Hong Kong: history and heritage

About Hong Kong: history and heritage

By the ULTIMATE Hong Kong Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Hong Kong’s name means “fragrant harbour”, and the harbour made it. Before 1841 the islands and the mainland coast were home to farming and fishing villages of several Chinese peoples; under British rule the harbour became one of the world’s great ports and the city one of its financial capitals. Temples, walled villages and colonial buildings still stand among the towers.

At a glance

Population: about 7.5 million (Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong, 2024).

Peoples: overwhelmingly Chinese, most speaking Cantonese, with Hakka, Tanka and Hoklo heritage, and South Asian, Filipino, Indonesian and Western communities.

Its name means “fragrant harbour”, and the harbour made the city.

Shaped by: early Chinese dynasties, British rule (from 1841; Kowloon from 1860; the New Territories leased from 1898), the Japanese occupation (1941–1945) and the return to China as a special administrative region in 1997.

Languages: Chinese and English are both official.

The first peoples

People lived on the coast of Hong Kong at least 6,000 years ago, and rock carvings on its shores are among its oldest monuments. The Lei Cheng Uk tomb in Sham Shui Po dates from the Eastern Han dynasty, nearly two thousand years ago.

The villages

Over the centuries Punti (Cantonese) clans built walled villages in the New Territories, such as those of the Ping Shan Heritage Trail; Hakka farmers settled the hills; and the Tanka and Hoklo boat people lived on the water. Temples to Tin Hau, goddess of the sea, stand on many shores.

The colony

Britain occupied Hong Kong Island in 1841, during the First Opium War, and the Treaty of Nanking (1842) ceded it. Kowloon followed in 1860 and the New Territories were leased for 99 years in 1898. Victoria, today’s Central, grew into a trading city; Man Mo Temple (1847), the Former Central Police Station, now the Tai Kwun arts centre, and the Peak Tram (1888) belong to the colonial city.

Refuge and industry

Japan occupied Hong Kong from 1941 to 1945. After 1949 hundreds of thousands of people from mainland China arrived, and the city became a manufacturing powerhouse of textiles, toys and electronics, then a centre of finance and trade. Its films, from kung fu to the work of its great auteurs, reached the world.

Hong Kong today

On 1 July 1997 Hong Kong returned to China as a special administrative region. The Star Ferry still crosses the harbour, as it has since the late nineteenth century, and M+ and the Hong Kong Palace Museum in West Kowloon have given the city new cultural landmarks.

Our advice: take the Star Ferry across the harbour, ride the Peak Tram for the view, and spend a morning in Sheung Wan’s Man Mo Temple and the old streets around it before visiting Tai Kwun.

Sources

Population: Census and Statistics Department, Hong Kong SAR. History: Antiquities and Monuments Office, Hong Kong; Hong Kong Museum of History; Tai Kwun; Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Hong Kong”.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Hong Kong: history and heritage before you go.