As the Pearl of the Orient, Hong Kong is a popular tourist attraction besides being an important financial market of the world. 

Situated in the southeast corner of China and east of Pearl River's (Zhu Jiang) entrance, it connects with Shenzhen city in the north and occupies an area of 1,092 square kilometers (422 square miles). 

Hong Kong has a total population of 6.78 million, of which 96 percent is Chinese, and the rest are various nationalities. English and Chinese are the official languages in Hong Kong. 

According to historical records, since the Song Dynasty (960 ~ 1279), people inhabiting small villages lived on the production of incense sticks, which were then shipped from a nearby port (called 'gang'). Hence the village gained its name Xianggang, which became Hong Kong in English. In ancient time, Hong Kong belonged to Guangdong Province. After the Opium War in 1842, it was handed over to Great Britain as a colony. 

By 1966, Hong Kong was not only the main Southeast Asian trans-shipment point for Vietnam war materials-its harbor packed with freighters-but it was also one of the most popular R&R (rest and recreation) venues for the American troops. 

By the mid-1970s, Hong Kong was moving from trade, textiles and toys to trade, international banking and finance and electronics, and vastly improving its housing and public transport infrastructure. 

In l982, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited Hong Kong for the first talks on the handover of the New Territories, whose lease was due to expire in 1997. In the event, Britain agreed to hand the whole lot back. 

On July 1, 1997, 156 years of Colonial Rule came to an end, Hong Kong returned back to China. The former colony is now the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and has been promised a high degree of autonomy and the freedom to continue its capitalist lifestyle for 50 years after 1997. Thus, the policy of 'one country, two systems' has been successfully implemented from then on. 

Hong Kong gets more prosperous by the day of returning back to China. It is the jewel in the crown of the Pearl River Delta-which includes Macau and southern Guangdong-one of the front-runners of the new wave of Asian economic 'tigers'. It welcomes more than 11 million visitors a year, including over two million business travelers and package tourists from mainland China. The 'barren rock' of 150 years ago is now one the world's great cities.