Known as the ‘Pearl of the orient’, Hong Kong is a place where East meets West, embracing a commercial and cultural fusion like nowhere else in Asia. From its origins as a swamp ridden backwater port utilized by the British to flood the Chinese mainland with opium to one of the wealthiest commercial centres on earth Hong Kong has come a very long way.
The Opium Wars began one fateful day in 1839, when the Chinese sank a British ship loaded with the drug they were producing in Bengal. This gave the British navy the pretext they were waiting for to start shelling the mainland. In 1842 the treaty of Nanking was signed, ceding Hong Kong Island to the British for perpetuity. More opium wars continued in 1860 and 1898 when Kowloon was claimed and later the New Territories for a lease of 99 years. Refugees fled into Hong Kong throughout the turbulent first half of the twentieth century, but it was not until UN trade embargo on China during the Korean War that Hong Kong claimed its status as one of the foremost industrial centres of the world. In 1997 the city was handed back to the Chinese on condition it would remain a free market and retain its political and judicial system for fifty years; one country, two systems. The city was briefly shaken, by the Asian Financial crises of the late nineties and SARS in 2003, but not really stirred and after opening up to Chinese tourism the economy seemed to flourish.
As the Beijing administration begins to make inroads into Hong Kong’s internal affairs, the city seems to be enduring fresh growing pains, but business continues to boom in the luxurious hotels and restaurants overlooking the famous harbour. The city remains a shopper’s paradise, awash with bustling traditional markets and glistening designer malls, but there is much more to discover. From Tin Hao temples, world class museums to fishing villages and pristine beaches, the charm of the old colony remains. When the sun disappears beyond the surrounding mountains to make way for the infamous science fiction neon skyline we are reminded that Hong Kong is still a city which never sleeps.