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Chief Executive Of Hong Kong

Chief Executive of Hong Kong

The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Traditional Chinese: 香港特別行政區行政長官, Simplified Chinese: 香港特别行政区行政长官; Cantonese Jyutping: hoeng1 gong2 dak6 bit6 hang4 zing3 keoi1 hang4 zing3 zoeng2 gwun1; Mandarin Pinyin: Xiānggǎng Tèbié Xíngzhèngqū Xíngzhèng Zhǎngguān) is the head of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, and represents the Region. The current Chief Executive is Donald Tsang.

Powers

Under the Basic Law, the Chief Executive is the head of the government of the HKSAR, whose powers and functions include leading the government, implementing the law, signing bills and budgets passed by the Legislative Council, deciding on government policies, nominating principal officials of the HKSAR to the Central People's Government, and appointment of judges and holders of public office. He shall be accountable to the Central People's Government and the HKSAR in accordance with the Basic Law. The Executive Council is the de facto cabinet of the Chief Executive. It is presided over by the Chief Executive and is an organ for assisting him in policy-making. The Chief Executive shall consult the Executive Council before making important policy decisions, introducing bills to the Legislative Council, making subordinate legislation or dissolving the Legislative Council.

History

The office, stipulated by the Basic Law, formally came into being on 1 July 1997 when the People's Republic of China resumed the exercise of sovereignty of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom. Under British colonial rule, the top position was held by the Governor of Hong Kong.

Eligibility to hold office

Article 44 of the Basic Law provides that the Chief Executive must be a Chinese citizen of not less than 40 years old, who is a permanent resident of HKSAR with no right of abode in any foreign country, and has ordinarily resided in Hong Kong for a continuous period of not less than 20 years. Article 47 further requires that the Chief Executive must be a person of integrity, dedicated to his or her duties. In addition, according to electoral laws, anyone interested in running for Chief Executive must receive at least 100 nominations from the Election Committee prior to the election.

Election of the Chief Executive

The term of office of the Chief Executive is five years (If a vacancy appears mid-term, the new Chief Executive finishes up the previous Chief Executive's term), and each person can serve for not more than two consecutive terms. The method of selecting the Chief Executive is provided under Article 45 and Annex I of the Basic Law, and the Chief Executive Election Ordinance of Hong Kong. The first term of the Chief Executive was elected by a 400 member Election Committee, consisting of members as elected from respective sectors and appointed by the Central People's Government. In the second term, the Election Committee was enlarged to 800 members, mainly elected from among business and professional sectors. The elected Chief Executive must then be appointed by the Central People's Government. Under the Chief Executive Election Ordinance, the winning candidate to the election must declared that he is not a member of a political party, and will not become a member of any political party nor subject to the discipline of any political party during his term of office. This is to ensure neutrality.

Resignation

Article 52 stipulates circumstances under which the Chief Executive must resign, including the loss of ability to discharge his or her duties, and refusal to sign a bill passed by a two-thirds majority of the Legislative Council, after previously dissolving the Council because he or she twice refuses to sign the original bill passed by a two-thirds majority.

Acting and succession

The acting and succession line is spelled out in Article 53 of the Basic Law. If the Chief Executive is not able to discharge his or her duties for short period (such as during overseas visits), the duties would be assumed by the Chief Secretary for Administration, the Financial Secretary or the Secretary for Justice, in that order, as acting chief executive. In case the position becomes vacant, a new Chief Executive would have to be elected. The provisions of inability to exercise the powers come into force, and then a new election is held on the Sunday on or immediately following the 120th day after the vacancy according . (None is required, of course, if only one candidate is nominated.)

List of Chief Executives of Hong Kong

Residence and Office

The former Tung Chee Hwa did not use the Government House as the primary residence and lived at his own residence at Grenville House, except for a short period at a government flat at Harbour View, 11 Magazine Gap Road when the flat at Grenville House was under renovation. Donald Tsang has decided to return to the renovated Government House. Previous governors also had some alternative residence. Sir Hercules Robinson also had a residence, Mountain Lodge, it was built as a summer home. Only the Gate Lodge and Victoria Peak Garden remains (Sir Richard MacDonnell also had a residence built in 1868). The Fanling Lodge in the New Territories remains the alternate summer residence after 1997. Prior to the handover in 1997, the Office of the Chief Executive-designate was at the seventh floor of the Asia Pacific Finance Tower. When Tung Chee Hwa assumed duty on 1 July 1997, the Office of the Chief Executive was located at the fifth floor of the Central Government Offices (Main Wing), also known as Government Headquarters, and known before as Government Secretariat. In the past the governor had his office at the Government House.

External links

- [http://www.info.gov.hk/ce/eindex.htm Office of the Chief Executive]
- [http://www.info.gov.hk/press/p970528b.htm Relocation of the Residence and Office of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong] Hong Kong Category:Hong Kong-related lists Hong Kong Category:Politics of Hong Kong Category:Chief Executives of Hong Kong ja:香港特別行政区行政長官

Traditional Chinese character

Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese characters. It is the set of characters that first appeared during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) and has been used since the 5th century during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It is called traditional as opposed to the other form - the simplified Chinese characters, created or standardised by the government of the People's Republic of China (mainland China) starting from the 1950s. Traditional Chinese is text written with Traditional Chinese characters. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and some overseas Chinese communities; especially those originating from the aforementioned countries or who emigrated before the widepspread adoption of simplified characters in the People's Republic of China. In contrast, simplified characters are used in Mainland China, Singapore, and in some overseas Chinese communities; especially those from aforementioned countries who emigrated after the widespread adoption of simplified Chinese characters.

