Honk Kong Information Guide & Facts

Hong Kong

Occupied by the UK in 1841, Hong Kong was formally ceded by China the following year; various adjacent lands were added later in the 19th century. Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and the UK on 19 December 1984, Hong Kong became the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China on 1 July 1997. In this agreement, China has promised that, under its "one country, two systems" formula, China's socialist economic system will not be imposed on Hong Kong and that Hong Kong will enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs for the next 50 years.

Hong Kong, described as a 'barren rock' over 150 years ago, has become a world-class financial, trading and business centre and, indeed, a great world city.

Hong Kong has no natural resources, except one of the finest deep-water ports in the world. A hardworking, adaptable and well-educated workforce of 3.42 million, coupled with entrepreneurial flair, is the bedrock of Hong Kong's productivity and creativity.

Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China on July 1, 1997, after a century and a half of British administration. Under Hong Kong's constitutional document, the Basic Law, the existing economic, legal and social system will be maintained for 50 years. The SAR enjoys a high degree of autonomy except in defence and foreign affairs.

Location
Situated at the southeastern tip of China, Hong Kong is ideally positioned at the centre of rapidly developing East Asia. With a total area of 1 100 square kilometres, it covers Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon peninsula just opposite, and the New Territories - the more rural section of Hong Kong, which also includes 235 outlying islands.

Population
Hong Kong's population was about 6.725 million at the end of 2001. The population density is 6 250 people per square kilometre. Hong Kong has a large foreign population of about 526 510. The top three nationalities come from the Philippines
(147 310), Indonesia (75 330) and Canada (31 930).

Language
Chinese and English are the official languages. English is widely used in the Government, the legal system and by the professional and business sectors. There is no shortage of well-educated competent bilingual or even trilingual professionals who speak English, Cantonese and Putonghua. These are vital staff for any enterprise trading in Hong Kong or doing business with the Mainland and Taiwan.

Climate
Hong Kong's climate is sub-tropical, tending towards the temperate for nearly half the year. Temperatures can drop below 10 degrees Celsius in winter and exceed 31 degrees Celsius in summer. About 90 per cent of the rainfall occurs between April and September.

Major International Trading Centre
Hong Kong is the world's 9th largest trading economy, one of the world's four largest gold markets, the world's 7th largest foreign exchange market, the world's 11th largest banking centre, and Asia's 3rd biggest stock market. Hong Kong is one of the world's top exporters of garments, watches and clocks, toys, games, electronic products and certain light industrial products.

Global Services Centre
Hong Kong is the world's 9th largest exporter of services, second only to Japan in Asia. Civil aviation, shipping, travel and tourism, trade-related services, and various financial and banking services are the main components of trade in services. The prices of many services are among the lowest in the world.

International Corporate Base
More than 3 200 international corporations have established regional headquarters or offices in Hong Kong. The major types of business carried on by the regional headquarters include the wholesale/retail and import/export trades, other business services (e.g. accounting, advertising and legal services), finance and banking, manufacturing and transport and related services.

Free Trade and Free Market
Hong Kong advocates and practises free trade - a free and liberal investment regime, the absence of trade barriers, no discrimination against overseas investors, freedom of capital movement, well established rule of law, transparent regulations, and low and predictable taxation.

Small Government
Hong Kong has a small and efficient government structure. Corporate and personal taxes are quite low, and simple to calculate. The HKSAR Government is well known for its efficiency, transparency and fairness. It is ready to lend a helping hand to business people and companies, under a long-established philosophy of 'maximum help and minimum interference' for business.

Monetary System
The objective of Hong Kong's monetary policy is to maintain currency stability. Given the highly externally oriented nature of the economy, this objective is further defined as a stable external value for the Hong Kong dollar in terms of a linked exchange rate against the US dollar at the rate of $7.80 to US$1. This objective is achieved through the linked exchange rate system introduced in October 1983.

The Rule of Law
Hong Kong has a well established and trusted legal system based on the common law. The rights and freedoms of Hong Kong people and those living here are founded upon the impartial rule of law, an independent judiciary, a comprehensive system of legal aid, and a free and active press.

Airport
Hong Kong is a major international and regional aviation centre. Hong Kong International Airport, one of the busiest in the world, is served by major international airlines, which provide over 3 340 scheduled passenger services and 373 freight services weekly from Hong Kong to some 130 cities world-wide.

