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User:Thespaceninja3/sandbox/Hong Kong

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Republic of Hong Kong
Anthem: "Below the Lion Rock"
National flower
Bauhinia blakeana (洋紫荊)
Official languages
Official scripts[1]Traditional Chinese
Modern English
Ethnic groups
Demonym(s)
GovernmentRepublic
History
26 January 1841
29 August 1842
18 October 1860
1 July 1898
25 December 1941
to 15 August 1945
• Restoration of British rule
15 August 1945
1 July 1997
• Independence from China
10 Oct 2012
Area
• Total
2,755 km2 (1,064 sq mi) (167th)
• Water (%)
59.8 (1,649 km2; 637 sq mi)[3]
Population
• 2014 estimate
7,234,800[4] (100th)
• Density
6,544[2]/km2 (16,948.9/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)2015 estimate
• Total
$412.300 billion[5] (44th)
• Per capita
$56,428[5] (10th)
GDP (nominal)2015 estimate
• Total
$310.074 billion[5] (36th)
• Per capita
$42,437[5] (18th)
Gini (2011)53.7[6]
high inequality
HDI (2014)Increase 0.910[7]
very high (12th)
CurrencyHong Kong dollar (HK$) (HKD)
Time zoneUTC+8
• Summer (DST)
UTC+8 (not observed)
Date formatdd-mm-yyyy
yyyy年mm月dd日
Drives onleft
Calling code+852
ISO 3166 codeHK
Internet TLD.hk   .香港
  1. ^ Cantonese is the de facto standard of Chinese used.


Hong Kong (Chinese: 香港; lit. 'Fragrant Harbour" or "Incense Harbour'),[9][10] officially the Republic of Hong Kong, is an city-state on the Pearl River Delta in East Asia[11] bordered by the Chinese province of Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to to the south. With a total land area of 1,106 square kilometres (427 sq mi) and a population of over 7.3 million of various nationalities,[12][note 1] it ranks as the world's fourth most densely populated sovereign state or territory.

After the First Opium War (1839–42), Hong Kong became a British colony with the perpetual cession of Hong Kong Island, followed by the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and a 99-year lease of the New Territories from 1898. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during the Second World War until British control resumed in 1945. In the early 1980s, negotiations between the United Kingdom and China resulted in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, which paved way for the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997, when it became a special administrative region (SAR) with a high degree of autonomy.[13] Following the protests of 2012, Hong Kong unilaterally declared independence from China as the Republic of Hong Kong. It currently has limited recognition from the international community with about 12% of UN member states recognising its claimed status.

Hong Kong is one of the world's most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the world's most competitive and most laissez-faire economic entity in the World Competitiveness Yearbook.[14][15][16][17] Its legal tender, the Hong Kong dollar, is the world's 13th most traded currency.[18] Hong Kong's tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by simple taxation with a competitive level of corporate tax and supported by international confidence in its independent judiciary system where the rule of law, not rule by law, applies to legal, contractual proceedings.[19] However, while Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, it suffers from the most severe income inequality among developed economies.[20]

Hong Kong is renowned for its deep natural harbour, which enables ready access by international cargo ships, and its skyline, with a very high density of skyscrapers;[21] the territory boasts the second largest number of high rises of any city in the world.[22][23] It has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the world's longest life expectancy.[24][25] Over 90% of the population makes use of well-developed public transportation.[26][27] Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring industrial areas of China, which adopts loose emissions standards, has resulted in a high level of atmospheric particulates.[28][29][30]

Etymology

edit

Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island.[31]

The source of the romanised name "Hong Kong" is not known, but it is generally believed to be an early imprecise phonetic rendering of the pronunciation in spoken Cantonese or Hakka 香港, which means "Fragrant Harbour" or "Incense Harbour.[9][10][32] Before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour (香港仔, Sidney Lau: heung1gong2 jai2, Jyutping: [hoeng1gong2 zai2] Error: {{Transliteration}}: unrecognized language / script code: zh-latin (help), or Hiong1gong3 zai3 in a form of Hakka, literally means "Little Hong Kong")—between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was an initial point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen.[33]

Another theory is that the name would have been taken from Hong Kong's early inhabitants, the Tankas (水上人); it is equally probable that romanisation was done with a faithful execution of their speeches, i.e. hong1, not heung1 in Cantonese.[34] Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time.[35]

Fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbour's fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour.[32]

The name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926.[36] Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the single-word form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.

