Hong Kong has become one of the busiest cultural and business centres in the whole of East Asia. Lying just south of the Tropic of Cancer and with a total area of some 1100 square km and 733 km of coastline the island and its neighbouring mainland China has an interesting past.

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 Nineteenth 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, whose has a street in the Central district named after him, 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 with the population rose from 32,983 in 1851 to 878,947 in 1931. In the early part of the 20 th 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, which by August 1945 had been reduced to about 600,000, rose by the end of 1947 to an estimated 1.8 million. 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 and 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 on six million.

Hong Kong has grown into a world-class financial, trading and business centre and is the world's seventh largest trading economy and the ninth largest exporter of services. Hong Kong advocates and practises free trade. Its economy is nurtured by a Government policy of maximum support and minimum intervention. Its taxes are low and simple.

On the 1 st 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. Which means Hong Kong hasn't changed much since. It still remains one of the most fascinating and dynamic international cities in the world.

Lying just south of the tropic of Cancer at the southeastern tip of China, Hong Kong adjoins the province of Guangdong (Canton). The total land area of Hong Kong is 1,078 sq. km, comprising of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories, including 235 outlying islands. Today Hong Kong has become an international trading post, a powerful manufacturing base and one of the world's largest financial centres. The heart of the metropolis is the capital on Hong Kong Island, Victoria, which climbs almost vertical streets halfway up Victoria Peak. Rising to a height of 556m, the top of the peak has most of the territory's few detached houses and mansions.

The heart of the metropolis is the capital on Hong Kong Island, Victoria, which climbs almost vertical streets halfway up Victoria Peak. Rising to a height of 556m, the top of the peak has most of the territory'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.

Hong Kong's tropical latitude produces high temperatures most of the year and a short, mild winter. Spring is extremely wet, often causing dangerous landslides and floods. Autumn is dry. The most significant weather event is the typhoon season of late summer. Hong Kong has much to offer and caters to nearly every interest. It's mixture of East and West, has created a unique culture. Besides fantastic Harbour views, first class hotels, tall skyscrapers, bustling streets which offer some of the best shopping opportunities in the world and over 20000 restaurants, nearly 75% of Hong Kong's land is countryside and an incredible 40% of the territory is conserved country parkland.

Hong Kong has 22 scenic country 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.