it's a former British territory it has
over 260 islands and it's the city with
the most skyscrapers in the world these
are just three of the things that you
will learn about Hong Kong hello
everyone welcome to the geo focus
channel and my name is Paul today I'll
be talking about Hong Kong or as its
officially known the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region of the People's
Republic of China but you can just say
Hong Kong Hong Kong is located in
southern China bordering Guangdong
province which is located in mainland
China in fact Hong Kong is located right
across the river from the Chinese city
of Shenzhen in Guangdong Province it's a
former territory of the United Kingdom
originating during the opium wars with
China in the 19th century in its early
days Hong Kong was a sleepy fishing
village with a very small population but
in fluxes of refugees from conflicts in
China boosted the population by the time
Hong Kong reverted to Chinese control in
1997 it had a population of around 6.5
million and today it has a population of
around 7.2 million Hong Kong has a
long-standing reputation of being a
financial capital in Asia with liberal
capitalist economic policies how can
Hong Kong have a free capitalist economy
when it's part of the People's Republic
of China which is a communist country
well it's because of the one country two
systems policy under this policy after
Hong Kong became part of China again in
1997 it was allowed to retain its
capitalist economy and its legal system
for a period of 50 years and that period
is set to expire in the year 2040 7 as a
former territory of the UK and as a
current special administrative region of
China Hong Kong is a very different
place from much of the rest of China
Hong Kong does not have a capital city
it's a special administrative region
which basically functions like one city
or like an urban area with some outlying
suburbs and forests and Islands Hong
Kong may not be an independent country
but it does have its own flag the flag
is red in color similar to the People's
Republic of China flag with a white
flower in the centre known as the Hong
Kong orchid Hong Kong has a total land
area of 1104 square kilometers let's
compare its size to a couple of
other places here it is next to
Singapore which has a total land area of
687 square kilometers and here it is
superimposed over a map of Greater
London which has a total land area of
1572 square kilometers and with a
population of 7.2 million hong kong has
one of the highest population densities
in the world with six thousand six
hundred and ninety people per square
kilometre although there were over 260
islands in hong kong there are just a
few large islands and the mainland
Peninsula which comprised most of the
land area in Hong Kong the largest
island in Hong Kong is Lantau Island on
this island you can find the famous Tian
tan Buddha also known as the Big Buddha
stilt homes on the water side and it's
the location of Hong Kong Disneyland
much of this island is forested to the
northwest of Lantau Island you'll see
another little island actually this used
to be two islands Chek Lap Kok and Lam
cow but these two islands were joined
together and expanded through land
reclamation these islands were turned
into the location of Hong Kong's current
international airport checked Lap Kok
Airport and as a quick side note the old
International Airport in Hong Kong Kai
Tak Airport which was used until 1998
was known as the sixth most dangerous
airport in the world one narrow runway
with water on both sides with the city
centre and the mountains immediately to
the north and fast turnaround times made
landing at this Airport an intimidating
experience for pilots and for passengers
to the second largest island is Hong
Kong Island on the northern coast of the
island lies the busy central district
which is the administrative and
financial center of Hong Kong and that's
a bustling exciting area where much of
the action takes place the island has a
population of over 1.3 million people
Hong Kong Island is located just south
of the Kowloon Peninsula and Kowloon is
the other busy urban area of the special
administrative region it has a
population of around 2.2 million and the
highest population density in all of
Hong Kong Kowloon and Hong Kong Island
are separated by Victoria Harbour but
they're connected via the MRT the trains
travel through tunnels under Victoria
Harbour and also by the star ferry which
carries 70,000 people per day across the
harbour Hong Kong poses some
difficulties for urban development a lot
of the land cannot be developed because
of mountains and the steep hillside
slopes this is both good and bad on the
one hand 65% of Hong Kong is still
natural green space which is nice but on
the other hand the areas that are
developed are quite crowded
Hong Kong has a humid subtropical
climate which remains temperate for
about half of the year made to September
as the hottest and most humid period and
also the rainiest period with periodic
rain showers and thunderstorms
the temperature during these months is
often higher than 30 degrees Celsius and
not really that much lower at night Hong
Kong is also affected by tropical
cyclones during this season tropical
cyclones are also known as typhoons and
on a side note if you've ever wondered
if typhoons and hurricanes are the same
thing they actually are the same thing
they just tend to be called by different
names in different regions of the world
as previously mentioned the population
of Hong Kong is around 7.2 million one
interesting thing to note about the
population is that for every 1000
females there are only 858 males
why well one factor is that many men
tend to marry women from mainland China
and bring them to Hong Kong to live as
residents another reason is that there
are a large number of women from
Philippines and Indonesia working as
domestic helpers in Hong Kong and some
of them become long-term residents and
some of them marry local men this
demographic imbalance in Hong Kong has
become somewhat of a crisis with some
women unable to find a husband 94
percent of the population of Hong Kong
is Chinese specifically Han Chinese the
remaining six percent consists of
various different ethnic minorities in
total that's about four hundred and
fifty-one thousand people the majority
of those are from either Philippines or
Indonesia with around 133 thousand
people each Hong Kong has two official
languages English and Chinese but the
law is not exactly clear about which
kind of Chinese is the official language
because the word Chinese refers only to
the written language around eighty nine
point five percent of the population of
Hong Kong speak Cantonese making it the
most widely spoken language English is
widely used within the government legal
and professional and business sectors
some of the other languages spoken in
Hong Kong include standard Mandarin
Indonesian Tagalog and various other
Southeast Asian languages roadsides in
Hong Kong tend to be bilingual in
Chinese and English but the place name
is sometimes different in English and
Chinese which can cause some confusion
when tourists stopped to ask someone for
directions Buddhism and Taoism are the
dominant religions in Hong Kong the
number of practicing Buddhists in Hong
Kong is estimated at six hundred and
fifty thousand to seven hundred thousand
in Hong Kong you can find temples
dedicated to various Chinese gods or to
Buddha
perhaps the most famous is the po lin
monastery which houses the big buddha on
lantau island it is also very common to
see small shrines outside offices and
shops in Hong Kong freedom of religion
is guaranteed under the basic law of
Hong Kong and other faiths like
Christianity Islam and Hinduism all have
communities and places of worship in
Hong Kong despite its small land area
Hong Kong is home to over 3,300
different species of plants and over
2,300 species of animals including
around 530 species of birds alone this
is partly because Hong Kong is a major
stopover point for birds on their
migration route through Asia the animals
probably most notable to tourists are
the rhesus macaque monkeys in fact
visitors to national parks feeding these
monkeys has led to overpopulation
causing the government to make feeding
the monkeys illegal now don't get bitten
by any monkeys you don't want to spend
your time in Hong Kong in the hospital
when you could be outside experiencing
this fascinating City when you visit
Hong Kong be sure to visit Victoria
speak on Hong Kong Island where you can
look down on the Central District
Victoria Harbour and Kowloon and enjoy
one of the most beautiful views in the
world especially at night if you've been
to Hong Kong share your experiences in
the comments down below
and if you have any other information
you'd like to share about Hong Kong and
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channel special thanks to my man Faisal
Muhammad for helping me with the
research and the writing of this episode
if you'd like to help out in the same
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have a nice day