Hong Kong

Hong Kong, population approx 6.9 million people in 1,104 sq km. The region was first incorporated into Imperial China in the Qin Dynasty, and served as a trading post and naval base during the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty. Contact with the United Kingdom was established after the British East India Company founded a trading post in the nearby city of Canton.



First occupied by British forces in 1841, and then formally ceded from China under the Treaty of Nanjing at the end of the war. The British established a Crown Colony with the founding of Victoria City the following year. In 1860, after China's defeat in the Second Opium War, the Kowloon Peninsula south of Boundary Street and Stonecutter's Island were ceded to Britain in perpetuity under the Convention of Peking. In 1898, Britain obtained a 99-year lease of the adjacent northern lands and Lantau Island, which became known as the New Territories.

Hong Kong was a crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1842 until the transfer of its sovereignty to the People's Republic of China in 1997. The Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law of Hong Kong stipulate that Hong Kong operates with a high degree of autonomy until at least 2047, fifty years after the transfer. Under the policy of "one country, two systems", the Central People's Government is responsible for the territory's defence and foreign affairs, while Hong Kong maintains its own legal system, police force, monetary system, customs policy, immigration policy, and delegates to international organisations and events.


Now on to the scenes:

View from Victoria Peak. A bit hazy so can't see very far into Kowloon across the harbour.




Currently 3rd tallest building in the world, the Two-IFC (International Finance Centre) building is 88 Storeys standing at 420 meters.
One-IFC (39 storeys at 210m) is towards the left, the one with the identical roof design.