Controversy over name

Among Chinese people, traditional Chinese characters are referred to by several different names, each with different implications. The government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) officially calls traditional Chinese characters standard characters or orthodox characters (Traditional Chinese: 正體字; Simplified Chinese: 正体字; pinyin: zhèngtǐzì), which implies that traditional characters are the full and correct forms of the characters. In contrast, users of simplified characters call them complex characters (Traditional Chinese: 繁體字; Simplified Chinese: 繁体字; pinyin: fántǐzì), or, informally, old characters (老字; pinyin: lǎozì), with the implication that traditional Chinese characters have been replaced and are obsolete. Traditional character users argue that traditional characters cannot be called "complex" as they were never made more complex; the characters were preserved the way they were. Conversely supporters of simplified Chinese characters object strongly to the description of these characters as "standard," since they view the new simplified characters as the contemporary standard. They also point out that traditional characters are not truly traditional as Chinese characters have changed significantly over time. Curiously, although the character which is generally translated as "complex" is itself comprised of numerous, if not complex strokes, the character has not undergone simplification; this is perhaps intentional as it demonstrates the relative complexity of the Traditional characters in contrast to the Simplified versions. Additionally, while "complex" bears somewhat of a negative connotation in English, the Chinese character per se does not imply anything to the extent that it might be construed as "complex" or "troublesome"; rather, the meaning is rather vague and remains neutral unless coupled with other characters. Some older people refer to traditional characters as proper characters (正字; pinyin: zhèngzì) and simplified characters as simplified-stroke characters (Traditional Chinese: 簡筆字; Simplified Chinese: 简笔字; pinyin: jiǎnbǐzì) or reduced-stroke characters (Traditional Chinese: 減筆字; Simplified Chinese: 减笔字; pinyin: jiǎnbǐzì) (simplified- and reduced- are actually homonyms in Mandarin Chinese, both pronounced jiǎn).

Printed text

When printing text, people in Mainland China and Singapore mainly use the simplified system, which was developed by the People's Republic of China government in the 1950s. However, the PRC also prints material intended to be read outside of Mainland China using traditional characters. In handwritten text, most people use informal, sometimes personal simplifications. In most cases, an alternative character (異體字) would be used in place of one with more strokes, such as 体 for 體. Contrary to popular belief, most of these are still part of the set of traditional chinese characters, but informally and confusingly called simplified form (簡寫). Though not standard, these are usually accepted outside schools, and some are extremely widespread, notably the tai (台) in Taiwan as opposed to the standard character (臺).

Computer character encoding

In the past, Traditional Chinese was most often rendered using the Big5 character encoding scheme, a character encoding scheme that favors Traditional Chinese. Unicode, however, has become increasingly popular as a way to render Traditional Chinese. Unicode gives equal weight to both simplified and traditional Chinese characters and does not favor either over the other. There are various IMEs (Input Method Editors) available to input Chinese characters.

Usage in other languages

Traditional characters are also used in Korean Hanja, and moderately simplified traditional characters are used in modern Japanese Kanji.

Standard Cantonese

Standard Cantonese is a variant of Cantonese, generally considered the prestige dialect. It is spoken natively in and around the cities of Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macau in southern China. Standard Cantonese is the official Chinese spoken language of Hong Kong and Macau, and a prestige dialect and lingua franca in Guangdong province and some neighbouring areas. It is also spoken by many overseas Chinese, especially those of Cantonese descent, in Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, United States, Australia, Europe, and elsewhere. Traditionally, Cantonese was the lingua franca of overseas Chinese communities in the Western world, although that situation has changed with the increasing importance of Mandarin in the Chinese-speaking world as well as immigration from other provinces. In popular speech, Standard Cantonese is often known simply as Cantonese, though in academic linguistics the name can also refer to the broader category to which it belongs, Cantonese language or Yuet6yue5; (TC:粵語 / SC:粤语, pinyin: Yuèyǔ). Standard Cantonese is also known as the Gwongfu wa or Government of Canton speech (Gwong2fu2 Wa2, TC: 廣府話, SC: 广府话).

Phonology

Like any dialect, the phonology of Standard Cantonese varies among speakers. Unlike Standard Mandarin, there is no official agency to regulate Standard Cantonese. Below is the phonology accepted by most scholars and educators, the one usually heard on TV or radio in serious broadcast like news reports. Common variations are also described. It is interesting to note that there are about 630 different sounds formed by the combinations of initials and vowels (before tones are taken into account). Though some of them, such as e6/ei6(欸), bung6(埲), gwing1(扃) are not really used any more; and some such as gwik1/kwik1(隙) or gwaang2/gang2(梗) which has traditionally had two equally correct pronunciations are beginning to be pronounced with only one particular way uniformly by its speakers (and this usually happens because the "unused" pronunciation is almost unique to that word alone) thus making the "unused" sounds effectively disappear from the language; while some such as kwok3(擴), pui1(胚), jeoi1(錐), ge1(痂) have alternative (sometimes incorrect) pronunciations which have become mainstream (as kwon3, bui1, zeoi1 and ke2 respectively) again making some of the sounds disappear from the everyday use of the language; and yet others such as faak3(謋), fang4(揈), dap1(耷) have now become popularly (but erroneously) believed to be made-up/borrowed words to represent sounds in modern vernacular Cantonese when they have in fact been retaining that sounds before these vernacular usage became popular. On the other hand, there are new words in Cantonese circulating in Hong Kong which uses sounds which never appeared in Cantonese before, such as get1 (note: this is non standard usage as 'et' was never an accepted/valid final for sounds in Cantonese, though the final sound 'et' has appeared in vernacular Cantonese before this, pet6 - notably in describing the unit/"measure word"(量詞) of sticky substances such as mud, glue, chewing gum etc), the sound is borrowed from the English word "gag" to mean the act of amusing others by a (possibly practical) joke.

