Special administrative region · South China
Hong Kong
香港
Harbour city of the Pearl River estuary under “one country, two systems”
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China on the east side of the Pearl River estuary, bordering Guangdong. A British colony from 1842 until 1997, it has been governed since 1 July 1997 under the principle of “one country, two systems” and its Basic Law, with its own legal system, currency, customs territory and immigration controls. It is a major international financial centre and port, and a Cantonese-speaking city of more than seven million people.
Key facts
- Status
- Special administrative region of the PRC since 1 July 1997
- Area
- about 1,114 km² (land)[1]
- Population
- 7.51 million(as of end of 2025)[2]
- Real GDP growth
- 3.5%(as of 2025, advance estimate)[3]
- Census population
- 7.41 million(as of 2021 census)[4]
- Currency
- Hong Kong dollar
- Official languages
- Chinese and English
- Districts
- 18[1]
Profile
- Chinese name
- 香港
- Abbreviation (简称)
- 港
- Type
- Special administrative region
- Region
- South China
- Seat of government
- Hong Kong
- Area
- about 1,114 km²
- Divisions
- 18 districts on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon and in the New Territories (including the outlying islands)
- Ethnic groups
- Chinese, Filipino, Indonesian, South Asian, White
- Languages
- Cantonese, English, Mandarin (Putonghua), Hakka and Weitou
- Neighbours
- Guangdong
Languages
Cantonese
粤语
The everyday language of most of the population (Cantonese Yuhtyúh, commonly called 廣東話); written Chinese in Hong Kong uses traditional characters.
English
英语
An official language alongside Chinese, used in law, business and higher education.
Mandarin (Putonghua)
普通话
Taught in schools and widely understood; its use has grown since 1997.
Hakka and Weitou
客家话
The older languages of the indigenous villages of the New Territories, now spoken mainly by older residents.
Name and abbreviation
The name 香港, “fragrant harbour”, is usually explained by the incense trade: fragrant agarwood from the Dongguan and Xin'an area was collected at a small harbour on the south side of Hong Kong Island, near today's Aberdeen, for shipment. The name first belonged to a village there and was extended by the British to the whole island and then the territory. The English spelling follows the local Cantonese pronunciation, Hēunggóng; Mandarin speakers say Xiānggǎng. The abbreviation 港 is used in compounds such as 港澳 (Hong Kong and Macau).
Historic names
新安县
The Ming and Qing county, with its seat at Nantou in today's Shenzhen, that administered the area before 1842.
City of Victoria
维多利亚城
The colonial capital on the north shore of Hong Kong Island, the area now known as Central and its neighbours.
Kowloon
九龙 — “nine dragons”
The peninsula north of the harbour; Cantonese Gáulùhng.
New Territories
新界 — “new territory”
The mainland area north of Kowloon and the outlying islands, leased to Britain in 1898.
Land and climate
Hong Kong consists of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula, the New Territories on the mainland and more than 260 islands, of which Lantau is the largest. The terrain is steep and hilly, so the dense urban areas are concentrated on narrow coastal strips, reclaimed land and new towns; about forty per cent of the land is protected as country parks. Victoria Harbour, between the island and Kowloon, is one of the finest natural deep-water harbours in the world.
Landforms
Tai Mo Shan
大帽山
The highest point of Hong Kong at 957 m, in the central New Territories.
Victoria Harbour
维多利亚港
The harbour between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, much narrowed by reclamation.
Victoria Peak
太平山
The 552-metre summit above Central, reached by the Peak Tram since 1888.
Lantau Island
大屿山
The largest island, with the airport, Lantau Peak (934 m) and the Tian Tan Buddha.
Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark
香港联合国教科文组织世界地质公园
Hexagonal volcanic rock columns in Sai Kung and sedimentary rocks in the north-eastern New Territories.
Rivers and lakes
Shenzhen River (Sham Chun River)
深圳河
The river forming most of the boundary with Shenzhen.
Shing Mun River
城门河
Channelised river through the new town of Sha Tin.
East River (Dongjiang)
东江
The Guangdong river that supplies most of Hong Kong's fresh water by pipeline.
