Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China, covering about 1,100 square kilometres and holding around 7.5 million people.
The striking thing is how that population is arranged. Only about a quarter of the land is built on; roughly 40 per cent is protected country park, and around 75 per cent is undeveloped. Everyone lives on the remainder, which is why the density in places like Mong Kok is among the highest recorded anywhere.
The four parts
Hong Kong Island — ceded in 1842. The northern shore holds Central, Sheung Wan, Wan Chai and Causeway Bay in a narrow strip below steep hills; the Peak rises behind them and the quieter south side lies beyond.
Kowloon — ceded in 1860. A peninsula facing the island across Victoria Harbour, running from Tsim Sha Tsui at the tip north through Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok and Sham Shui Po. Dense, low-rise in parts, and where most Hong Kong people live.
The New Territories — leased in 1898. The bulk of the land area, running north to the Shenzhen border: new towns of several hundred thousand people each, walled villages, country parks and the highest peaks.
The outlying islands — around 260 of them. Lantau is the largest, with the airport, Disneyland and the Big Buddha.
The harbour
Victoria Harbour is the reason Hong Kong exists — a deep, sheltered natural anchorage between the island and Kowloon.
It has been narrowed substantially by reclamation on both sides, which is contested; a Protection of the Harbour Ordinance passed in 1997 now presumes against further reclamation.
The languages
Cantonese is the mother tongue of around 88 per cent of the population and is what you will hear. English is co-official and widely spoken in business, government and tourism. Mandarin is increasingly common.
Written Chinese here uses traditional characters, not the simplified set used on the mainland.
M’goi means both thank you and excuse me. Do jeh is thank you for a gift. Nei hou is hello.
The people
Around 92 per cent are ethnically Chinese, most with family origins in Guangdong.
There are about 340,000 foreign domestic workers, mostly Filipino and Indonesian, who are legally required to live in their employer’s home and who take over the city’s public space on Sundays. See Kowloon Park.
Substantial South Asian communities go back generations, and there is a long-established Nepali population descended from Gurkha regiments.
The climate
Humid subtropical, with a monsoon pattern.
October to December is dry, mild and clear. January and February are cool and grey. March to May warms and turns humid. June to September is hot, extremely humid and is typhoon season.
Rainfall is heavy and concentrated in summer.