Initials

Initials (or onsets) are initial consonants of possible syllables. The following is the inventory for Standard Cantonese as represented in IPA: Notice the aspiration contrast and the lack of phonation contrast for stops. The sibilant affricates are grouped with the stops for compactness in displaying the chart. Some linguists prefer to analyze and as part of finals to make them analogous to the and medials in Standard Mandarin, especially in comparative phonological studies. However, since final-heads only appear with null initial, or , analyzing them as part of the initials greatly reduces the count of finals at the cost of only adding four initials. Some linguists analyze a (glottal stop) when a vowel other than , or begin a syllable. The position of the coronals varies from dental to alveolar, with and more likely to be dental. The position of the sibilants , , and are usually alveolar (, , and ), but can be postalveolar (, , and ) or alveolo-palatal (, , and ), especially before the , , or vowels. Some native speakers cannot distinguish between and , and between and the null initial. Usually they pronounce only and the null initial. See the discussion on phonological shift below.

Finals

Finals (or rhymes) are the remaining part of the syllable after the initial is taken off. There are two kinds of finals in Cantonese, depending on vowel length. The following chart lists all possible finals in Standard Cantonese as represented in IPA: Syllabic nasals: Comments to be added later, including alternative interpretion of short vowels.

Tones

Standard Cantonese has nine tones in six distinct tone contours. For purposes of meters in Chinese poetry, the first and fourth tones are traditionally grouped in the "flat category" (平聲), while the rest are "oblique" (仄聲). In Hong Kong, the first tone can be either high level or high falling without affecting the meaning of the words being spoken. Most Hong Kong speakers are in general not consciously aware of when they use and when to use high level and high falling. In Guangzhou the high falling tone is more usual. It is interesting to note that there are not actually more tone levels in Standard Cantonese than in Standard Mandarin (three if one excludes the Cantonese low falling tone, which begins on the third level and needs somewhere to fall), only Cantonese has a more complete set of tone courses. Standard Cantonese mostly preserves the tones in Middle Chinese in the manner shown in the chart below. V– = voiceless initial consonant, V+ = voiced initial consonant. The voice distinction was found in Middle Chinese and has been lost in Cantonese, preserved only by tone differences. Comments to be added later.

Current Phonological Shift

Like other languages, Cantonese is constantly undergoing sound changes, processes where more and more native speakers of a language change the pronunciations of certain sounds. In Hong Kong, younger native speakers are unable to distinguish between certain phoneme pairs and merge one sound into another. Although that is often considered as substandard and is denounced as being "lazy sounds" (懶音), it is gaining popularity and is influencing other Cantonese-speaking regions. These are the observed shifts:
- Merging of initial into initial
- Merging of initial into null initial
- Merging of and initial into and when followed by
- Merging of ending into ending, eliminating contrast between these pairs of finals: -, -, and -.
- Merging of ending into ending analogously.
- Merging of the two syllabic nasals, into , eliminating contrast between 五 (five) and 唔 (not).
- Merging of some into , accepting jang3 as an alternative for cang3 (撐). Today in Hong Kong, people still make an effort to avoid those merges in serious broadcasts and in education. Older people usually do not speak like that, but the majority of the younger generation does. Following the sound changes, the name of Hong Kong's Hang Seng Bank in Jyutping romanization, hoeng1 gong2 hang4 sang1 ngan4 hong4 (香港恆生銀行), becomes hoen1 gon2 han4 san1 an4 hon4, sounding like "Hon' Kon' itchy body (han4 san1 痕身) bank". The name of the Cantonese language itself should be gwong2 dung1 waa2 ("Guangdong speech"), despite the fact that gong2 dung1 waa2 (sounding like "speak eastern speech") and gon2 dung1 waa2 (sounding like "chase away eastern speech") are overwhelmingly popular. The shift even affects the way some Hong Kong people speak other languages. This is especially evident in the pronunciation of certain English names. "Nicole" becomes li col, and "Leonardo" becomes leo la do. Prescriptivists who try to correct these "lazy sounds" often end up introducing hypercorrections. For instance, in an attempt to ensure that people continue to pronounce the initial , words that historically should have a null initial end up being pronounced with . One of the most prominent examples is the word 愛, meaning "love." Even though the correct pronunciation should be oi3 (), it ends up being pronounced ngoi3 ().

