After the Second World War, the economy and society in Hong Kong developed rapidly, not only had it become one of “Four Asian Tigers”, it is also one of the most rich, highest-developed and highest living standard areas. It is the most important center for finance, service and shipping, and it’s famous for clean government and free economic system, and it’s well-ruled and well-policed. The change in history has made Hong Kong a small fishing village with five thousand people to an international metropolitan city considered as “the Pearl of Orient”.
The history of Hong Kong can be dated back to Neolithic five thousand years ago. After the first emperor of Qin unified China, he had created three prefectures: Nanhai, Guilin and Xiangjun, where Hong Kong belonged to Dongguan county in Nanhai prefecture. From then on, Hong Kong was administrated by central government. In Han Dynasty, Hong Kong belonged to Boluo country in Nanhai prefecture. At A.D. 331, Hong Kong belonged to Bao’an country in Dongguan county. In Sui Dynasty Hong Kong belonged to Bao’an country in Nanhai prefecture in Guangzhou. At A.D. 757, the name of Bao’an country had been changed to Dongguan country, and Hong Kong still belonged to Dongguan country. At Song and Yuan Dynasties, there were many people moving from inland to Hong Kong, developing Hong Kong’s economy and culture. At Ming Dynasty (1573), Hong Kong belonged to Xin’an country.
Hong Kong is a great deep water habour, considered as one of the three natural harbour in the world. In early years the British had found the Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong had the potential of becoming the great harbour in East Asia. They plundered Hong Kong from the government of Qin Dynasty because of the Opium War to develop the maritime, therefore Hong Kong became the colony of UK. From 1842 to June of 1997, Hong Kong was the colony of UK. Since first of July in 1997, Hong Kong handover to China.
The three parts of Hong Kong (Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New Territory) originate from three unequal treaties. After the first opium war in 1840, the UK government forced the government of Qin Dynasty to sign the
26th January 1841: after the first opium war, Hong Kong Island was ceded by UK, although later on the government of Qin Dynasty tried to recapture by war, the emperor of Daoguang had promulgated many imperial edicts, the Qin Dynasty could’t defend the complete of territory.
29th of August 1842: The government of Qin Dynasty and Uk had signed the unequal treaty
24th October 1860: China and UK signed the unequal treaty
9th of June 1898, UK forced the government of Qin Dynasty to sign<
1997).25th December 1941: During the second world war, the Japanese army entered Hong Kong, and the British forces overseas Hong Kong could’t resist, the Governor of Hong Kong Mark Aitchison Young declared surrender helpless. Hong Kong was ceded by Japan, starting the Japanese ruled period of eight months and three years.
15th September 1945: Japan signed instrument of surrender after losing the war, and left Hong Kong.
19th December 1984: China the UK signed the joint declaration on the question of Hong Kong, deciding to conduct “One Country, Two Systems” in Hong Kong.
On 1st July 1997, Hong Kong became the special administrative region of China. According to the Basic Law, Hong Kong its own economic, law and social systems, remains the same for 50 years with “One Country, Two Systems”. Apart from defense and external affairs managed by the Chinese Central Government, Hong Kong special administrative region has a high degree of autonomy.
Regarding to the name of Hong Kong, there are several possibilities:
One: The name of Hong Kong was related to spice. In the Dynasties of Song and Yuan, Hong Kong belonged to Gongguang, Guangdong administratively. From the Ming Dynasty, the small harbour of the south of Hong Kong, became the distributed port to transport the spices in Canton. It’s famous for the transportation of the spices in Dongguan, Guangdong, therefore people called it “Hong Kong”. It was said that the spices being transported in Hong Kong had high quality, and were called “precious of the southern sea”. Many people in Hong Kong started their business in producing spices. Hong Kong and its spices became quite famous. Later on this kind of spices became tribute for emperor, and it helped to develop the industries of spices making and spices transportation. After that it became less popular with spices making and transportation, but the name of Hong Kong remained unchanged.
Two: Hong Kong is a natural harbour, with sweet stream nearby. Sailors who travel across the sea always come here to get some water to drink, day after day the sweet stream becomes famous, and the streamed is called “sweet river”. The sweet river flows into the sea, and is called “Hong Kong”. Some British landed Hong Kong from this port, so they used Hong Kong to name the entire island. Until today, “sweet river” is a nickname of Hong Kong.
Although there are different ways of saying, it is certain that the earliest naming of Hong Kong appeared in Ming Dynasty. Originally it meant the small harbour and town in Hong Kong Island, later on it became the call for the whole Island (Hong Kong Island). Until the beginning of 18 centry, it became the general name of the whole area occupied by British colonists.
On 1st July 1997, Hong Kong became the special administrative region of China. According to the Basic Law, Hong Kong its own economic, law and social systems, remains the same for 50 years with “One Country, Two Systems”. Apart from defense and external affairs managed by the Chinese Central Government, Hong Kong special administrative region has a high degree of autonomy.
Hong Kong is consisted with four parts: Hong Kong Island, New Territory, Kowloon and outlying islands. Hong Kong lies in the east of the Pearl River, connected with Shenzhen, Guangdong province by the Shenzhen river, and it’s close to the south China sea. The Victoria harbour between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island is very wide and deep and perfect for shipping, becomes one of the three natural harbour. Hong Kong starts to develop from the land around Victoria harbour, which is the heart of the city of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong has subtropical climate, with high temperature for the year. The average temperature is 22.8 degrees Celsius. In summer it is hot and wet, with the temperature around 26-30 degrees Celsius; in winter it is cool and dry, but the temperature remains above 5 degrees Celsius most of the time. There is quite a lot of rain from May to September, and sometimes it rains quite heavily. Sometimes there is typhoon between summer and autumn. The popular season for typhoon is between July and September. The rainfall averages 2214.3 mm a year, with August the most and January the least.
One of the most precious natural resources in Hong Kong is that it is a great deep water harbour. 60% of the edible tamsui water depends on the supply of Guangdong province. Regards to the mineral resources there is little iron, aluminium, wolfram, aquamarine, graphite and so on. Hong Kong is close to the continental shelf, facing the wild ocean. There are many islands. It is the perfect place for the production of fishing industry. There are more than 150 kinds of sea fish with business value in Hong Kong, such as besugo, lizardfish, ecofish, yellow croaker, yellow belly and squid.
Since 1st July 1997, China recovered the administrative right of Hong Kong. Hong Kong keeps the system of capitalism, and it is famous for clean government, well-policed, free economic system and complete law. Hong Kong is the center of the mixture of eastern and western culture, is one of the safest, richest and most booming places in the world. It is also the center of economy and finance and one of the maritime hub, the freedom of economy remains high in the world.
Hong Kong has the world-class architecture, fast-paced life, and fashionable entertainment, to show the charming ability of this city. Hong Kong is a heaven for living, consists of so many entertainments. In Hong Kong, you can visit the beautiful natural views and enjoy from the business civilization. It is a mixture of modern and old fashion.