Hong
Kong Geography
Hong Kong is a former British colony located
off the southern coast of China and lying
next to the Kwangtung province. It sits
at the mouth of the His Chiang Estuary and
is approximately 90 miles to the northwest
of the Chinese port city of Canton, 40 miles
to the west of which lies the former Portuguese
colony of Macau.
The
territory comprises Hong Kong Island &
the adjacent islets, Stonecutters Island,
the Kowloon Peninsula on the mainland and
the New Territories. The New Territories
comprise approximately 90% of the land surface
area of Hong Kong and consist of a portion
of the Chinese mainland and over 230 islands
leased from China in 1898 for 99 years.
Whilst
the total land area of the territory is
about 404 square miles this figure is not
final given the continual ongoing land reclamations
which are the direct consequence of an urban
development program which is limited by
a shortage of land.
The
capital city of the territory is at Victoria,
on Hong Kong Island, which boasts one of
the world's finest natural harbours. The
territory's hilly terrain has had an impact
on the direction of urban development. The
Kowloon ridge is the dividing line between
urban and rural Hong Kong with the harbor
area, the commercial, industrial and residential
districts located to the south while the
agricultural area is restricted to the north
and occupies some of the islands.
The
yearly average temperature is 70° F
with mean January and July temperatures
standing at 16° C and 28° C respectively.
Average annual rainfall is about 85 inches
of which about 90% falls between April and
October. Typhoons occur between July and
October. Hong Kong has one of the world's
busiest international airports.
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Hong Kong Population, Language
and Culture
Chinese
(Cantonese) and English are the official languages
of Hong Kong. Most important documents are
printed in both languages. For some documents
this is a legal requirement.
In
July, 2007, the population was estimated at
6.98 million persons making the territory
one of the most densely populated areas in
the world. (Prior to the Chinese civil war
the population stood at 1.5 million people).
Pressure on land means that over 80,000 people
live in boats with large elements of the population
living in extremely cramped conditions.
Although
more than 50% of the current population were
born in Hong Kong some 99% of the people are
effectively ethnic Chinese with strong roots
in the neighbouring Kwangtung and Fukien provinces
and who continue to maintain separate communities
even within urban areas.
About
10% of the population are Christian with the
balance being followers of Buddhism or Taoism.
The major non-Chinese elements of the population
are from The Philippines, British Commonwealth
countries, the USA, Portugal and Japan. The
cultural identity of the territory is distinctly
Chinese.
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Hong
Kong Government
Since
1st July 1997 Hong Kong has been a special
administrative region of the People's Republic
of China. The constitution is known as the
"Basic Law" and is modeled on the
constitution of the People's Republic. Under
the guiding principle of "one country,
2 systems" which was established before
the handover, the Chinese Government agreed
that Hong Kong's capitalist system would remain
unchanged until the year 2047. Thus whilst
defense and foreign affairs are the exclusive
domain of China, Hong Kong is autonomous in
all other matters even to the extent that
the Basic Law authorizes the territory to
maintain and develop relations and conclude
and implement agreements in various significant
fields with foreign states and regions and
relevant international organizations using
the name of "Hong Kong, China".
The
administration of the territory is in the
hands of the Hong Kong special administrative
government which is headed up by a Chief Executive.
The Chief Executive owes his appointment to
the decision of a committee of selected nominees
of the Chinese Government. The Chief Executive
appoints the Executive Council of Government
(a body that advises him on all matters of
government) and all judges. Moreover all bills
passed by the Legislative Council must have
his assent before they become law. The 60-member
Legislative Council enacts legislation and
controls public expenditure. Its members are
elected every 4 years under a complex weighted
voting arrangement. The urban and regional
councils are the equivalent of western municipal
authorities.
The
handover agreement of 1997 provided for the
territory to maintain its British legal system
save in so far as those laws contravene the
Basic Law and with the Court of Final Appeal
of Hong Kong replacing the Privy Council as
the final and highest court of record.
Although
there have been one or two cases in which
Beijing has seemed to over-rule Hong Kong
courts, particularly as regards citizenship
issues, by and large the transition from colony
to Special Administrative Region has been
successful, although the people of Hong Kong
have been very dissatisfied with the lack
of independence and vigour shown by their
leaders in moving towards democracy in the
SAR.
In
April, 2004, the Standing Committee of the
National People's Congress asserted that political
reform in Hong Kong is the sole prerogative
of the Chinese central government, a move
which observers suggested was effectively
designed to amend Hong Kong's Basic Law by
increments. Despite Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's
suggestion that the ruling is unlikely to
affect the "one country, two systems" arrangement
between the territory and mainland China,
a pall was cast over the jurisdiction's political
system.
Tung
attempted to reassure the populace, explaining
that: "There are calls for democracy in the
society, but Hong Kong should not place itself
in opposition to the central government. The
central government is actually very concerned
about the development of democracy in Hong
Kong." Chief Secretary for Administration,
Donald Tsang attempted to back the Chief Executive
up, observing that: "It also does not mean
that the central authority does not respect
the opinions of the Hong Kong people." But
the populace has largely lost faith in its
leaders. Critics argue that the ruling deprives
the jurisdiction of any say over its political
future, and that the door has been left open
for further reinterpretations of Hong Kong
law by the Chinese authorities.
In
2005, Tung Chee-hwa resigned in the face of
mounting dissatisfaction both in Hong Kong
and Beijing, and Beijing formally rubber-stamped
Donald Tsang's selection as Hong Kong's new
Chief Executive. Tsang was re-elected on 25
March 2007 (next elections to be held in 2012).
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