Romanization

There are several major romanization schemes for Cantonese: Barnett-Chao, Meyer-Wempe, and Yale. While they do not differ greatly, Yale is the one most commonly seen in the west today. The Hong Kong linguist Sidney Lau modified the Yale system for his popular Cantonese-as-a-second-language course, so that is another system used today by contemporary Cantonese learners. The one advocated by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong (LSHK) is called jyutping, which solves many of the inconsistencies and problems of the older, favored, and more familiar system of Yale Romanization, but departs considerably from it in a number of ways unfamiliar to Yale users. Some effort has been undertaken to promote jyutping, but it is too early to tell how successful it is. Another popular scheme is Standard Cantonese Pinyin Schemes, it is the only romanization system that accepted by Hong Kong Education and Manpower Bureau and Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority. Books and studies for teachers and students in primary and secondary schools usually use this scheme. Some dictionary for Hong Kong student may use an older system: IPA system (free style). However, learners may feel frustrated that most native Cantonese speakers, no matter how educated they are, really are not familiar with any romanization system. Apparently, there is no motive for local people to learn any of these systems. The romanization systems are not included in the education system neither in Hong Kong nor in Guangdong province. In practice, Hong Kong people follows a loose unnamed romanisation scheme used by Hong Kong Government. See Hong Kong Government Cantonese Romanisation for details.

Written Cantonese

Cantonese is usually referred to as a spoken dialect, and not as a written dialect. Spoken vernacular Cantonese differs from written Chinese. Written Chinese spoken word for word sounds overly formal and distant in Cantonese. As a result, the necessity of having a written script which matched the spoken verse increased over time. This resulted in the generation of additional Chinese characters to complement the existing characters. Many of these represent phonological sounds not present in Mandarin. A good source for well documented Cantonese words can be found in drama and opera (dai hay) scripts. With the advent of the computer and standardization of character sets specifically for Cantonese, many printed materials in predominantly Cantonese spoken areas of the world are written to cater to their population with these written Cantonese characters. As a result, mainstream media such as newspapers and magazines have become progressively less conservative and more colloquial in their dissemination of ideas. Generally speaking, some of the older generation of Cantonese speakers regard this trend as a step "backwards" and away from tradition. This tension between the "old" and "new" is a reflection of a transition that is being undergone by the Cantonese speaking population.

Cultural role

The economic pre-eminence of Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangdong province, as well as its predominance in many overseas Chinese communities, has given Standard Cantonese a reach far beyond its comparatively small homeland. As the usual spoken variety of Chinese in Hong Kong and Macau, Cantonese is the only Chinese variety to be used in official contexts other than Standard Mandarin, which remains the official dialect of both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China on Taiwan; as a predominant language of the Chinese diaspora, Cantonese is also the main form of Chinese that many Westerners come into contact with. Together with Mandarin and Taiwanese, Cantonese is also one of the few Chinese spoken varieties to produce its own popular music (Cantopop). The prevalence of Cantonese popular culture has in fact spurred some Mandarin speakers to learn Cantonese, unique among the varieties of Chinese. The contrast is especially clear with other Chinese varieties, such as Wu. Wu has more speakers than Yue (the wider Cantonese group), it is spoken in an area that is approximately equally wealthy, and Shanghainese, one of the prestige dialects of Wu, is spoken in Shanghai, arguably the economic center of Mainland China. However, Shanghainese is not used in official contexts, nor is it a usual subject of study among other Chinese people. Shanghainese does not produce its own popular music, and is virtually unknown in the West. However, spurred on by the success of Cantonese, some Wu speakers have begun to promote their home language. Cantonese enjoys a standing slightly inferior to Mandarin but much superior to other varieties of Chinese in China. This is seen in Guangzhou where announcements in the public transport are made in both Mandarin Chinese and the local lingua franca Cantonese (though announcements in Cantonese in the metro have been cancelled). Not even Shanghainese enjoys this privilege in Shanghai, the largest and arguably the wealthiest city in China. Some teachers in the Guangdong province continue to teach in Cantonese, as most Cantonese feel affinity with their own language much more than they do Mandarin Chinese, though doing so is against the national language policy. It has even caused some dissatisfaction amongst immigrants from other provinces who usually do not speak Cantonese.

Loanwords

Life in Hong Kong is characterised by the blending of Asian (mainly south Chinese) and Western influences, as well as the status of the city as a major international business centre. Influences from this territory are widespread in foreign cultures. As a results, many loanwords are created and exported to China, Taiwan and Singapore. Some of the loanwords are even more popular than their Chinese counterparts. At the same time, some new words created are vividly borrowed by other languages as well.

Imported loanwords

English
- 巴士 (bus)
- 的士 (taxi)
- 拜拜 (bye bye)
- 朱古力 (chocolate)
- 三文治 (sandwich)
- 蚊 (dollar - from the first syllable of money) Japanese
- 卡拉OK (カラオケ)
- 老世 (世帶主) [Usually miswritten as "老細"]
- 車長 (車掌) Arab
- 摩囉 (Moormen)

Exported loanwords

English
- chow mein (炒麵)
- dim sum (點心)
- kung fu (功夫)
- kumquat (柑橘)
- wonton (雲吞)
- bok choy (白菜）
- kowtow (叩頭)
- typhoon (颱風／大風) Putonghua
- 大減價 (大減價)
- 買單 (埋單)
- 搭檔 (拍檔) Guoyu
- 無厘頭 (無厘頭)
- 亮仔/靚仔 (靚仔)
- 拍拖 (拍拖)
- 很正 (好正) Japanese
- ヤムチャ (kanji:喫茶) (飲茶)

