1. to enter Hong Kong from China, you must go through customs, the whole she-bang, departure cards, stamping visas, etc.
2. they have their own currency (which looks like monopoly money by the way).
3. they have their own separate government.
So, what say you? In the meantime, here are some pictures from H.K. (you may have noticed that I figured out how I can make my pictures bigger, despite the firewall! I know they are maybe too huge, but I think I am overcompensating for such small and weirdly organized pictures for so long. But ya gotta give me a break, I am working in html code here!)
The view from Victoria's peak:
The temple when we went in: (they were doing construction all around it, so it was hard to get the whole thing without a big ugly crane in there)
The Temple when we came out, as is everything else in Hong Kong, the temple was beautiful at night.
5 comments:
HA! I totally thought, "Hong Kong is so not another country" but I assessed your points & will allow you to count it.
Love the pic of the temple!
According to Wikipedia, Hong Kong is NOT it's own country. See the details below. However, I agree with Liv, you had a very strong argument otherwise, so, I allow you to count it as well.
Hong Kong[7] (Chinese: 香港) is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China; the other is Macau. Situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea,[8] it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. With land mass of 1,104 km2 (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million people, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world.[9] Hong Kong's population is 95% ethnic Chinese and 5% from other groups.[10]
Under the principle of "one country, two systems", Hong Kong runs on economic and political systems different from those of mainland China.[11] Hong Kong is one of the world's leading international financial centres, with a major capitalist service economy characterised by low taxation, free trade and minimum government intervention under the ethos of positive non-interventionism.[12] The Hong Kong dollar is the 9th most traded currency in the world.[13]
Yes, we know it's "technically" part of China, but they also consider Taiwan "technically" to be part of China, and they don't consider themselves to be at all.
Also, I forgot to mention that:
-They speak a totally different language.
-Flights to Hong Kong from the mainland are considered international, and always go through the international terminal.
-You need to have a visa to visit china, but not hong kong.
-Chinese nationals have a different line at customs than people from hong kong.
So basically it was more different going from China to hong kong than going from arizona to mexico.
Oh Russell!
I am with April on this one! All I can say is WOW!
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