in 1842, after the end of the "opium war", great britain took posession of hong kong. it stayed british until 1997 when china took it back, and accepted a special status, as "special administrative region of china". since 2019 china asserts its power to piece-by-piece ending hong kongs administrative independence.
in 2021 china became aggressive, defacto dissolving the status "special administrative region of china" and replacing the local hong kong administration with a central chinese structure.
the population of hong kong is 7.5 mio.
it is one of the most densely populated places in the world, and has more skyscrapers than any other city. yet in its northern section one can also see traditional chinese settlements.
in 2002, when hong kong was still 'semi-independent', i visited it for 3 months, as researcher at the chinese university of hong kong.