Cantonese versus Mandarin

The so-called "Battle between Cantonese and Mandarin" started in Hong Kong in the mid-1980s, when a large number of mainland Chinese people started crossing the border into Hong Kong during Deng Xiaoping's Reform & Opening Period. At that time, Hong Kong and Macau were still under British and Portuguese rules respectively, and Mandarin was not often heard in those territories. Businesspeople from the mainland and the colonies shared a mutual dislike and distrust of one another, and in magazines in China in the mid-1980s, they would publish polemics against the other's language - thus Cantonese became known on the mainland as "British Chinese" -and Mandarin became known as "Liu Mang Hua" - which literally means, "outlaw speak." In Singapore, the government has had a Speak Mandarin Campaign (SMC), actively promoting the use of Mandarin Chinese at the expense of Cantonese and other Chinese dialects. This was seen as a way of creating greater cohesion among the ethnic Chinese. Some believe that the Singaporean Government has gone too far in its endeavour. Some Taiwanese songs in some Taiwanese entertainment programmes have been singled out and censored. Japanese and Korean drama series are available in both languages on TV to the viewers, but Hong Kong drama series are always dubbed in Mandarin and the original Cantonese track is not available, causing the series to sound very unnatural and lose much of its flavour. Korean and Japanese have a better standing than the local dialects of Singapore itself. Up till now, television programmes from Hong Kong are dubbed into Mandarin, although now Singapore residents can watch them in the original Cantonese on cable. One offshoot of this campaign is the curious Pinyinisation of certain terms which originated from southern Chinese languages. For instance, Dim Sum is known as Dianxin in Singapore's English language media. The campaign has made most of the young Singaporeans unable to even understand Cantonese, let alone speak. The situation is very different in nearby Malaysia, where even most of the non-Cantonese speaking Chinese can understand the dialect to a certain extent (and some very proficient). A Hong Kong tourist who has been to Kuala Lumpur and Singapore once commented: "I do not feel that KL (Kuala Lumpur) is very much different from HK since I can use Cantonese extensively. But I can tell my secrets in Cantonese rather openly in Singapore since most of the Singaporeans do not even understand what I am saying." In other words Singaporeans are now quite deprived of their opportunities to learn Chinese dialects. A good news is that while most non-Cantonese Singaporeans do not speak their own dialects at home, many of the Cantonese in Singapore still speak Cantonese as their mother tongue. The SMC and its consequences are to fend off influences of dialects on Mandarin, but it has been noticed that some Singaporean Chinese do not even speak Mandarin Chinese as well as their Malaysian counterparts, who usually have a more varied vocabulary and are mostly proficient in several other dialects as well.

External links

- [http://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-can/ The Chinese University of Hong Kong Research Centre for Humanities Computing: Chinese Character Database: With Word-formations Phonologically Disambiguated According to the Cantonese Dialect]
- [http://cantonese.hku.hk/traditional/ Research on Cantonese, HKU]
- [http://input.foruto.com/ccc/jyt/ 粵語拼盤]: Learning the phonetic system of Cantonese category:Cantonese (linguistics) Category:Chinese language Category:Tonal languages Category:Languages of Hong Kong

Standard Mandarin

Standard Mandarin is the official Chinese spoken language used by the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China on Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. The phonology of Standard Mandarin is based on that of the Beijing dialect, which belongs to Mandarin, a large and very diverse group of Chinese dialects spoken across northern and southwestern China. The vocabulary is largely drawn from this group of dialects. The grammar of Standard Mandarin is standardized to the body of modern works written in Vernacular Chinese, which in practice follows the tradition of the Mandarin group of dialects most closely with some notable exceptions. As a result, Standard Mandarin itself is usually called "Mandarin" in non-academic, everyday usage. However, linguists use "Mandarin" to refer to the entire group of dialects. This convention will be adopted by the rest of this article. Standard Mandarin is officially known in the People's Republic of China as Putonghua (Simplified Chinese: 普通话 Hanyu Pinyin: Pǔtōnghuà, literally "ordinary speech"), in the Republic of China (Taiwan) as Guoyu (Traditional Chinese: 國語 Tongyong Pinyin: Guóyǔ, Wade-Giles: Kuo-yü, literally "national language"), and in Malaysia and Singapore as Huayu (Traditional Chinese: 華語 Simplified Chinese: 华语; Hanyu Pinyin: huáyǔ, literally "the Chinese (in a cultural sense) language"). All three terms are used interchangeably in Chinese communities around the world where different groups have come into contact.

