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Hong Kong skyline (AP Photo/David Longstreath)

INDEPTH: CHINA
Hong Kong
CBC News Online | April 26, 2004

Hong Kong is a bustling world economic and cultural centre, known for its skyscrapers and crowded streets. There are over seven million people living in an area of about 1,100 square kilometres. That's an area less than half the size of Ottawa, which has a population of 800,000.

Hong Kong is on the southeastern tip of China. It became a special administrative region (SAR) of China on July 1,1997, after Britain's 99-year lease expired. The area was first occupied by the U.K. in 1841 and a year later China gave up control of Hong Kong.

The agreement to make Hong Kong a special administrative region was signed by Britain and China on Dec. 19, 1984. In it, China promised not to impose its socialist economic system on Hong Kong and also to operate under a "one country, two systems" rule, in which Hong Kong would have a high degree of autonomy. Hong Kong was to continue its capitalist system. China, however, would continue to control foreign and defence policy until 2047.

The guidelines of "one country, two systems" are set out in Hong Kong's Basic Law, a constitutional agreement that was adopted on April 4, 1990, and came into effect on July 1, 1997. The Basic Law sets out the national laws for the region. It outlines the method for selecting the chief executive and Legislative Council of Hong Kong, as well as voting procedures.

Although Hong Kong has one of the world's deepest natural harbours, it does not have natural resources. It was known as a barren rock more than 150 years ago, before it became a financial engine. Hong Kong ranks 10th on the world list of trade economies. It is also a major world banking centre and foreign exchange market.

The majority of people in Hong Kong work in the service industry – wholesale, retail, hotels, restaurants – and in the import/export trade. There's also a large percentage of the population working in financial services, social services and communications. Manufacturing employs less than 10 per cent of the workforce. Hong Kong exports electronic products, clothing, watches, toys and games.

Chinese (primarily Cantonese) and English are both official languages in Hong Kong where 95 per cent of the population is Chinese. There are about 500,000 people from other countries, most from the Philippines, followed by Indonesia and the U.S.

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Basic Law

Hong Kong government

CIA World Factbook: China

China Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Text of anti-secession law from People's Daily

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