Hong Kong (hŏng'kŏng', -kŏng', hông'kông', -kông') pronunciation

An administrative region of southeast China on the coast southeast of Guangzhou, including Hong Kong Island and adjacent areas. Hong Kong Island was occupied by the British during the Opium War (1839–1842) and ceded to them by the Treaty of Nanking (1842). Other portions of the colony were acquired in 1860 and in 1898 by a 99-year lease. A free port and important center of international commerce and banking for most of the 20th century, Hong Kong reverted to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. Victoria is the capital. Population: 6,940,000.

Investment Dictionary

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HKD

In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Hong Kong dollar.

Investopedia Says:

The currency market, also known as the foreign exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US$1 trillion.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia

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Hong Kong

Special administrative region of China (pop., 2005 est.: 6,926,000). Located on China's southern coast, it consists of the island of Hong Kong and adjacent islets in the South China Sea (ceded by China to the British in 1842), the Kowloon Peninsula (ceded in 1860), and the New Territories (leased by the British from China from 1898 to 1997). The entire territory was returned to China in 1997. It covers 425 sq mi (1,102 sq km); the New Territories, lying north of the Kowloon Peninsula and constituting an enclave in China's Guangdong province, are more than nine-tenths of the total area. The administrative centre of Victoria on Hong Kong island's northwestern coast is also the centre of economic activities. Hong Kong has an excellent natural harbour and is one of the world's major trade and financial centres. It has many educational institutions, including the University of Hong Kong (1911).

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British History

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Hong Kong

Hong Kong island was used by the British as a staging-post for the opium trade and was taken by them as a free port during the Opium War (1839-42). Their occupancy was ratified by the treaty of Nanking. In 1860 the Kowloon peninsula was added to the port and in 1898 the New Territories were received from China on a 99-year lease. Growth was rapid during the 1930s when many Chinese fled the civil wars and Japanese invasion on the mainland and the population doubled to 1.6 million. Hong Kong itself surrendered to the Japanese on Christmas Day 1941 and was not liberated until 30 August 1945. During the 1960s, the colony became a major manufacturing centre and its population reached over 4 million by 1991. The lease for the New Territories ended in 1997, whereupon the whole colony reverted to the People's Republic of China.

Under British rule, the region's modern and classical dance scene began to flourish in the late 1970s. The City Contemporary Dance Company in Kowloon was established under the direction of Willy Tsao (performing works by Tsao, Helen Lai, and others); and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts Ensemble was founded in Wanchai under the artistic direction of Margaret Carlson. Both companies made a feature of showcasing Asian and Western dancers in repertory that fused Chinese and Western dance influences.

The Hong Kong Ballet was founded in Happy Valley in 1979, under the direction of Garry Trinder and went on to perform the standard Western classical repertoire as well as new works by Trinder, Choo-San Goh, Dony Retier-Soffer, Bengt Jorgen, and Bintley. Stephen Jefferies was appointed director in 1995. After Hong Kong was restored to Chinese rule in 1997 artists feared that their activities might be censored in line with mainland Chinese cultural policy, and a new level of social and political concern became evident in the work of younger choreographers such as Helen Lai, Danny Yung (co-founder of Zuni Icosehedron), and Jacky Yu (founder of E-Side Dance Company). Rosalind Newman, who taught at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts from 1989, founded her own company in 1999, Dance HK/NY. In 2000 the region hosted a European Union festival of modern dance.