Climate
Subtropical, with a hot, humid and rainy summer from May to September, when typhoons may bring the tropical cyclone warning signals that close offices and schools, and a mild, dry winter. October to December is the most pleasant period; spring is often foggy and humid.
History
The coast of Hong Kong was inhabited in the Neolithic and came under Chinese administration with the Qin conquest of Lingnan. For most of its history it was a fringe of Xin'an county, with fishing and farming villages, walled clan settlements and salt pans. Britain occupied Hong Kong Island during the First Opium War and received it in the Treaty of Nanking of 1842; Kowloon followed in 1860 and the New Territories were leased for 99 years in 1898. The colony grew into an entrepôt, was occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945, and after 1949 received large numbers of people from the mainland, whose labour and capital made it an industrial and then a financial centre. Under the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984, sovereignty passed to the People's Republic of China on 1 July 1997.
Eastern Han (25–220)
Lei Cheng Uk tomb
A brick tomb in Sham Shui Po, the oldest standing structure in Hong Kong, showing Han presence on the coast.
1277
The Song court in flight
The boy emperors of the fleeing Southern Song stayed near Kowloon; the Sung Wong Toi inscription commemorates them.
26 January 1841
British landing at Possession Point
British forces occupied Hong Kong Island during the First Opium War.
1842
Treaty of Nanking
Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain.
1860
Convention of Peking
The Kowloon Peninsula south of Boundary Street and Stonecutters Island were ceded.
1898
Lease of the New Territories
The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory leased the area north of Kowloon and the surrounding islands to Britain for 99 years.
25 December 1941 – 1945
Japanese occupation
Hong Kong surrendered on Christmas Day 1941; the population fell sharply during three years and eight months of occupation.
1950s–1970s
Industrialisation
Immigrants from the mainland built textile, garment, plastics and electronics industries, and public housing estates were built on a large scale.
19 December 1984
Sino-British Joint Declaration
Britain and China agreed that sovereignty would pass to China in 1997 and that Hong Kong's systems would remain unchanged for fifty years.
4 April 1990
Basic Law adopted
The National People's Congress adopted the Basic Law, Hong Kong's constitutional document, which took effect in 1997.
1 July 1997
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region established
The People's Republic of China resumed the exercise of sovereignty; the Chief Executive replaced the Governor.
2019
Protests over the extradition bill
Months of large-scale protests followed a proposed amendment to the law on fugitive offenders, which was formally withdrawn in October 2019.
30 June 2020
National security law
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress enacted a law on safeguarding national security in Hong Kong, covering secession, subversion, terrorist activities and collusion with foreign forces.
World heritage
Intangible cultural heritage (UNESCO lists)
Inscribed 2009
Yueju opera
粤剧
Cantonese opera (Cantonese Yuhtkehk), inscribed as a joint element of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau.
Culture
Hong Kong culture is Cantonese at its base, shaped by a century and a half of British rule, by migrants from all over China and by its role as an international port. Temples to Tin Hau, the sea goddess, and to Man Mo and Wong Tai Sin stand among skyscrapers; clan festivals continue in the walled villages of the New Territories. Hong Kong cinema, from kung fu films to the work of directors such as Wong Kar-wai, and Cantopop music spread its culture across Asia from the 1970s onwards.
Opera, music and dance
Cantonese opera
粤剧
Performed at the Xiqu Centre in West Kowloon and on temporary bamboo theatres at temple festivals.
Cantopop
粤语流行曲
Cantonese popular music, dominant across the Chinese-speaking world in the 1980s and 1990s.
Tai Hang fire dragon dance
舞火龙
A straw dragon studded with burning incense sticks paraded through Tai Hang at the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Crafts
Cheongsam tailoring
长衫
Hand-tailored qipao, a craft that flourished among Shanghai tailors who moved to Hong Kong after 1949.
Neon sign making
霓虹灯
Glass-bending for the neon signs that once defined Hong Kong's streets.
Bamboo scaffolding
竹棚
Bamboo scaffolds and temporary theatres lashed together by specialist builders.
Festivals and customs
Cheung Chau Bun Festival
太平清醮
A Taoist festival on Cheung Chau island with a parade of children on stilts and towers of buns.
