In its multi-faceted role as a repository of traditional Chinese culture, the last jewel in the crown of the British Empire and one of the key economies of the Pacific Rim, HONG KONG is East Asia's most extraordinary city. The territory's per capita GNP, for example, has doubled in a decade, overtaking that of the former imperial power. Yet the inequality of incomes is staggering: the conspicuous consumption of the few hundred super-rich (all Cantonese) for which Hong Kong is famous tends to mask the fact that most people work long hours and live in crowded, tiny apartments. In spite of this, the population of almost seven million is generally sophisticated and well informed compared to their mainland cousins, the result of a vibrant and free press (although self-censorship is a constant and growing concern). The territory is currently the largest trading partner and largest source of foreign investment for the People's Republic of China, a country of 1.2 billion people. And the view of sky-scrapered Hong Kong Island, across the harbour from Kowloon, is one of the most stunning urban panoramas on earth.
The territory of Hong Kong comprises an irregularly shaped peninsula abutting the Pearl River Delta to the west, and a number of offshore islands, which cover in total more than a thousand square kilometres. The bulk of this area, namely the land in the north of the peninsula as well as most of the islands, is semi-rural and is known as the New Territories - this was the land leased to Britain for 99 years in 1898. The southern part of the peninsula, known as Kowloon , and the island immediately south of here, Hong Kong Island , are the principal urban areas of Hong Kong. They were ceded to Britain in perpetuity, though the British government in 1984 saw no alternative but to agree to hand back the entire territory as one piece, so that from midnight on June 30, 1997, it has been the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China.