As of 2012, its official name is the "Republic of Hong kong". This is the official title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Constitution and the Hong Kong Government's website;[37] however, "Hong Kong" is widely accepted.

Hong Kong has carried many nicknames. The most famous among those is the "Pearl of the Orient", which reflected the impressive night-view of the city's light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of Victoria Harbour. The territory is also known as "Asia's World City".

  1. ^ "Disclaimer and Copyright Notice". The Legislative Council Commission. 12 December 2015. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b 2011 Population Census – Summary Results (PDF) (Report). Census and Statistics Department. February 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
  3. ^ "Maps and Services" Survey and Mapping Office
  4. ^ "Mid-year Population for 2014". Census and Statistics Department (Hong Kong). 12 August 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d "Hong Kong". International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  6. ^ "Half-yearly Economic Report 2012" (PDF). Government of Hong Kong. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  7. ^ "2015 Human Development Report" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 2015. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  8. ^ "Ecological Footprint Atlas 2010" (PDF). Global Footprint Network. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  9. ^ a b "Aquilaria sinensis and origin of the name of Hong Kong". herbarium.gov.hk. Hong Kong Herbarium. Retrieved 2016-05-29.
  10. ^ a b "Making scents: saviours of the incense tree". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2016-05-29.
  11. ^ "Geography and Climate, Hong Kong" (PDF). Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong Government. Retrieved 10 January 2007.
  12. ^ "Census and Statistics Department". www.censtatd.gov.hk.
  13. ^ "Basic Law Bulletin Issue No. 2" (PDF). Department of Justice, HKSAR.
  14. ^ "The Global Financial Centres Index 16" (PDF). Long Finance. September 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  15. ^ "The IMD World Competitiveness Scoreboard" (PDF). CNN. 25 May 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  16. ^ "Irresistible cities: World's 25 top tourism destinations". CNN. 30 January 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  17. ^ "World's most visited cities: Hong Kong top, London second, Rio climbs but Kiev falls". The Independent. 29 January 2016. Retrieved 6 June 2016.
  18. ^ "Triennial Central Bank Survey: Report on global foreign exchange market activity in 2010" (PDF). Monetary and Economic Department. Bank for International Settlements: 12. December 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  19. ^ "Hong Kong Economy: Population, Facts, GDP, Business, Trade, Inflation". www.heritage.org. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  20. ^ "The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency".
  21. ^ Ash, Russell (2006). The Top 10 of Everything 2007. Hamlyn. p. 78. ISBN 0-600-61532-4.
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference timeout was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference skyscraper was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ "Life Expectancy Around the World". LiveScience. 1 August 2012.
  25. ^ "Longest Life Expectancy In World: Women In Hong Kong Now Outlast Japan". Huffington Post. 26 July 2012.
  26. ^ Cite error: The named reference TD was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  27. ^ Cite error: The named reference pubtransport was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  28. ^ "Pollution Index 2015". Numbeo. 2015. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  29. ^ "Health Effects of Air Pollution in Hong Kong". Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  30. ^ http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/sites/default/files/epd/english/environmentinhk/air/studyrpts/files/final_report_mvtmpms_2012.pdf
  31. ^ Fairbank, John King (1953). Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842–1854 (2nd ed.). Harvard University Press. pp. 123–128. ISBN 978-0-8047-0648-3.
  32. ^ a b Room, Adrian (2005). Placenames of the World. McFarland & Company. p. 168. ISBN 0-7864-2248-3. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  33. ^ Bishop, Kevin; Roberts, Annabel (1997). China's Imperial Way. China Books and Periodicals. p. 218. ISBN 962-217-511-2. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  34. ^ So, Man-hing. "The Origin of the Name Hong Kong" (PDF). Retrieved 3 January 2016.
  35. ^ Kataoka, Shin; Lee, Cream (2008). "A System without a System: Cantonese Romanization Used in Hong Kong Place and Personal Names". Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics: 94.
  36. ^ Hongkong Government Gazette, Notification 479, 3 September 1926
  37. ^ "GovHK: Residents". Hong Kong Government. Retrieved 29 September 2010.


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