Hong Kong

HONG KONG

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, also known as Hong Kong, is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, together with Macau. It has more than 260 islands.

Hong Kong is located at the southeast coast of China. Its size is about 400 square miles but it is growing because of the new reclamations of land.

Hong Kong was a dependent territory of the United Kingdom from 1842 until the transfer of sovereignity to the People's Republic of China in 1997.

The region has a high degree of autonomy. China and Hong Kong have this policy: "one country, two systems". This way, Hong Kong maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system, customs policy and immigration policy.

Hong Kong's economy was affected by the Asian financial crisis of 1997 that hit many East Asian markets. The H5N1 avian influenza also surfaced in Hong Kong that year. In 1998, the new Hong Kong International Airport was opened, after six years of construction.

Hong Kongs flag is red with a stylized, white, five-petal bauhinia flower in the center. The design of the flag carries cultural, political and regional meanings. The colour itself is significant: red is always the festive colour for the Chinese people. The juxtaposition of red and white on the flag symbolises the one country two systems political principle applied to the region.

Hong Kong has about 6.9 million people and many tourists (about 10 million visitors per year) and on the average each stays 1 week. When you are in places like Mongkok or Causeway Bay, you have the impression that the whole population of Hong Kong is there.

Hong Kong is made up of the Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula, and the New Territories, with Hong Kong Island being the smallest.

A very interesting thing about Hong Kong is that if you look it up in an atlas, you will find out that the capital is Victoria. Yet, this city doesnt exist at all. There is just a Victoria Harbor separating Hong Kong Island and Kowloon.

The south side of the Hong Kong Island is known for its beaches and it is the place where some of the richest people live. Repulse Bay is probably the most famous beach there (its Chinese name means shallow water bay).

In Hong Kong you can find the New Territories, which are the countryside of Hong Kong (or at least they used to be), where there are still villages that are not very known to tourists. But you have to know where you are going before you can find them.

The Economy of Hong Kong

The Economy of Hong Kong is believed to be the most liberalized economy in the world. While the government, both under British and Chinese domination, has occasionally intervened in the economy, the free market policy of non-interventionism still leads economic policy today.

It was ranked as the world's freest economy for 13 consecutive years.

No official GDP (Gross Domestic Product) was measured by the government until 1971. Any GDP known before this period was based on international trade statistics .

This is a chart of trend of real gross domestic product of Hong Kong, in millions of Hong Kong Dollars. In 2006, Hong Kong's GDP ranked as the 40th highest in the world at US$ 253.1 billion. It's per-capita GDP ranked as the 15th highest at US$ 36,500, being ahead of countries such as Canada, Japan, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, and still well ahead of the People's Republic of China.

Year Real Gross Domestic Product Average Annual Growth Rate within 5 previous years

1980 437,580

1985 574,710 5.60%

1990 845,493 8.02%

1995 1,110,240 5.60%

2000 1,314,790 3.44%

2005 1,619,980 4.26%

The base of Hong Kong's economic freedom comes from the fact that the government doesnt involve itself. The Maoist era predicted that the production of steel, and the incapability of producing led will lead to the immediate falling of the economy. But Hong Kong had a model wich allowed flexibility and renovation of any industry in a very short time. Hong Kong registered a GDP growth remarcable for any country, increasing per capita income more than in the UK, in 1990.