Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of the most densely packed cities in the world, on the south coast of China at the mouth of the Pearl River. A British colony for more than 150 years, it was handed back to China in 1997 and is now a special administrative region, with its own laws and currency, under the principle of "one country, two systems". More than seven million people, mostly Cantonese Chinese, live in this small territory, in a forest of skyscrapers among the tallest in the world. A great port and a global financial centre, Hong Kong has a strong identity of its own, between China and the West.

Behind the image of a concrete city lies a very green, rugged territory. It is made up of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon peninsula, the New Territories and more than two hundred islands. Steep hills and mountains cover most of it, with large country parks, trails and beaches a short walk from the towers. Victoria Harbour, between the island and Kowloon, lined with towers lit up at night, is one of the most famous city views in the world. Short of flat land, the city has reclaimed land from the sea and built upward.

Before it became a great city, Hong Kong was just a cluster of Cantonese fishing villages on the coast of southern China. Everything changed in 1842: at the end of the First Opium War, China ceded the island to Britain, which made it a colony and a free port. Under British rule, Hong Kong became a great trading port between China and the world, and in the 20th century took in waves of Chinese refugees fleeing wars and revolutions, who made its population boom. In 1997, when the lease on the New Territories ran out, the territory was handed back to China, with a promise that it would keep its own system for fifty years. Since 2020, a national security law imposed by Beijing has sharply curtailed local freedoms.

Hong Kong's language is Cantonese, a southern Chinese language spoken by almost everyone and central to local identity; English, a colonial legacy, is still the language of business, and Mandarin is gaining ground. Religion is very diverse: Chinese traditions (Buddhism, Taoism, ancestor worship), present in countless incense-filled temples, sit alongside large Christian communities from British times and other faiths. Traditional Chinese festivals mark the year.

Hong Kong culture mixes Cantonese Chinese traditions with Western influences. It is the home of a cinema known all over the world, especially its martial arts films and their great stars, and of Cantopop. The food is excellent: dim sum at yum cha, street markets, roast ducks hanging in shop windows, milk tea. Feng shui sits alongside finance, temples alongside skyscrapers, and dragon boat races liven up the summer.