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Hong Kong

City in ChinaHong Kong is on China's southern coast, on the east side of the mouth of the Pearl River estuary, just south of Shenzhen. It is made up of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula, the New Territories and more than 260 islands.

What it's known for

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. It was handed over to China on 1 July 1997 after 156 years of British rule, and under 'one country, two systems' it keeps its own governing and economic systems. It is one of the world's major financial centres.

Fun facts

  1. The name means 'fragrant harbour', perhaps because of the incense factories that once lined the coast of northern Kowloon.
  2. Victoria Harbour separates Hong Kong Island from the Kowloon Peninsula, and the Star Ferry has crossed it since the late 19th century.
  3. Much of Hong Kong's land is hilly or mountainous, and its highest point, Tai Mo Shan, is about 960 m high.

Finding it on the globe

Find the wide mouth of the Pearl River on China's south coast: Hong Kong is on its east side, and Macau is about 60 km to the west across the water.

Easy to mix up

Hong Kong is not a country or a national capital: it is part of China, whose capital is Beijing, about 1,970 km to the north.

Sources: Wikipedia: Hong Kong, Wikipedia: Geography of Hong Kong, Wikipedia: Victoria Harbour, Wikipedia: List of national capitals