Hongkong History

1. 3000BC - A stone tool found in New Territories verified the first settlement in this area.

2. 960-1280AD - During the latter part of Song Dynasty, large numbers of the population were driven south by the Mongols and settled in Southern China and Hong Kong.

3. 1840 - Foreign merchants gradually established offices in Macau and Hong Kong as well as in Canton, China.

4. 16th of June 1842, Hong Kong Island, with one of the finest natural harbors in the world, was ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Nanking after the Opium War, the Kowloon peninsula was acquired in 1860 under the Peking Convention and the New Territories were secured on a 99-year lease in 1898. A mixed cosmopolitan population, the majority of whom were Chinese, increased from around 4000 in 1840 to 24000 by 1847 and reached 1.4 million by 1941.

5. 1949 - During unrest in China, Hong Kong was flooded with two million immigrants who brought capital and skills to help establish many manufacturing industries. From this time on Hong Kong became the gateway to China.

6. Before 1997 - The population reached six million; the foreign reserves reached 100 billion US dollars with countless modern skyscrapers and infra-structures and had become a world-class commercial center.

7. On 30th of June 1997 - Following negotiations between Great Britain and China in the 1980s the British Government agreed to transfer sovereignty of Hong Kong to China on the 30th June 1997; in return the Beijing Central Government agreed that Hong Kong would be a Special Administration Region with its own economic, judicial and education systems, guaranteed for 50 years without interference. China describes this arrangement as "One Country, two systems".

8. Nowadays, Hong Kong people govern Hong Kong in much the same way as before the handover from British to Chinese rule. Although the economical situation around the globe has slowed down, Hong Kong is still the ideal place to invest and is still the vital gateway to China. It is still the same old prosperous Hong Kong; a mixture of modern living and traditional Chinese Culture. One of the principal delights are the countless varieties of local gourmet dishes that one should not miss.