Is Hong Kong a country?

Question

I always thought Hong Kong was the capital and biggest city in China, but I was checking out the Olympics and looked at the countries that are competing and it said Hong Kong, China has 34 athletes. I double checked to see if that meant China but I looked on the list and China was also on there with 600 some athletes.

So does anyone know why or how Hong Kong is represented in the Olympics, is it a country or separate province or what?

Answer 1

First, it was one of the city of china.

Was 'leased' to British at 1897 for 100 years. (Pls refer to the history re why - a long story).

Was returned to china 1997.

To prevent the HK people getting too frighten of China (communism), china allowed HK to keep on to their same 'life-style' for another 50 yrs (starting from 1997).

So, in Olympic, HK is 'seperated' from China as an 'individual'.  But, legally, it belongs to China. - If you send some one letter, the address can be ended as : "12 ABC Road, Hong Kong, P.R. China."

Taiwan is similar, except it was due to political issue, not "leasing" issue. Just a matter of time, all of them will be backed to China.

Remember there was once Shanghai was leased to the French ? Yes, it's the same issue to HK.

Answer 2

The British has made friend with the Former Qing Dynasty Government of China in the past to penetrate into China for Trades.  However after they realised they could "be-friend" with some high ranking Officials, they plot an very evil plan to dig all the riches from China.

First they introduce Opium many important and high ranking officials then after these people and rich citizen get addicted to the drugs.  The British then encouraged them to open official opium smoking clubs for more people. Even the Empress Dowager and afew Emperor themselve were then addicted to to Opium!!!

This evil plots were carefully planned for many years before the Brits threatened to stop supplying the drugs to them.... And eventually, two Opium Wars broke up and the Qing lost.

The Opium Wars, also known as the Anglo-Chinese Wars, lasted from 1839 to 1842 and 1856 to 1860 respectively, the climax of a trade dispute between China under the Qing Dynasty and the United Kingdom. British smuggling of opium from British India into China and the Chinese government's efforts to enforce its drug laws erupted in conflict.

China's defeat in both wars forced the government to have to tolerate the opium trade. Britain forced the Chinese government into signing the Treaty of Nanking and the Treaty of Tianjin, also known as the Unequal Treaties, which included provisions for the opening of additional ports to foreign trade, for fixed tariffs, the recognition of both countries as equal in correspondence, and the giving of Hong Kong to Britain. The British also gained extraterritorial rights. Several countries followed Britain and sought similar agreements with China. Many Chinese found these agreements humiliating and these sentiments are considered to have contributed to the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864), the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), and the downfall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912.

Answer 3

Not really. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. That means, they are part of China, but they are given a high degree of autonomy. For example, they use different currencies, they have different immigration policies, they have different road systems, etc. Most of the influences from its British colonial past are still present today in Hong Kong.

Because of this autonomy, they are also given a chance to represent their city separately from Mainland China, such as in the case of sporting events like the Olympics.

Just added: Oh, BTW, the first answerer was right... Hong Kong is not China's capital city nor its largest; the largest city in population is Shanghai, and the capital city is Beijing.

Answer 4

they were a separate country that was reclaimed by china 10 years ago.  i feel that they still are a separate country.  they have their own currency only they now pay taxes to china instead of england.

Answer 5

next time ,we should change it to chinese hong kong ,just like chinese taipei, so that you won't misunderstand

Answer 6

Hong Kong is not the capital of China (that would be Beijing), nor it's biggest city (that would be Shanghai).

Hong Kong is a territory of mainland China, not a separate province. It's kind of like Puerto Rico is a territory to the United States, not a separate state. No, it's not a country, although both Hong Kong and Puerto Rico are allowed to create their own athletic teams that are distinct from their political sovereign nations.