History

:Main article: History of Standard Mandarin Since ancient history, the Chinese language has always consisted of a wide variety of dialects; hence prestige dialects and lingua francas have always been needed. Confucius, for example, used yǎyán (雅言), or "elegant speech", rather than colloquial regional dialects; text during the Han Dynasty also referred to tōngyǔ (通語), or "common language". Rime books, which were written since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, may also have reflected one or more systems of standard pronunciation during those times. However, all of these standard dialects were probably unknown outside the educated elite; even among the elite, pronunciations may have been very different, as the unifying factor of all Chinese dialects, Classical Chinese, was a written standard, not a spoken one. The Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) and the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1912) began to use the term guānhuà (官話), or "official speech", to refer to the speech used at the courts. It seems that during the early part of this period, the standard was based on the Nanjing dialect, but later the Beijing dialect became increasingly influential, despite the mix of officials and commoners speaking various dialects in the capital, Beijing. In the 17th century, the Empire had set up Orthoepy Academies (正音書院, Zhèngyīn Shūyuàn) in an attempt to make pronunciation conform to the Beijing standard. But these attempts had little success. As late as the 19th century the emperor had difficulty understanding some of his own ministers in court, who did not always try to follow any standard pronunciation. Nevertheless, by 1909, the dying Qing Dynasty had established the Beijing dialect as guóyǔ (國語), or the "national language"; After the Republic of China was established in 1912, there was more success in promoting a common national language. At first there was an attempt to introduce elements from other Chinese dialects into the national language, in addition to those existing in Beijing dialect. But this was deemed too difficult, and in 1924 this attempt was abandoned and the Beijing dialect became the major source of standard national pronunciation, due to the status of that dialect as a prestigious dialect since the Qing Dynasty. Elements from other dialects continue to exist in the standard language, but as exceptions rather than the rule. The People's Republic of China, established in 1949, continued the effort. In 1955, standard Mandarin was renamed pǔtōnghuà (普通話), or "ordinary speech". (The name change was not recognized by the Republic of China which has governed only Taiwan and some surrounding islands since 1949.) Since then, the standards used in mainland China and Taiwan have diverged somewhat. After the handovers of Hong Kong [http://www.info.gov.hk/info/hkbrief/eng/ahk.htm] and Macau, the term Putonghua is used in those Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China, and the pinyin system is widely used. In both mainland China and Taiwan, the elementary school education system is committed to teaching Mandarin, and this has contributed to the spread of standard Mandarin. As a result, standard Mandarin is now spoken fluently by most people in Mainland China and on Taiwan. In Hong Kong, the language of education and formal speech remains Cantonese but standard Mandarin is becoming increasingly influential. The advent of the 20th century has seen many profound changes in Standard Mandarin. Many polite and humble words that were in use in Imperial China have almost entirely disappeared in daily conversation in modern-day Standard Mandarin, such as jiàn (賤 "my humble"), guì (貴 "your honorable"), bì (敝 "my humble"), etc.

Phonology

The standardized phonology of Standard Mandarin is reproduced below. Actual reproduction varies widely among speakers, as everyone (including national leaders) inadvertantly introduces elements of his/her own native dialect. By contrast, television and radio announcers are usually chosen for their pronunciation accuracy. Below is the phonology of Standard Mandarin.

Initials

The following is the initial inventory of Standard Mandarin as represented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA): ¹ and are interchangeable.
² These are actually medials, not initials. They appear when a final starting with a close vowel, like or , begins a syllable without an initial.
³ Some linguists analyze a when an open vowel like begins a syllable. Corresponding chart in:
- Pinyin
- Zhuyin
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh For more complete information, showing how initials and finals interact, see this Zhuyin-IPA [http://www.wfu.edu/~moran/Cathay_Cafe/IPA_NPA_4.htm chart]. The vowel sounds in that chart have been verified against the official IPA: [http://www.sil.org/computing/speechtools/softdev2/IPAhelp2/ipavowel2.htm site]. What are traditionally termed retroflex are phonetically not true retroflex articulations. These consonants are, rather, flat apical postalveolar, and thus differ from both palatoalveolar and (true)retroflex consonants (Ladefoged & Wu 1984; Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996:150-154). The alveolo-palatal consonants are in complementary distribution (see minimal pair) with the alveolar consonants , retroflex consonants and velar consonants . As a result, some linguists prefer to classify as allophones of one of the three other sets, commonly of the last one in order to make the set phonemically parallel to the sets and . may be pronounced as , the labiodental approximant; this may be considered substandard, but it nevertheless occurs frequently. may be pronounced as , which is characteristic of the speech of young women, and also of some men. This is usually considered rather effeminate and may also be considered substandard.

Finals

The final is a combination of a medial (or glide, , , ), a nucleus, and a coda. The important feature of Mandarin finals is the contrast of and . Full rime table of Standard Mandarin in IPA: ¹ Both pinyin and zhuyin have an additional "o", used after "b p m f", which is distinguished from "uo", used after everything else. "o" is generally put into the first column instead of the third. However, in Beijing pronunciation, these are identical.
² Another way to represent the four finals of this line is: , which reflects Beijing pronunciation.
³ It is pronounced when it follows an initial. Standard Mandarin uses a rhotic consonant, , as a noun suffix (Traditional: -兒, Simplified: -儿), except in a few cases where 兒/儿 does not act as a suffix and is pronounced . The chart below shows how finals from the chart above change in pronunciation due to r-coloring when this suffix is added: The attached simply removes the codas and , and removes the coda by nasalizing the nucleus. Corresponding chart in:
- Pinyin
- Zhuyin
- Gwoyeu Romatzyh

Tones

Pinyin Mandarin, like all Chinese dialects, is a tonal language. This means that tone, just like consonants and vowels, are used to distinguish words from each other. Many foreigners have difficulties mastering the tones of each character, but correct tonal pronunciation is essential for intelligibility because of the vast number of homophones in the language. The following are the 4 tones of Standard Mandarin:

