak and Plover Cove and the High Island dams, which are closed seas, most of the polluted waters are run from Guangdong County.

Hongkong must bring in all the fossile fuels it will use. Most of the remaining electricity is exported from Guangdong County. Fast-paced growth in processing industry in the 1950' was made possible by the presence of China's immigrants, mainly from Shanghai, who provided technological and financial resources. The Hong Kong lndustrial Estate Corporation was founded in 1977 to design and administer areas of industry that would house high-tech industry, first on the recovered Tai Po and later in Yuen Long.

Manufacture, once the most important economic activity in Hong Kong, was dominated by the huge tertiary industry, which now accounts for only a minuscule percentage of GDP and has only a slightly higher share of the population. Hong Kong has developed into one of the most important Asian-Pacific finance centers since 1969, although it does not require the support of a federal government.

In addition, the Hong Kong Regulatory Authority supervises Hong Kong's monetarist policies and controls its local franc, the Hong Kong dollars, and selects a number of business institutions. Both national and multinational exchange rates are quoted on the Hong Kong FX markets. One of the world's biggest bar markets is run by the Chinese gold and silver exchanges society.

Non-existence of foreign currency control has helped to make Hong Kong a successful market. Hongkong's free trading policies have made the area one of the largest trading centers in the run. Hongkong is reliant on imports, which account for about half of all foreign transactions, with the remainder distributed between imports and re-exports.

In addition to trading with other Chinese areas, these are above all Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. Before 1997, China became the primary Hong Kong product markets, and this continued to dominate after the country's re-integration. Re-exports account for a large proportion of goods from Hong Kong. Wholesalers, retailers and tourists are also important parts of the services industry.

Tourism, which is strongly supported by the state and well served by the large services industry, is now an important part of the population. Furthermore, a large number of Taiwanese businessmen and tourists travel through Hong Kong on their way to and from continental locations.

Disneyland Hong Kong, a fun play ground built on the former Disneyland in California, opened on Lantau Island in 2005. Work began in 2009 on a multi-year bridging program linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai on the continent. Hong Kong's main hub for the world' s transport is Hong Kong's main port and there are good interurban connections with Guangdong County.

Hong Kong International was in Kai Tak, on the east edge of Kowloon, until it was moved to a new, bigger complex on Chek Lap Kok Island in 1998. With an area of 54 ha, the 54 ha of space, which has been planned by Norman Foster, the UK based architecture, is one of the biggest indoor terminals in the hospital.

Hong Kong's harbour, located in one of the most beautiful nature harbors in the word, is known for its effectiveness and capacities. Hong Kong's terminal capacities in Kwai Chung are among the biggest containers harbors in the entire planet. Fast ferries between Hong Kong and Macau and parts of Guangdong are offered by various boats, among them hydrofoil boats and hovercrafts.

Commuting was significantly increased with the combination with MTR Corporation, founded in 1975 to design and run the Hong Kong public transport system. The Hong Kong network is linked to Shenzhen, close by, and to Guangzhou (Canton) in Guangdong County in the north-west; the line transports million tonnes of cargo and passengers between Hong Kong and Guangdong every year.

Hongkong has one of the most modern and technically demanding telecommunication networks in the word and is one of the most important centers of the brain. Hongkong is a leading player in the integration of cross-platform communications methods (e.g. fixed and cellular telephony) and the implementation of state-of-the-art technologies. Fixed phones are almost omnipresent in Hong Kong's homes and the number of subscribers to mobiles significantly exceeds the population.