Tin Hau Festival
天后诞
Birthday of the sea goddess on the 23rd day of the third lunar month, celebrated by fishing communities.
Poon choi
盆菜
Layered basin feast of the walled villages, served at clan banquets.
Cuisine
Hong Kong's food is built on Cantonese cooking, with an unusual range of influences: dim sum teahouses and roast-meat shops sit alongside cha chaan teng (茶餐廳, “tea restaurants”), which serve Hong Kong's own adaptations of Western food. The city's restaurants also cover every regional Chinese cuisine and much of the world's.
Signature dishes
Dim sum
点心
Har gow, siu mai, char siu bao and other snacks eaten with tea (Cantonese yám chà).
Siu mei
烧味
Roast goose, char siu and crispy pork belly, served over rice.
Wonton noodles
云吞面
Shrimp wontons and springy egg noodles in broth.
Hong Kong-style milk tea
港式奶茶
Strong black tea strained through a cloth bag and mixed with evaporated milk.
Pineapple bun
菠萝包
Sweet bun with a crackly sugar crust that resembles a pineapple; it contains no pineapple.
Egg tart
蛋挞
Custard tart in shortcrust or flaky pastry, a staple of bakeries and cha chaan teng.
Specialities
Egg waffles
鸡蛋仔
Bubble-shaped waffles sold from street stalls.
Tai O shrimp paste
大澳虾酱
Fermented shrimp paste from the stilt-house fishing village on Lantau.
Wife cake
老婆饼
Flaky pastry filled with winter-melon paste.
Notable people
Ho Kai (1859–1914)
何启
Physician and barrister who co-founded the Hong Kong College of Medicine, where Sun Yat-sen studied.
Bruce Lee (1940–1973)
李小龙
Martial artist and actor who grew up in Hong Kong and made his major films there.
Louis Cha (Jin Yong) (1924–2018)
金庸
Author of the most widely read martial-arts novels and founder of the Ming Pao newspaper in Hong Kong.
Charles K. Kao (1933–2018)
高锟
Physicist whose work on optical fibre won the Nobel Prize in 2009; vice-chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Leslie Cheung (1956–2003)
张国荣
Singer and actor, a star of Cantopop and of films such as Farewell My Concubine.
Economy
Hong Kong is one of the world's leading financial centres, with a large stock exchange, a major banking and asset-management sector and a role as the main offshore centre for the Chinese currency. Trade and logistics, professional services and tourism are the other pillars; manufacturing moved to the Pearl River Delta from the 1980s. It is a separate customs territory and a member of the World Trade Organization in its own right, a free port with no tariffs on most goods, and its currency, the Hong Kong dollar, has been linked to the US dollar since 1983.
Main industries
- Financial services and asset management
- Trade and logistics, including one of the world's busiest cargo airports
- Professional and business services
- Tourism
- Innovation and technology
Zones, ports and hubs
Northern Metropolis
北部都会区
Planned development area in the northern New Territories along the boundary with Shenzhen.
Loop Hong Kong–Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Co-operation Zone
河套深港科技创新合作区
Joint technology area at the Lok Ma Chau Loop on the Shenzhen River.
West Kowloon Cultural District
西九文化区
Arts quarter on reclaimed land with the M+ museum, the Hong Kong Palace Museum and the Xiqu Centre.
Getting there
- Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok, opened in 1998, is one of the main air hubs of Asia.
- High-speed trains run from West Kowloon to Shenzhen, Guangzhou and many mainland cities; the MTR East Rail line runs to the Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau crossings into Shenzhen.
- The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge links Lantau with Macau and Zhuhai; ferries run to Macau and to ports in the Pearl River Delta.
- Hong Kong has its own immigration controls and entry rules, separate from those of the mainland; a mainland Chinese visa is not needed to visit Hong Kong, and a visit to Hong Kong does not count as entry to the mainland.
Travel guide: hong kong
Entry rules for foreign visitors are on the visa and entry pages.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- GovHK — Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government — Government of the Hong Kong SAR (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Year-end Population for 2025 — Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Advance estimates on Gross Domestic Product for fourth quarter and whole year of 2025 — Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- 2021 Population Census — Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region — Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau, Hong Kong (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Intangible Cultural Heritage: China — UNESCO (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Hong Kong — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
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