March 07, 2013
As ACEI’s President and CEO, Jasmin S. Kuehnert, embarks on her trip to Hong Kong next week where she’ll be attending the APIEA http://www.apaie.org / Conference and presenting a session on “Partnerships and Collaborations with EducationUSA, higher education communities in the U.S. and the East Asia Pacific,” we thought it would be interesting to share some facts about Hong Kong.
1. Hong Kong’s official name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, or Hong Kong SAR.
2. Hong Kong means Fragrant Harbor.
3. Hong Kong consists of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, the New Territories, and several other smaller islands spread
over 1,092 square kilometers.
4. Hong Kong’s official languages are Chinese (Spoken Cantonese) and English.
5. Hong Kong has more Rolls Royce’s per person than any other city in the world.
6. Hong Kong has the most skyscrapers (classified as building with more than 14 floors) in the world; double that of its nearest rival: New York City.
7. Hong Kong is counted amongst the most densely populated areas of the world.
8. Hong Kong was taken over by the British forces after the defeat of China in the Opium War of 1842. On July 1st, 1997, Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region of China.
9. The emblem of the reunification of Hong Kong with China is Sousa Chinensis (the Chinese White Dolphin)
The Flag of Hong Kong
10. The terrain of Hong Kong is pretty hilly and there are outdoor escalators in the Central district of the Island.
11. Every year, between April and May, residents of Cheung Chau Island organize a bun festival. It’s intended to keep hungry ghosts residing on the island content. They build a tower of buns, but lately they use plastic instead of the real baked version.
Source image courtesy of www.atinyrocket.com
12. The Hong Kong dollar is the eighth most traded currency in the world.
13. In Hong Kong, architects take Feng Shui (wind/water elements) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_shui into consideration in the design and construction of buildings.
14. For nearly 40 years, Sam’s Tailor http://samstailor.com/ , the famous tailor in Burlington Arcade in Hong Kong is reputed to have made clothes for heads of state and celebrities like Margaret Thatcher, George Bush, Bill Clinton, Prince Charles, Pavarotti, and Michael Jackson.
15. The 1955 film “Love is a Many Splendored Thing,” based on a romantic novel about an American war correspondent (played by the actor William Holden) who fell in love with a Hong Kong Chinese doctor (Jennifer Jones) in the run up to the Korean War was filmed in Hong Kong.
16. Dai Pai Dong, Fast Food Noodle Shops, are common sites in Hong Kong offering an inexpensive bowl of noodles for around HK$20 and free tea.
17. Eating noodles on one’s birthday is considered by the residents of Hong Kong to afford one a long and blessed life.
Source image courtesy of www.equator.eftours.com
18. The saying “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun,” originated in Hong Kong. The writer Noel Coward wrote the words referring to the Noon Day Gun in Causeway Bay fired every day at the stroke of midday since colonial times.
Image courtesy of http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/see-do/culture-heritage/historical-sites/colonial/noon-day-gun.jsp
19. The Tsing Ma Bridge is the world’s longest road and rail suspension bridge and a Hong Kong landmark.
20. As for education, Hong Kong government extended free education in the public section from 9 to 12 years effective 2008/09 school year.
And, here’s one more bonus fact:
21. A new academic structure at the secondary level was implemented in September 2009 and comprises of 6 years of secondary education (i.e. 3 years of junior secondary and 3 years of senior secondary education). The new curriculum leads to one public examination at the end of Secondary 6 and award of the new Hong Kong Diploma of Secondary Education Examination which replaces the former Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination (HKCEE) and the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examinations (HKALE)
Other useful links:
http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/factsheets/docs/education.pdf
http://gohongkong.about.com/od/travelplanner/a/factsaboutHK.htm
http://www.asiaimpressions.com/articles/hong-kong-facts.html
http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/facts-about-hong-kong-1524.html
http://www.funtrivia.com/en/Geography/Hong-Kong-15030.html
Academic Credentials Evaluation Institute, Inc.
www.acei1.com
lol
“Love is a many-splendored thing” was a 1955 movie, not 1995.
Thank you for catching our error.
thx this helped me in my class alot
Reblogged this on TC's Blog and commented:
Interesting indeed…
Reblogged this on Worldtraveland.
It’s a beautiful place wish I could go back
Thanks for this, really helpful for some of our new articles.
Also of note, the greatest amount of tourists that visit Hong Kong are from mainland China when compared to any other country, with 28 million in 2011.
Just doing some research into Hong Kong, and would like to say thanks for providing these interesting facts, some of which i may never have found out about.
good some how
Not bad
nice article
Very Impressed by the collection of facts. Thanks!