The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (also known as Hong Kong or HK; Chinese: 香港) is a Special Administrative Region of China.
Hong Kong was one of the territories occupied by the UK during the century of humiliation. After the Opium Wars, the UK forced the Qing Dynasty to sign a treaty signing over various territories. In 1898 a treaty was negotiated giving the British Empire control of Hong Kong for exactly 99 years rent-free.
The governor of British Hong Kong was appointed by the Prime Minister of the UK directly. All governors of British Hong Kong were white Europeans born in the British Isles, and the first governor to speak Chinese was in 1982 (15 years before the end of British rule in Hong Kong). Under British rule, Hong Kong never held a single election and all positions of government were appointed hierarchically by the governor.
In 1997, Hong Kong was handed over back to China.