Tone name	Yin Ping	Yang Ping	Shang	Qu
Tone contour	55	35	21(4)	51
Tone	1	2	3	4

# First tone, or high-level tone (陰平/阴平 yīnpíng, literal meaning: yin-level): #: a steady high sound, as if it were being sung instead of spoken. # Second tone, or rising tone (陽平/阳平 yángpíng, literal meaning: yang-level), or linguistically, high-rising: #: is a sound that rises from mid-level tone to high (e.g., What?!) # Third tone (low tone, or low-falling-raising, 上聲/上声 shǎngshēng or shàngshēng, literal meaning: "up tone"): #: has a mid-low to low descent, if at the end of a sentence or before a pause, it is then followed by a rising pitch. # Fourth tone, falling tone (去聲/去声 qùshēng, literal meaning: "away tone"), or high-falling: #: features a sharp downward accent ("dipping") from high to low, and is a shorter tone, similar to curt commands. (e.g., Stop!) : Other pitch shapes sometimes called tones:
- Fifth tone, neutral tone, or zeroth tone (輕聲/轻声 qīng shēng, literal meaning: "light tone"):
- : All unstressed syllables are pronounced with this "tone", which is sometimes considered as a lack of tone. In most varieties of Mandarin, the second syllable in two-syllable compounds is weaker in tonal prominence than the first character, and is sometimes called a "neutral" tone. On the other hand, if a very unemphasized incorrect tone is produced, its presence may be noted by the careful listener. Most romanizations represent the tones as diacritics on the vowels (e.g., Pinyin, MPS II and Tongyong Pinyin). Zhuyin uses diacritics as well. Others, like Wade-Giles, use superscript numbers at the end of each syllable. The tone marks and numbers are rarely used outside of textbooks. Gwoyeu Romatzyh is a rare example where tones are not represented as special symbols, but using normal letters of the alphabet (although in a very complex fashion). To listen to the tones, see [http://www.wku.edu/~shizhen.gao/Chinese101/pinyin/tones.htm http://www.wku.edu/~shizhen.gao/Chinese101/pinyin/tones.htm] (click on the blue-red yin yang symbol). Pronunciation also varies with context according to the rules of tone sandhi. The most prominent phenomenon of this kind is when there are two third tones in immediate sequence, in which case the first of them changes to a second tone. If there are three third tones in series, the first may or may not be converted to a second tone, depending on the preference of the speaker and the dialect area. Relationship between Middle Chinese and modern tones: V- = unvoiced initial consonant
L = sonorant initial consonant
V+ = voiced initial consonant (not sonorant)

Middle Chinese Tone

Ping (平)

Shang (上)

Qu (去)

Ru (入)

Middle Chinese Initial

V-

V+

V-

V+

V-

V+

V-

V+

Standard Mandarin Tone name

Yin Ping
(陰平, 1)

Yang Ping
(陽平, 2)

Shang
(上, 3)

Qu
(去, 4)

redistributed
with no pattern

to Qu

to Yang Ping

Standard Mandarin Tone contour

214

to 51

to 35

It is known that if the two morphemes of a compound word cannot be ordered by grammar, the order of the two is usually determined by tones — Yin Ping (1), Yang Ping (2), Shang (3), Qu (4), and Ru, which is the plosive-ending tone that has already disappeared. Below are some compound words that show this rule. Tones are shown in parentheses, and R indicates Ru. 左右 (34)
南北 (2R)
輕重 (14)
貧富 (24)
凹凸 (1R)
喜怒 (34)
哀樂 (1R)
生死 (13)
死活 (3R)
陰陽 (12)
明暗 (24)
毀譽 (34)
褒貶 (13)
離合 (2R)
集散 (24)

Romanization

Ever since the first Westerners entered China and tried to learn Mandarin, the need for a phonetic transcription system to record the pronunciation of Chinese characters became apparent. Over the years, many such systems have been proposed. The first to be widely accepted was the Wade-Giles system, named after its 19th century inventors. Postal System Pinyin, standardized in 1906, is a similar and somewhat irregular system used predominantly for place names. These two systems are still in use today, but they are rapidly losing ground to Hanyu Pinyin. They are now mostly encountered in older materials such as textbooks and histories. In the 20th century, Chinese linguists proposed various transcription systems, one of which even introduced a whole new syllabic alphabet: the Zhuyin system (Bopomofo). The most successful of these transcription systems was Hanyu Pinyin, which was accepted as the official transcription system for the Chinese language by the PRC in 1958 and later by the United Nations and other international organizations. During the 1950s, there were plans for Pinyin to supersede the Chinese characters. These plans, however, were abandoned, due to the prevalence of homonymic morphemes in Chinese (as well as the reliance of written Chinese forms, especially Classical Chinese, on disambiguation of homonyms via different logographs), the link between the various Chinese languages provided by the logographic system, and the long and close association between the writing system and the literature and culture of China. A variety of transcription systems are used on Taiwan, in a situation that has often been politicised. The ROC central government adopted Tongyong Pinyin in 2002, but has permitted local governments to override that decision in favor of their own preferred romanization systems, e.g., Taipei City's mayor and current leader of the mildly pro-unification opposition party Kuomintang, Ma Ying-jeou, adopted Hanyu Pinyin in the street names of Taipei, as well as on the Taipei Rapid Transit System, which extends into the Taipei County controlled by the ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party. This has resulted in protests accusing Ma of failing to consult and showing disrespect to the Taipei County Government, as well as disregarding central language policies. Zhuyin is used as the method for teaching pronunciation of characters and compounds in schools. Efforts to phase out this system in favor of Tongyong Pinyin have stalled due to disagreements over which form of pinyin to use, and the massive effort needed to produce new educational materials and to completely retrain teachers. A less popular and outdated Romanization is the Yale Romanization. The Yale system is notable because it is a more direct representation of the phonemes of Mandarin than the other systems: It avoids the orthographic alternations between 'y' and 'i', 'w' and 'u', 'wei' and 'ui', 'o' and 'uo', etc. that are part of Pinyin and Wade-Giles.

