Prior to becoming a British Colony, Hong Kong was an unremarkable fishing village far from the center of Mainland China’s commercial activities. Following the end of the first Opium War the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 ceded Hong Kong to Britain. In fact, it was Colonialism that unleashed Hong Kong’s mercantile potentials and sealed the city’s future with China forever. Trade and links with China are Hong Kong’s manifest destiny. Today, Hong Kong provides the greatest economic freedom in the world, ahead of Singapore and the United States. The strategic proximity with the world’s most promising and vibrant developing economy, an efficient government, rule of law, world’s forefront banking system and capital markets are the pillars of Hong Kong’s existence. Rather than acting as a transformation, the development of national IT policy and investment in IT infrastructure serves to further exploit Hong Kong’s time-honored strengths and the role as the foremost vanguard of the Greater China’s economic growth.
Geography (1)
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
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
Natural resources: outstanding deepwater harbor, feldspar
Land use:
arable land: 5%
other: 94% (1998 est.)
permanent crops: 1%
Irrigated land: 20 sq km (1998 est.)
People (2)
Population: 7,303,334 (July 2002 est.)
Nationality:
noun: Chinese
adjective: Chinese
Ethnic groups: Chinese 95%, other 5%
Languages: Chinese (Cantonese), English; both are official
Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school
total population: 92.2%
male: 96%
female: 88.2% (1996 est.)
Government (3)
Country name:
conventional long form: Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
conventional short form: Hong Kong
Dependency status: special administrative region of China
Government type: NA
Constitution: Basic Law approved in March 1990 by China's National
People's Congress is Hong Kong's "mini-constitution"
Legal system: based on English common law
Legislative branch: unicameral Legislative Council or LEGCO
Judicial branch: The Court of Final Appeal in the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region
International organization participation: APEC, AsDB, BIS, CCC,
ESCAP (associate), ICC, ICFTU, IHO, IMO (associate), Interpol (subbureau),
IOC, ISO (correspondent), WCL, WMO, WToO (associate), WTrO
Diplomatic representation in the US: none (special administrative
region of China)
Economy (4)
GDP: $180 billion (2001 est.)
GDP - per capita: $25,000 (2001 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 0% (2001 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 0.1%
industry: 14.3%
services: 85.6% (1999 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $22.9 billion
expenditures: $24.6 billion, including capital expenditures
of $465 million (FY00/01)
Industries: textiles, clothing, tourism, banking, shipping,
electronics, plastics, toys, watches, clocks
Industrial production growth rate: -9% (2001 est.)
Exports: $191 billion (including reexports; f.o.b., 2001 est.)
Imports: $203 billion (2001 est.)
Currency: Hong Kong dollar (HKD)
Exchange rates: the Hong Kong dollar is linked to the
US dollar at a rate of about 7.8 Hong Kong dollars per US dollar
Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March
Next: Size of Domestic Market