When fully developed the airport will be able to handle up to 87 million passengers and 9 million tonnes of cargo a year. Hong Kong International Airport was named as the world's best airport for 2001 in a survey conducted by a British-based research company Skytrax Research.

Port
In 2001, Hong Kong handled 17.8 million TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) of containers, making it the world's busiest container port. The eight container terminals at Kwai Chung have 18 berths totalling about 6 000 metres of frontage with more than 200 hectares of terminal area. Up to 18 'third generation' container ships can be accommodated at these berths. During 2001, some 37 350 ocean-going vessels and about 177 390 river trade vessels called at Hong Kong. These vessels handled some 178.2 million tonnes of cargo and 17.7 million international passengers.

To meet growing demand, Hong Kong is now building a new container terminal. Container Terminal 9, will have six berths with a design capacity to handle at least 2.6 million TEUs of containers a year and will be fully completed in 2004.

If you are looking for a property, house, villa, apartment world wide click here

Usefull Local Websites:

Government Departments & Agencies

Related Organisations

Airport Authority, Hong Kong
Broadcasting Authority
Chinese Medicine Council of Hong Kong
Commission On Youth
Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education (Chinese version)
Competition Policy Advisory Group
Construction Industry Training Authority
Consumer Council
Council for the AIDS Trust Fund
Education Commission
Electoral Affairs Commission
Employees Retraining Board
Equal Opportunities Commission
Estate Agents Authority
Hong Kong Arts Centre
Hong Kong Arts Development Council
Hong Kong Council for Academic Accreditation
Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health
Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd.
Hong Kong Export Credit Insurance Corporation
Hong Kong Housing Society
Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre
Hong Kong Monetary Authority Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation Limited
Hong Kong Port and Maritime Board
Hong Kong Productivity Council
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation
Hong Kong Sports Development Board
Hong Kong Tourism Board
Hong Kong Trade Development Council
Hospital Authority
Independent Commission Against Corruption
Independent Police Complaints Council
Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation
Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong
Legal Aid Services Council
Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority
Mass Transit Railway Corporation
Occupational Safety and Health Council
Ombudsman, Office of The
Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Office of the
Provisional Construction Industry Co-ordination Board
Public Service Commission
Quality Education Fund
Review Body on Bid Challenges
Securities and Futures Commission - Electronic Investor Resources Centre
Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service
Standing Committee on Directorate Salaries and Conditions of Service
Standing Committee on Disciplined Services Salaries and Conditions of Service
Standing Committee on Judicial Salaries and Conditions of Service
Transport Complaints Unit
Town Planning Board
University Grants Committee
Urban Renewal Authority
Vocational Training Council
Waste Reduction Committee
Women's Commission

Tertiary Institutions

Chinese University of Hong Kong
City University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts
Hong Kong Baptist University
Hong Kong Institute of Education
Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Hong Kong University of Science &Technology
Lingnan University
Open University of Hong Kong
University of Hong Kong

General country data:

Location: Eastern Asia, bordering the South China Sea and China
Geographic coordinates: 22 15 N, 114 10 E
Map references: Southeast Asia
Area: total: 1,092 sq km
water: 50 sq km
land: 1,042 sq km
Area - comparative: six times the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries: total: 30 km
border countries: China 30 km
Coastline: 733 km
Maritime claims: territorial sea: 3 NM
Climate: tropical monsoon; cool and humid in winter, hot and rainy from spring through summer, warm and sunny in fall
Terrain: hilly to mountainous with steep slopes; lowlands in north
Elevation extremes: lowest point: South China Sea 0 m
highest point: Tai Mo Shan 958 m
Natural resources: outstanding deepwater harbor, feldspar
Land use: arable land: 5.05%
other: 93.94% (1998 est.)
permanent crops: 1.01%
Irrigated land: 20 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards: occasional typhoons
Environment - current issues: air and water pollution from rapid urbanization
Environment - international agreements: party to: Marine Dumping (associate member), Ship Pollution (associate member)
Geography - note: more than 200 islands

All information in this Site is provided as is with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, timeliness or of the results obtained from the use of this information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including, but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Certain links in this Site connect to other Web Sites maintained by third parties over whom we have no control. We make no representations as to the accuracy or any other aspect of information contained in other Web Sites. Some information available on this site is provided under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. Some content on Akaterra.com has been used with the courtesy of the The World Fact Book.