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As a coastal city in southern China, Hong Kong has evolved from a fishing village, salt production site, trading and military port into an international financial centre that enjoys the ninth highest GNP per capita in the world. According to archaeological studies initiated in the 1920s, human activity on Hong Kong dates back over five millennia. Excavated Neolithic artefacts suggest an influence from northern Chinese stone-age cultures.
The territory was settled by Han Chinese during the seventh century, A.D., evidenced by the discovery of an ancient tomb. The first major migration from northern China to Hong Kong occurred during the Sung Dynasty (960-1279).
In the early sixteenth century during the Ming Dynasty, Portuguese merchants began trading in Southern China. At the same time, they invaded and built up military fortifications in Tuen Mun. Military clashes between China and Portugal ensued and the Portuguese were expelled. The British East India Company made the first successful sea venture to China in 1699, and Hong Kong's trade with British merchants developed rapidly soon after.
In 1711, the Company established a trading post in Canton (Guangzhou). After the Chinese defeat in the First Opium War (1839-42), Hong Kong was ceded to Britain in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanking. At the time the population of the island was about 6000, mostly Tanka fishermen and Hakka charcoal burners in a number of small coastal villages. With the immediate influx of trade, the population quickly rose.
Britain was granted a perpetual lease on the Kowloon Peninsula under the 1860 Convention of Beijing, which formally ended hostilities in the Second Opium War (1856-58). In 1862, Hong Kong's population was about 120,000. The United Kingdom, concerned that Hong Kong could not be defended unless surrounding areas also were under British control, executed a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898, significantly expanding the size of the Hong Kong colony.
On the outbreak of World War I in 1914, fear of a possible attack on the
colony led to an exodus of 60,000 Chinese. Hong Kong's population boomed in the following decades' turmoil in China: from 530,000 in 1916 and 725,000 in 1925 to 1.6 million by 1941.
Hong Kong was occupied by Japanese from 25 December 1941 to 15 August 1945. The period, called '3 years and 8 months’ almost halted the economy of Hong Kong.
The British, Canadians, Indians and the Hong Kong Volunteer Defense Forces resisted the Japanese invasion commanded by Sakai Takashi which started on December 8, 1941, eight hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Japanese achieved air superiority on the first day of battle and the defensive forces were outnumbered.
In the late 19th century and early 20th centuries, Hong Kong developed as a warehousing and distribution center for U.K. trade with southern China. After the end of World War II and the communist takeover of Mainland China in 1949, hundreds of thousands of people fled from China to Hong Kong. Hong Kong became an economic success and a manufacturing, commercial, finance, and tourism center. High life expectancy, literacy, per capita income, and other socioeconomic measures attest to Hong Kong's achievements over the last five decades.
On July 1, 1997, China resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong, ending more than 150 years of British colonial rule. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China with a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs. According to the Sino-British Joint Declaration (1984) and the Basic Law for 50 years after reversion Hong Kong will retain its political, economic, and judicial systems and unique way of life and will continue to participate in international agreements and organizations under the name, "Hong Kong, China."
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