Hong Kong and Macao: Special Administrative Regions
The special administrative region (SAR) is one type of provincial-level administrative divisions of China directly under Central People’s Government. At present, there are two special administrative regions established according to the Constitution, namely the Hong Kong SAR and the Macao SAR, The Hong Hong SAR was formerly British dependency and transferred to China in 1997. The Macao SAR was a Portuguese colony for over 400 years and came back to China in 1999. Pursuant to their Joint Declarations, which are binding inter-state treaties registered with the United Nations, and their Basic laws, the Chinese SARs “shall enjoy a high degree of autonomy” in all areas except foreign affairs and defense. Under the “One Country, Two Systems” principle, the two SARs continue to possess their own governments, multi-party legislatures, legal systems, police forces, monetary systems, separate customs territory, immigration policies, official languages, postal systems, academic and educational systems, and substantial competence in external alrelations that are different or independent from the People’s Republic of China.
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
Hong Kong, with an area of 1071.8 km2, is located in the south of the Chinese mainland, neighboring Shenzhen and 130 km away from Guangzhou. Hong Kong has now developed into an economic center in Asia. Hong Kong is a global metropolitan and international financial center and has a highly developed capitalist economy.
Hong Kong is one of the most populated areas in the world. It has a population of 7 million, 95% of which is Han ethnicity and 5% other. Chinese (Mandarin) and English are the official languages of Hong Kong. English is widely used in the government and in the legal, professional and business sectors. Hong Kong Cantonese, as a dialect of Cantonese language commonly spoken in Hong Kong and Macao, is widely used in daily life.
In 1839 the refusal by Qing Dynasty authorities to import opium resulted in the First Opium War between China and Britain. Hong Kong Island was occupied by British forces in 1841 and was ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Nanking at the end of the war. In 1860, after China’s defeat in the Second Opium War, Kowloon Peninsula south of Boundary Street and Stonecutter’s Island were ceded to Britain under the Convention of Peking. In 1898 Britain obtained a 99-year lease of Lantau Island and the adjacent northern lands.
In 1982, the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s visit to China marked the start of two years of negotiations between the Chinese and British governments. On 1 July 1997, the HKSAR was established and the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, the HKSAR’s constitutional document, took effect.
Hong Kong is a global center for world trade, finance, business and telecommunications, located at the doorstep of the Mainland’s huge and vibrant economy. According to the World Trade Organization, Hong Kong was the world’s seventh largest merchandise trading entity in 2017.
Hong Kong was also the world’s sixth largest banking center in terms of external positions as at the end of 2017, and the fourth largest foreign exchange trading center according to a triennial survey conducted by the Bank for International Settlements in 2016. Its stock market was the third largest in Asia in terms of market capitalization as at the end of 2017 and ranked second in Asia in terms of initial public offering equity funds raised during the same year.
The Hong Kong economy nearly doubled in size over the past two decades, expanded at an average annual rate of 3.3% in real terms, faster than some of most high-income economies. Hong Kong’s per capita GDP at current market prices reached US$46,200 in 2017, comparable to many advanced economies.
Macao Special Administrative Region
Macao is located on the Southeast coast of China to the west of the Pearl River Delta. Bordering on Guangdong Province, it locates 60 km from Hong Kong and 145 km from the city of Guangzhou.
Macao’s total population is 0.4546 million, among which over 96% are Chinese and the rest are mainly Portuguese. The language the Macao inhabitants use daily is mainly Cantonese. The official languages currently in use are Chinese and Portuguese languages. English language is also used on many occasions.
Fishermen from China’s Fujian province and farmers from Guangdong province were the first settlers in Macao. In the early 1550s, Macao became a colony of the Portuguese Empire. In 1999, Macao was returned to China. Like Hong Kong, Macao benefits from the principle of “one country, two systems”, Macao’s system of government is separate from that of China’s mainland.
The tourism industry is the mainstay of Macao’s economy. Macao, like Las Vegas of America and Monte Carol of Morocco, is known as one of the three largest cities for gambling in the world. Gaming industry has a long history in Macao, and it was first legalized in mid-19th century. Entering the 21st century, the gaming industry has developed a very close relation with the tourism industry and become a pillar of Macao’s economy. For those curious and itching visitors, various recreational activities, such as horse racing and dog racing courses, are all accessible to try one’s fortune. According to statistics provided by the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ), the gaming industry’s gross income in 2015 was 230.840 billion patacas (US$28.855 billion), maintaining its place as the largest gaming market in the world.
