The Hong Kong S.A.R., or Special Administrative Region, as it became known after the handover in July of 1997, is comprised of the New Territories, Kowloon Peninsula, and 235 outlying islands of which Hong Kong Island is but one. The whole territory is only 413 sq. miles (1,070 sq. kilometers) -- with Hong Kong Island itself only 24 square miles -- and sits at a latitude just south of the Tropic of Cancer or about the same as Hawaii. Don't be deceived, though. It gets cooler in the winter here than in Hawaii (see Climate).

The territory lies on a peninsula at the Southeastern tip of China which juts out into the South China Sea. The Chinese province directly to the north of Hong Kong is Guangdong (formerly Canton), with its capital at Guangzhou (also formerly Canton and pronounced 'gwang 'joe). Guangzhou is about 80 miles away with Beijing another 1,200 miles north.

One of the most important geographical features of Hong Kong is the deep water in the harbor and close to the shore which has allowed Hong Kong to be a major shipping point and trade center. For an example, you can see that Ocean Terminal, which is right in Tsim Sha Tsui at the harbor's edge is home not only to a shopping center, but is also an actual ocean terminal. Additionally the mountains of Hong Kong Island, Lantau, and the eastern part of the New Territories have helped protect against the rare typhoon that comes in off the South China Sea.

Finally, the map of the region changes continuously due to the numerous, huge reclamation projects undertaken here. Large swaths of harbor have been filled in at many places including the whole area in front of the Peninsula where the Cultural Complex now sits, Hong Hom, Causeway Bay, parts of Central and Wanchai, and the whole western portion of Kowloon (for the airport highway and rail links), just to name a few. Projects already under construction will add fill to the area directly in front of the whole northern shore of Hong Kong Island for new parkland.

Until the Portugese and British began to take an interest in trading with China in the 18th century, the area where Hong Kong lies today was of no special interest to the Chinese government in Beijing far, far away. However, with Portugese trade wealth rising from their base in Macau, the British sought to establish a base of their own. Working out of Guangzhou (Canton), the British soon found that while the trading was going well, it was hardly "trade". Most of the exchanges were the British purchasing Chinese goods -- tea and silk, mainly -- in return for gold or silver.

Britain needed something to exchange and soon discovered it in opium which it imported from India, beginning in 1774. Despite a banning of the drug near the end of the 18th century, trade (and growing Chinese abuse) of the drug continued until the end of the 1830's. Having seen the damage done to its people not to mention the large outflows of wealth to the British, it was now when the Chinese finally seized and ceremoniously burned a shipment of opium in Guangzhou. This action prompted the British to invade in 1840 -- the famous Opium Wars. The end result was a series of imposed treaties and leases throughout the 1800's culminating in the 99-year lease on the New Territories in 1898.

Firmly under British rule trade and, now, manufacturing began to prosper. As World War II came and went, Hong Kong's giant neighbor to the north came under communist rule. Though always suspicious and wary of Hong Kong, its economic value to China was undeniable. As such, though a blockade or a cut-off of water access could have probably put an end to British rule, it was allowed to continue. (The most inventive, least aggressive way to have reclaimed Hong Kong might have been to "invade" by simply opening the borders wide and letting millions of Chinese head South!) As the expiration date for the New Territories lease approached in 1997, the English Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher recognized that -- though Hong Kong Island and Kowloon were ceded in perpetuity in separate treaties -- the time had come to peacefully settle the issue and revert the whole of the territory to Chinese rule. Completed in 1997, a historic transfer of power took place in the just completed Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Victoria Harbour whereby Hong Kong would exist in a One Country/Two Systems arrangement designed to "save face" for both sides. For 50 years, capitalism and democracy would be allowed in the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong with the region officially being a part of China. Though not all are happy with the way it has worked out, the handover and the coincidentally timed Asian currency crisis* have proved only to slightly dent Hong Kong as it pushes its way toward becoming a financial and economic power of the 21st century.

*The first day of Chinese rule over the S.A.R. was on July 1st, 1997. The next day, July 2nd, Thailand floated its currency precipitating the Asian currency shocks and subsequent several-year economic crisis.

Cantonese is the language of Hong Kong, as opposed to Mandarin (or Putongwa - "common language") which is the language for most of the rest of China. And while speaker's of the two language have difficulty understanding the other, the written language is the same -- so they can read each other's newspapers. Both are multi-tonal and spoken very loudly.

Hong Kong is an international city and was run by the British for 100 years. As such, all street signs, directions and bus routes are given both in English and Chinese. However, you will find that few taxi drivers will speak any English. If your destination is fairly popular, this should pose no problem. If not, ask at your hotel if they will write your destination in Chinese on a piece of paper for you to give to the driver. Be sure to grab a card from the front desk for your return.