Hong Kong
city and special administrative region of China
Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. Situated on China's southern coast just south of Shenzhen, it consists of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories. With 7.5 million residents in a 1,114-square-kilometre (430 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong is the fourth-most densely populated region in the world.
Hong Kong was established as a colony of the British Empire after the Qing dynasty ceded Hong Kong Island in 1841–1842 as a result of losing the First Opium War. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and was further extended when the United Kingdom obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. Hong Kong was occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. The territory was handed over from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. Hong Kong maintains separate governing and economic systems from those of mainland China under the principle of one country, two systems.
Originally an area of farming and fishing villages, Hong Kong is now one of the world's most significant financial centres and commercial ports. Hong Kong is the world's third-ranked global financial centre behind New York City and London, the ninth-largest exporter, and the eighth-largest importer in the world. Its currency, the Hong Kong dollar, is the ninth-most traded currency globally.
“Hong Kong” enters the record as city and special administrative region of China. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Hong, Kong and city can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Hong Kong” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Hong, Kong and city provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8646. VIAF identifies the subject as 134815917. The Library of Congress control number is n81001722. Authority coordinates are 22.278, 114.159. 3 of 7 selected statements include explicit references; 5 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1841, 1842, 1860 and 1898.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Hong Kong”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Hong Kong primary sources, Hong Kong archive and Hong research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Hong Kong”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Hong Kong” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.