Twenty Years Since the Transfer of Hong Kong

After more than a century of British colonial rule, Hong Kong transitioned over to Beijing’s jurisdiction twenty years ago on July 1, 1997. Having a history, social composition, market economy, and government structures that differ substantially from those ruling throughout mainland China, Hong Kong was given the status of Special Administrative Region (SAR) within China under the principle of One Country, Two Systems. As part of this legal framework, which is set to last for fifty years, Hong Kong manages its own currency, trade matters, local government, and passports. Likewise, Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions in China, the other one being Macau, which transitioned from Portuguese rule in 1999.

Twenty Years Since the Transfer of Hong Kong

Hong Kong is a coastal urban conglomerate of over 200 islands, located in southeastern China along the South China Sea. Geographically, some mountainous formations and 733 kilometers of coastline dominate the jurisdiction. Currently, Hong Kong has a total territory of 1.108 square kilometers, which is less than half the size of Rhode Island, yet larger than Singapore. Similarly, Hong Kong has a total population of approximately 7.3 million citizens living throughout the scattered city. The SAR’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) is about US$420 billion and it has experienced positive economic growth in recent years. Nevertheless, Hong Kong’s economy is highly dependent on international trade, tourism, and financial services as well as extremely tied to mainland China. The SAR’s economy is divided into 7% manufacturing, more than 90% services, and less than 1% agriculture. Likewise, the agriculture industry only utilizes 5% of Hong Kong’s territory and none of it is forested.

In terms of natural resources, Hong Kong has feldspar and a great deep-water harbor. Within manufacturing, the domestic industry is focused on textiles, clothing, shipping, electronics, plastics, toys, watches, and clocks. Meanwhile, the SAR’s agricultural industry has as main products fresh vegetables, fruit, poultry, pork, and fish. In terms of trade, Hong Kong’s main partners are mainland China, Macau, Japan, the United States, Singapore, and South Korea, amongst others. During 2015, the SAR’s exports totaled US$138 billion and its imports came up to US$577 billion, resulting in an overall trade deficit of US$439 billion. Furthermore, the Hong Kong’s main exports that year were gold representing US$40.8 billion or 30% of the total international sales, followed by diamonds at US$7.8 billion or 5.6% as well as telephones totaling US$6.4 billion or 4.6%. Meanwhile, imports were dominated by integrated circuits at US$101 billion or 18%, telephones representing US$42.4 billion or 7.3%, and gold totaling US$39.1 billion or 6.8%.

Simultaneously, land distribution and output in Hong Kong has evolved slightly throughout the last half century. Back in 1961, arable land covered 13.000 hectares and permanent crops 1.000 hectares. More recently, by 2014, permanent pastures and meadows had decreased to 1.000 hectares, while arable land represented 3.100 hectares and permanent crops covered 1.000 hectares. Meanwhile, in 1961, the cereals market in Hong Kong utilized almost 15.000 hectares of land and yielded approximately 30.000 metric tons annually. Finally, by 2014, the rapidly growing SAR had stopped producing any substantial amount of cereals.

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