On June 12, 1967, the fifth installment of the James Bond series was released in the United Kingdom. James Bond, the world-famous British spy, then portrayed by Sean Connery, was dispatched to Japan after American and Soviet spacecraft had mysteriously disappeared. On his way to Japan, he stopped in Hong Kong, which, in 1967, was still a British colony. As is often the case with James Bond, he ended up in bed with a woman he had met earlier. After they had completed their enc

Nowadays, we take global and instant communication for granted. But until recently, this was not the case—far from it. Until the second half of the nineteenth century, communication between Hong Kong and London meant sending letters by sea or land, which could take months to be delivered. This all changed in 1869 when a Scotsman, John Pender, established the China Submarine Telegraph Company to connect Hong Kong to his network of cable companies. On May 19, 1871, work began t

Hong Kong is regarded as a very wealthy city. As a matter of fact, in 2025, Hong Kong was ranked second globally for ultra-high-net-worth individuals, with 17,215 individuals possessing a net worth of 30,000,000 US dollars or more. Yet, paradoxically, if the city is wealthy, the majority of the Hong Kongese population is shockingly poor, all things considered. As of late 2025/early 2026, the median household income in Hong Kong was 30,000 Hong Kong dollars. This means that 50

Following its defeat in the Second Opium War, in October 1860, the Qing Dynasty was forced to sign the Convention of Peking. This convention included, among other provisions, the cession to the British Empire of District No. 1 of Kowloon, which corresponds to the present-day Yau Tsim Mong District and Stonecutter’s Island. British Kowloon, also known as Old Kowloon, was separated from what came to be known as New Kowloon, which remained in the possession of the Qing Dynasty,

When one thinks of Hong Kong, the first image that comes to mind is that of a concrete jungle. With over 550 skyscrapers taller than 150 meters, it is true that Hong Kong stands head and shoulders above its closest competitor, its nearby neighbor Shenzhen, in terms of the number of skyscrapers. However, it may come as a surprise that most of Hong Kong is not buried under concrete but still consists of pristine mountains and forests. Indeed, as of 2026, 40% of Hong Kong’s tota

With about 80 attacks recorded worldwide each year, shark attacks are a rare occurrence, all things considered. Fatal outcomes are even rarer, averaging around 5 fatalities per year. In Hong Kong, the most recent recorded attack, which turned out to be fatal, occurred on June 13, 1995, when a 45-year-old woman was attacked by what was believed to be a tiger shark at Clearwater Bay First Beach. If 1995 was a particularly deadly year, it was not the first time Hong Kong recorde

It is a well-known fact that Hong Kong is a very small territory. But how small is it, really? If you live in Europe, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg—a well-known tax haven and banking hub similar to Hong Kong—would serve as a good point of reference. Indeed, Hong Kong has a total area of 2,755 square kilometers (1,063.7 square miles), while the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg covers 2,586 square kilometers (998.6 square miles). However, although both territories are similar in size,

In 1855, the construction of Government House on present-day Upper Albert Road in Central was completed. With the exception of a four-year hiatus during the Japanese Occupation, Government House served as the official residence of the governors of Hong Kong until the handover in 1997. A little-known fact, however, is that Government House was not the only official residence of the governor of Hong Kong. In fact, alongside Government House, there have been two other official r

Any tourist visiting Hong Kong will, at some point, find themselves in Statue Square, the square located directly across the street from the HSBC Main Building, one of Hong Kong’s most iconic landmarks. Although the square is now surrounded by lackluster modern buildings, it was once bordered by exquisite Victorian, Edwardian, and Art Deco masterpieces. The present-day HSBC Main Building was constructed on the site of Wardley House, which was demolished to make way for the Se

As of 2026, Hong Kong boasts a total of 569 skyscrapers taller than 150 metres (492 feet), making it by far the city with the highest number of skyscrapers in the world. Its closest contender, Shenzhen, which is also located directly across the northern border of Hong Kong, "only" has 468 skyscrapers exceeding 150 metres. In fact, Hong Kong and Shenzhen together have a combined total of 1,037 skyscrapers taller than 150 metres. This exceeds the number of such buildings in the

Walking down Queen’s Road Central, at the junction with Pedder Street, you’ll most likely have walked past Central Building, and you probably haven’t paid it much attention. If the building itself is of little interest, the land on which it was built holds great historical significance. At this very location, the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels Limited— the oldest registered company on the Hong Kong Companies Registry—constructed Hong Kong’s first luxury hotel, simply named the

If you ever visit Sham Shui Po, in the northwestern part of Kowloon, you will be surrounded by tall buildings wherever you go. So much so that Sham Shui Po is the second most densely populated district in Hong Kong, with 47,000 inhabitants per square kilometer (122,000 inhabitants per square mile). Yet, Sham Shui Po, in Cantonese, literally means Deep Water Pier — a name that doesn’t reflect the district’s current topography, as Sham Shui Po’s coastline totals a mere 522 mete

Anyone who’s ever been to Hong Kong Disneyland Resort by MTR is familiar with Sunny Bay Station on the Tung Chung Line. Paradoxically, even though there is a Sunny Bay Station, there is no part of Hong Kong known as Sunny Bay. Indeed, if you look at a map of Hong Kong, you will not find any mention of Sunny Bay anywhere on the territory. However, directly west of Sunny Bay Station lies the bay after which the station was named—namely 陰澳灣 (Yam O Wan), which, literally translat

Today, Hong Kongers are warned of incoming storms, typhoons, and hurricanes by a numbered signal code ranging from T1, the standby signal, to T10, the hurricane signal. This system also includes signals such as T3, the strong wind signal, and T8 and T9, the gale or storm signals. However, if we today take this system for granted, it is important to recognize that it took the Hong Kong government decades to develop an efficient way to warn its inhabitants of approaching storms

When Commodore Gordon Bremer planted the Union Jack at Possession Point on January 26, 1841, the population of Hong Kong Island was approximately 7,450. By 2021, 180 years later, Hong Kong's population had grown to 7.4 million—an increase of about 1,000 times. In the first twenty years of the colony alone, from 1841 to 1861, Hong Kong's population increased from 7,450 to 119,320. This growth was partly driven by Chinese refugees fleeing the Taiping Rebellion and the Punti-Hak