te:
tropical monsoon; cool and humid in winter, hot and rainy from spring
through summer, warm and sunny in fall
Terrain:
hilly to mountainous with steep slopes; lowlands in north
Natural resources:
outstanding deepwater harbor, feldspar
Land use:
arable land 7%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures 1%; forest and
woodland 12%; other 79%; includes irrigated 3%
Environment:
more than 200 islands; occasional typhoons

:Hong Kong People

Population:
5,889,095 (July 1992), growth rate 0.6% (1992)
Birth rate:
13 births/1,000 population (1992)
Death rate:
5 deaths/1,000 population (1992)
Net migration rate:
- 2 migrants/1,000 population (1992)
Infant mortality rate:
7 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)
Life expectancy at birth:
76 years male, 83 years female (1992)
Total fertility rate:
1.4 children born/woman (1992)
Nationality:
adjective - Hong Kong
Ethnic divisions:
Chinese 98%, other 2%
Religions:
eclectic mixture of local religions 90%, Christian 10%
Languages:
Chinese (Cantonese), English
Literacy:
77% (male 90%, female 64%) age 15 and over having ever attended school
(1971)
Labor force:
2,800,000 (1990); manufacturing 28.5%, wholesale and retail trade,
restaurants, and hotels 27.9%, services 17.7%, financing, insurance, and
real estate 9.2%, transport and communications 4.5%, construction 2.5%,
other 9.7% (1989)
Organized labor:
16% of labor force (1990)

:Hong Kong Government

Long-form name:
none; abbreviated HK
Type:
dependent territory of the UK; scheduled to revert to China in 1997
Capital:
Victoria
Administrative divisions:
none (dependent territory of the UK)
Independence:
none (dependent territory of the UK); the UK signed an agreement with China
on 19 December 1984 to return Hong Kong to China on 1 July 1997; in the
joint declaration, China promises to respect Hong Kong's existing social and
economic systems and lifestyle for 50 years after transition
Constitution:
unwritten; partly statutes, partly common law and practice; new Basic Law
approved in March 1990 in preparation for 1997
Legal system:
based on English common law
National holiday:
Liberation Day, 29 August (1945)
Executive branch:
British monarch, governor, chief secretary of the Executive Council
Legislative branch:
Legislative Council
Judicial branch: