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- Hong Kong is among the richest cities in the world. It has more Rolls Royce per person than any other region in the globe.
- Three quarters of the city’s landmass is rural. Major attractions in the rural areas include 24 parks, woodlands, reservoirs, hills and a beautiful coastline.
- The name of the city is a Cantonese phrase that translates to fragrance harbor.
- Hong Kong is the home city to the founder of fiber optic communications: Professor Charles Kao.
- Overview
- Relief
- Drainage
- Soils
Hong Kong, special administrative region (Pinyin: tebie xingzhengqu; Wade-Giles romanization: t’e-pieh hsing-cheng-ch’ü) of China, located to the east of the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang) estuary on the south coast of China. The region is bordered by Guangdong province to the north and the South China Sea to the east, south, and west. It consists of Hong Kong Island, originally ceded by China to Great Britain in 1842, the southern part of the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters (Ngong Shuen) Island (now joined to the mainland), ceded in 1860, and the New Territories, which include the mainland area lying largely to the north, together with 230 large and small offshore islands—all of which were leased from China for 99 years from 1898 to 1997. The Chinese-British joint declaration signed on December 19, 1984, paved the way for the entire territory to be returned to China, which occurred July 1, 1997.
The area of Hong Kong (Pinyin: Xianggang; Wade-Giles: Hsiang-kang) has expanded over the years, and it has continued to grow as more land has been reclaimed from the surrounding sea. Hong Kong Island and its adjacent islets have an area of only about 31 square miles (81 square km), while urban Kowloon, which includes the Kowloon Peninsula south of Boundary Street, and Stonecutters Island measure about 18 square miles (47 square km). The New Territories account for the rest of the area—more than 90 percent of the total. The Victoria urban district located on the barren rocks of the northwestern coast of Hong Kong Island is the place where the British first landed in 1841, and it has since been the centre of administrative and economic activities.
Hong Kong has rugged relief and marked variations in topography, which is in sharp contrast to the low-lying areas of the Pearl River Delta region but conforms geologically and structurally to the well-eroded upland region of the great South China massif. Structurally, the area is an upfold, running northeast-southwest, that was formed about 150 million years ago toward the latter part of the Jurassic Period. Lava poured into this structure and formed volcanic rocks that were later intruded by an extensive granitic dome. The harbour of Hong Kong was formed by the drowning of the denuded centre of the dome. The surrounding hills on the mainland and on Hong Kong Island are partly capped by volcanic rocks, and steep, scarplike concave slopes lead to the inner harbour.
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The area is a partially submerged, dissected upland terrain that rises abruptly to heights above 2,950 feet (900 metres); its backbone is made up of a series of ridges, running northeast to southwest, that tie in closely with the structural trend in South China. This trend is clearly observable from the alignment of Lantau Island and the Tolo Channel. From Mount Tai Mo—at 3,140 feet (957 metres) the highest peak in the territory—the series of ridges extends southwestward to Lantau Island, where the terrain rises to 3,064 feet (934 metres) on Lantau Peak and 2,851 feet (869 metres) on Sunset Peak. Extending southeastward from Mount Tai Mo, the Kowloon Peak attains an elevation of 1,975 feet (602 metres), but there is an abrupt drop to about 650 feet (198 metres) at Devil’s Peak. Victoria (Hong Kong) Harbour is well protected by mountains on Hong Kong Island that include Victoria Peak in the west, which rises to 1,810 feet (552 metres), and Mount Parker in the east, which reaches a height of about 1,742 feet (531 metres).
Lowlands of the Hong Kong region, including floodplains, river valleys, and reclaimed land, occupy less than one-fifth of the land. Extensive lowland regions are found only north of Mount Tai Mo, in the Yuen Long and Sheung Shui plains. The urban area that spans the two sides of the harbour, with ongoing reclamation, takes up only about one-tenth of the level area.
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Hong Kong lacks a river system of any scope, the only exception being in the north where the Sham Chun (Shenzhen) River, which forms the boundary between Guangdong and Hong Kong, flows into Deep Bay after collecting a number of small tributaries. Most of the streams are small, and they generally run perpendicular to the northeast-southwest trend of...
In general, Hong Kong’s soils are acidic and of low fertility. An exception is the alluvial soils, which are found mainly in the Deep Bay area, where the sediment-laden waters of the Pearl River estuary meet saline waters at high tide and slow down to deposit their sediments to form mudflats. Paddy rice farming and, more recently, intensive vegetab...
- Chi-Keung Leung
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China. With 7.4 million residents of various nationalities in a 1,104-square-kilometre (426 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated territories in the world.
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Apr 16, 2024 · Background. Seized by the UK in 1841, Hong Kong was formally ceded by China the following year at the end of the First Opium War; the Kowloon Peninsula was added in 1860 at the end of the Second Opium War, and was further extended when Britain obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. Pursuant to an agreement signed by China and ...
Home. About Hong Kong. Hong Kong – the Facts. Share: Hong Kong is a vibrant city, and a major gateway to Mainland China. This page will give you the facts about Hong Kong - from the form of government to the languages used. Government.
1. HK's the world's most popular city for tourism! Millions upon millions of tourists: The amazing little city beats out large London and every other city as a tourist destination by a large margin. 26 million tourists went to Hong Kong in 2014 according to Euromonitor International.
Sep 4, 2019 · Learn about the history, geography, economy, and culture of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China with a high level of autonomy and a high ranking on the Human Development Index. Find out how Hong Kong became a British colony, how it was invaded by Japan and China, and how it was transferred back to China in 1997.
