 Visiting Hong Kong can feel like wandering onto a movie set. Standing on deck of the Star Ferry as it glides across the harbour, riding the ultramodern railway across the island, or taking in the stunning views from atop Victoria Peak; one might feel they have somehow landed in the middle of an epic drama where the past has melted into the present.
 The images of Hong Kong are captivating in their contrast; old wooden boats bobbing beside huge ocean liners; squalid alleys behind luxury hotels; tiny tenements next to sleek skyscrapers; market vendors selling chicken feet while talking on cellular phones, the list is endless. Add all this to an excellent infrastructure, an efficient subway system, superb international facilities, and you’ll find an extremely soft entry into the Chinese world.
Because of these dazzling contrasts, Hong Kong offers visitors something unique - the chance to experience a vibrant Chinese city without sacrificing the comforts of home. Much of Hong Kong's Western framework comes from the legacy left by the British, who ruled the colony until 1997, when it was handed back to China as a Special Administrative Region (hence the SAR abbreviation).
British influence is still evident, from the school system and free-market economy, to the double-decker buses, English pubs, afternoon tea and orderly queues. Although the city was moulded by the British, it has always been, at its heart, Chinese; with Chinese medicine shops, street vendors, lively dim sum restaurants, old men taking their caged birds for walks in the park, and colourful festivals.
Hong Kong has much to offer and caters to nearly every interest. Its mixture of East and West has created a unique culture. Besides fantastic views, first class hotels, bustling streets which offer some of the best shopping opportunities in the world and over 20,000 restaurants, nearly 75% of Hong Kong's land is countryside and an incredible 40% of the territory is conserved country parkland.
There are 22 scenic parks while other rural and marine stretches have been declared Areas of Special Scientific Interest. The countryside parks are within easy reach and offer great opportunities for a quick getaway to relax from all the excitement of the bustling city.
Seeing all the sights is easily done by Hong Kong’s superb system of public transportation. Between the highly efficient MTR (Mass Transit Railway/subway), and the plush Jetfoil ferries, visitors will find getting around a breeze.
Chinese and English are the official languages and are widely spoken. Cantonese is the most common Chinese dialect, though Mandarin, Shanghainese and other Chinese dialects are also spoken. Many people, especially in shops, hotels, and service industries, speak English.
Hong Kong is Cantonese for "Fragrant Harbour", a name inspired either by the incense factories that once dotted the island or by the profusion of scented pink bauhinias, the national flower.
 Hong Kong is comprised of 1,078 sq. km, which includes Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories, including 235 outlying islands. Except for the big island of Lantau, most of the remaining islands are small and sparsely populated. A large floating population of boat dwellers docks in the territory's typhoon shelters.
The heart of the metropolis is the capital of Victoria on Hong Kong Island, which climbs almost vertical streets halfway up Victoria Peak. Rising to a height of 556 metres, the top of the peak has the majority of Hong Kong’s few detached houses and mansions.
Steep terrain has forced about 90 percent of Hong Kong's population to congregate in just 15 percent of the land area, creating the highest population density in the world. With no place to expand but upward, Hong Kong has some of the world's tallest buildings outside New York City.
For those who wish to journey farther a field, Macau, a former Portuguese colony handed back to China in 1999, is just an hour's boat ride away; and vast China itself lies just beyond Hong Kong's border, making it the perfect gateway for trips to Shanghai, Beijing, and beyond.
Climate
Hong Kong's subtropical climate produces high temperatures throughout most of the year and a short, mild winter. Spring (March to mid-May) averages around 23°C and is extremely wet, often causing dangerous landslides and floods. Summer (late May to mid-September) is hot and humid with periodic rain fall. Temperatures may rise to 33°C. Autumn (late September to early December) is dry with clear sunny days and temperatures hovering around 23°C. Winter (late December to February) is cool with low humidity with an average temperature of 17°C. The most significant weather event is the typhoon season of late summer.
 Typhoon season normally begins in June and ends in September. There are at least two or three annual typhoons that hit Hong Kong or at least affect the weather of the territory. The Royal Observatory of Hong Kong is responsible for informing the mass media when a typhoon alert is hoisted. An alert system ranging from 1 to 10 indicates the severity of a typhoon. Number 8 means stay indoors as most public transport services are suspended.
History
Hong Kong was founded as a place to conduct business and to trade, and it continues to serve that purpose both aggressively and successfully. The world's fourth-largest banking and financial centre in terms of external assets, Hong Kong is the "Wall Street of Asia," with banking, international insurance, advertising, and publishing among its biggest industries. Hong Kong also boasts the world's eighth-largest trading economy, and is one of the world's leading exporters of toys, garments, and watches.
 Prior to the arrival of the British, Hong Kong was a small fishing community and a haven for travellers and pirates in the South China Sea. During the Opium Wars with China in the 19th century, Britain used the territory as a naval base. Following the end of the first Opium War the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 ceded Hong Kong to Britain. Sir Henry Pottinger was its first governor.
Following additional conflicts with the Chinese, in 1860 Britain added Kowloon and Stonecutters Island to its list of controllable land originally belonging to China. In 1898 Britain acquired the New Territories which included 235 offshore islands on a 99-year lease.
Settlement in the territory grew slowly. In the early part of the 20th century Hong Kong served as a refuge for exiles from China following the establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1912.
 After Japan seized Manchuria in 1932, the Sino-Japanese war broke out in 1937. Throughout the late thirties, as Japan advanced into China, hundreds of thousands of Chinese took refuge in Hong Kong. It was estimated that some 100,000 refugees entered in 1937, 500,000 in 1938 and 150,000 in 1939 - bringing Hong Kong's population at the outbreak of World War II to an estimated 1.6 million. It was thought that at the height of the influx, about 500,000 people were sleeping in the streets.
World War II disrupted the social and economic life of Hong Kong. On Christmas Day, 1941, the British army surrendered Hong Kong to the Japanese. U.S. submarines foiled Japanese plans to use Hong Kong as a staging area for assaults further into East Asia. Following Japan's surrender on August 14, 1945 Britain reclaimed the territory.
 After the Japanese surrender, Chinese civilians returned at the rate of almost 100,000 a month. The population rose to an estimated 1.8 million by the end of 1947. Then, in the period 1948-49, as the forces of the Chinese Nationalist Government began to face defeat in civil war at the hands of the communists, Hong Kong received an influx unparalleled in its history. Hundreds of thousands of people - mainly from Guangdong province, Shanghai and other commercial centres - entered the territory during 1949. By the spring of 1950, the population had swelled to an estimated 2.2 million. Since then, it has continued to rise and now totals close to 7 million.
 On the 1st of July 1997 Hong Kong was handed back to China, and became a "Special Administrative Region" of the People's Republic of China under the one country two systems policy. Under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, the existing economic, legal and social systems will be maintained for at least 50 years after 1997. It remains one of the most fascinating and dynamic international cities in the world.
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