At a glance

Official Name:
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Population: 6,864,346 (2006 est.)

Languages: Chinese (Cantonese), English

Religion: Buddhist 90 percent, Christian 7 percent

Life Expectancy:
Male: 77 Female: 83

Currency: Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)

GDP (Purchasing Power Parity):
$254.2 billion (2006 est.)

National Holidays:
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (1 July), National Day of the People’s Republic of China (1 October).

Hong Kong
Hong Kong was originally part of China. However, the British set up a port city there for trade with China. With the treaty of Nanking at the end of the Opium War in 1847, Hong Kong officially became a British protectorate. The British returned Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China in 1997, but they required that the country operate with a very high level of autonomy for fifty years. China controls its defense and foreign affairs, while Hong Kong is able to control all other political and economic factors.

The country is comprised of 260 islands and borders the China in the north and the South China Sea in the south. Following its extensive trading history, it is still a major port and a flourishing example of capitalism. It is the fourth busiest port in the world, a remarkable feat for a country so small. It has ranked number one on the index of economic freedom for the past thirteen years, and has one of the highest per capita GDPs in the world.