Fri, 14 Oct 2005
On... Hong Kong
Facts, figures, misconception-corrections
- Hong Kong is not a city-state - in fact, it's neither a city nor a state.
- Hong Kong is not a densely-developed urban sprawl - parts of it certainly are, but over 75% of the land area is undeveloped, almost all of which is either parkland or reserve.
- The population is about 7 million.
- The area is slightly over 1100 km2.
- There is the main city, which confusingly doesn't really have a name, but there are also other towns with a different identity.
- Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) - it is not an independent country, it is a largely autonomous region within a (MUCH) larger country. Bejing is responsible for defence and foreign relations, and (in principle at least) the SAR is reponsible for all other government activities. Macau is the other SAR, and the SAR model has been proposed by the PRC as a solution to the Taiwan situation. How well the SAR model works, and how the relationship between Hong Kong and the PRC evolves is, and will remain, one of the biggest questions in the region.
- Hong Kong consists of 4 regions: Kowloon, the New Territories, Hong Kong island and the other islands. Kowloon is the southern tip of the mainland part of Hong Kong with the New Territories being the rest, Hong Kong island is the most heavily-populated and developed island, and there are well over 200 other islands. The phrase The Mainland (Mainlanders, etc.) always means 'China proper' - the PRC. If you mean mainland Hong Kong as opposed to the island, you would say Kowloon, Kowloon-side, or New Territories.
- Lantau is the largest island in Hong Kong - significantly bigger than Hong Kong island itself - but is largely undeveloped. Apart from minor things like a major state-of-the-art international regional hub airport, an almost-open major world-class theme park, the world's tallest outdoor seated bronze Buddha statue, Discovery Bay (a residential development popular with expats), and a number of long-lived local towns and villages.
- The official languages of Hong Kong are English and Cantonese - official signs are written in both, making it relatively easy to find your way around even if you understand no Chinese. In 'the city' - Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the nearby areas of the New Territories - most things in shops will be listed in both languages and most people will understand at least a little English, but deeper into the New Territories, English use and comprehension falls off. In Tsuen Wan, for example, there is very little written English evident, and many/most people may understand little English and speak less - this can make something like buying lunch an interesting challenge for en English speaker, compared with doing the same thing in a country which at least uses the latin alphabet...
- Hong Kong's currency is the Hong Kong dollar (HKD) which is pegged to the US dollar (USD) and trades for between 7.75 and 7.85 HKD to the USD. The currency is fully convertable, and is used in note ($10, $20, $50, $100, $500 and $1000) and coin (10¢, 20¢, 50¢, $1, $2, $5 and $10) forms. With the exception of the $10 note, the notes are issued by commercial banks, so there are significantly different, but valid, forms in circulation.
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