Hong Kong Country Guide
Hong Kong and China
On 1 July 1997, Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of China in an arrangement lasting 50 years. Under the ‘one country, two systems' policy, Hong Kong maintains its own political, social and economic systems. English remains an official language and Hong Kong's border with China still exists.
Hong Kong's colonial past
Hong Kong was part of China before coming under British administration as a result of the 19th-century Opium Wars. When peace terms were drawn up in 1841, Hong Kong Island was ceded by China to Britain. It remained under British control (apart from a four-year period under Japanese occupation during WWII) until the 1997 handover.
Much has changed since 1841 when then foreign secretary Lord Palmerston described Hong Kong as ‘nothing but a barren island without a house upon it'.
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