The Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China
is one of the two special administrative regions (SARs)
of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the other
being Macau. It is commonly known as Hong Kong, which
is often written Hongkong in older English-language
texts. The Hong Kong Government officially changed
the name of Hongkong to Hong Kong on 3 September 1926.
Hong Kong is on the eastern side of the Pearl River
Delta on the southeastern coast of the People's Republic
of China, facing the South China Sea in the south,
and bordering Guangdong Province in the north. Because
Hong Kong has one of the world's most liberal economies
and is a major international centre of finance and
trade, it is China's richest region.
Hong Kong was a British colony from 1842, until its
sovereignty was transferred to the PRC in 1997. It
is governed as a special administrative region under
the Basic Law of Hong Kong. Under the terms of the
Sino-British Joint Declaration, the PRC has promised
that Hong Kong will have a relatively high degree of
autonomy until at least 2047, fifty years after the
transfer of sovereignty. Under the "One Country, Two
Systems" policy, it retains its own legal system, currency,
customs policy, cultural delegation, international
sport teams, and immigration laws, and with the PRC
representing Hong Kong diplomatically and militarily. |