Area:  423 square miles
Population:  6,000,000
People:  98% Chinese, 1.5% European
Language:  English, Mandarin Chinese, and Cantonese Chinese
Province:  Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Hong Kong experiences subtropical weather.  In summer (July to September), temperatures may reach as high as 91 degrees; in winter (December to February), they may reach as low as 50 degrees.  In terms of weather, the best times to visit are spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November).

Hong Kong's dynamism is unforgettable.  From the vantage point of Victoria Peak, overlooking the world's busiest deep-water port, one can observe a city geared not only to making money, but also feeling good about making money.  At night, the view from Victoria Peak is like looking into the dazzling lights of a volcano.  However, despite its British colonial past, Hong Kong has always stuck to its roots and the culture beneath the glitz is pure Chinese.  (The name itself means "Fragrant Harbor").

Geographically, Hong Kong consists of a rather large peninsula and 235 islands.  Hong Kong proper is located on the second largest of the islands, just south of the southern tip of the peninsula.  The area at the southern tip of the mainland is called Kowloon.  To the north, there is a large area called the New Territories, which is rural and agricultural; this is the main part of the British territory.  The islands apart from Hong Kong Island and the mainland sections of Kowloon and the New Territories are called the Outlying Islands.

In the mid-19th century, British trade with China deteriorated.  Anxious to obtain Chinese tea and silk, the British resorted to opium as the primary incentive to barter.  When the emperor banned the drug trade, a British expeditionary force challenged the edict.  The Chinese suffered a humiliating defeat.  In 1841, at the end of the First Opium War with China, Hong Kong was officially ceded to Great Britain.

In 1859, a British-French alliance sent troops to China to enforce the Convention of Peking, which ceded the Kowloon Peninsula and nearby Stonecutters Island to the British.  In 1898, the British also gained a 99-year lease on the New Territories, which they felt essential to protect their interests on Hong Kong Island.  Despite a brief period of Japanese occupation during World War II, the British government retained control of Hong Kong until 1997, the year of expiration of the 99-year lease, and Hong Kong and the New Territories were returned to China.