Hong Kong: The Sky Unlimited

Named for the stores of sandalwood incense that once perfumed its export docks, Hong Kong—that is, “fragrant harbor”—remains an intoxicating meeting place of East and West. British forces raised the Union Jack over Possession Point in 1841 during the First Opium War, fought to protect the Queen’s trade of the narcotic. That flag would fly over the island for 156 years, until a ceremonial hand-off that saw the final British governor, Chris Patten, in tears, and reduced Prince Charles to angry diarist mode. “Appalling old waxworks,” he called the new Chinese masters.

Fourteen years since, Hong Kong remains an intriguing example of exuberant capitalism within a communist state. The dominant image of Hong Kong is its spectacular skyline; the enduring sentiment, the voracious urbanism that skyline evinces.

Among other superlatives, Hong Kong claims the highest percentage of residents living above 14 floors of any city. That skyline also attests to Hong Kong’s rapacious appetite for the new: Few examples of traditional Chinese or more recent colonial architecture stand outside of museums, while contemporary works by Norman Foster and I.M. Pei figure prominently. The vertical cityscape belies the fact that around 40% of Hong Kong is official park land, with wildlife reserves holding Chinese porcupines, macaques, leopards and wild boar. It’s well appreciated from atop Victoria Peak, deservedly one of the city’s top attractions.

Tour of Hong Kong

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