Grammar

See Chinese grammar.

Standard Mandarin and Beijing dialect

By the official definition of the People's Republic of China, standard Mandarin uses:
- The phonology or sound system of Beijing. A distinction should be made between the sound system of a dialect or language and the actual pronunciation of words in it. The pronunciations of words chosen for Standard Mandarin -- a standardized speech -- do not necessarily reproduce those of the Beijing dialect. The pronunciation of words is a standardization choice and occasional standardization differences (not accents) do exist, between putonghua and guoyu, for example. In fluent speech, Chinese speakers can easily tell the difference between a speaker of the Beijing dialect and a speaker of Standard Mandarin. Beijingers speak Standard Mandarin with elements of their own dialect (i.e. "accents") in the same way as other speakers.
- The vocabulary of Mandarin dialects in general. This means that all slang and other elements deemed "regionalisms" are excluded. On the one hand, the vocabulary of all Chinese dialects, especially in more technical fields like science, law, and government, are very similar. (This is similar to the profusion of Latin and Greek words in European languages.) This means that much of the vocabulary of standardized Mandarin is shared with all varieties of Chinese. On the other hand, many colloquial vocabulary and slang found in Beijing dialect are not found in Standard Mandarin, and may not be understood by people not from Beijing.
- The grammar and usage of exemplary modern Chinese literature, such as the work of Lu Xun, collectively known as "Vernacular Chinese". Vernacular Chinese, the standard written form of modern Chinese, is in turn based loosely upon a mixture of northern (predominant), southern, and classical grammar and usage. This gives formal standard Mandarin structure a slightly different feel from that of street Beijing dialect. In theory the Republic of China defines standard Mandarin differently, though in reality the differences are minor and are concentrated mostly in the tones of a small minority of words. Although Chinese speakers make a clear distinction between Standard Mandarin and the Beijing dialect, there are aspects of Beijing dialect that have made it into the official standard. Standard Mandarin has a T-V distinction between the polite and informal versions of you, that comes from Beijing dialect. In addition there is a distinction between "zánmen" (we including the listener) and "wǒmen" (we not including the listener). In practice, these distinctions are almost never used by most Chinese.

Standard Mandarin and other dialects

The national standard can be very different from a local Mandarin speech, to the point of being unintelligible. In addition, since standard Mandarin is taught as a second language across all China, it is also very common for two people who both believe themselves to be speaking standard Mandarin to require a translator. Nevertheless, efforts by the PRC, ROC, and Singapore to promote standard Mandarin as the standard tongue have greatly boosted the number of standard Mandarin speakers. To the dismay of non-Mandarin speakers, the predominant role of standard Mandarin has led to the common misidentification of Mandarin as the only "Chinese language". Although both Mainland China and Taiwan use standard Mandarin as the official language and very much promote its nationwide use, there is hardly any official intent in either location to have standard Mandarin replace local dialect, and as a practical matter, standard Mandarin still does not supplant the local dialects that are in use in some locations, particularly in the southern provinces of Mainland China or on Taiwan. Speaking only standard Mandarin in these areas is sometimes regarded as a significant social handicap; many Chinese language speakers there, particularly the elderly, do not speak standard Mandarin very well. This situation appears to be changing, though, especially in large urban centers, as social changes, migrations, and urbanization take place. In the predominantly Han areas in Mainland China, the interaction between standard Mandarin and the local Chinese dialects has generally not been controversial. Although the use of standard Mandarin is encouraged as the common working language, the People's Republic of China has attempted to be sensitive to the status of local dialects and has not discouraged their use. One example of this is Mao Zedong himself, who often spoke in Xiang, a category of Chinese that does not even fall within the wider category of regional Mandarin dialects. Many native speakers of Chinese find Mao's spoken language to be largely incomprehensible, even when speaking in formal occasions. Standard Mandarin, however, is used very commonly for logistical reasons in that it is often the only means of communications between people from different areas. In many parts of southern China, the linguistic diversity is so large that even people from neighboring cities find it difficult to talk to each other in the local form of Chinese, thereby requiring the use of a lingua franca such as standard Mandarin. Curiously the use of standard Mandarin in the 20th century has supplanted the use of pidgin English which was used as a common language in some parts of southern China in the 18th and 19th century. In Taiwan, the relationship between standard Mandarin and local dialects, particularly Taiwanese has been more heated. Until the 1980s the government discouraged the use of Taiwanese and other vernaculars, even portraying them as inferior. This produced a backlash in the 1990s. Although some more extreme supporters of Taiwan independence tend to be opposed to standard Mandarin in favor of Taiwanese, efforts to replace standard Mandarin either with Taiwanese or with a multi-lingual standard have remained stalled. In Singapore, the government has heavily promoted a "Speak Mandarin" campaign to adopt a common language among its diverse Chinese population. The use of non-Mandarin dialects in broadcast media is prohibited and the use of dialect in any context is officially discouraged. This has led to some resentment, as Singapore's Chinese community is almost entirely of southern Chinese descent and thus considers Mandarin a foreign language. Note that while the term Hànyǔ (漢語; simplified: 汉语), or "the Han Chinese language", is sometimes used to refer to just standard Mandarin, it is more precisely used to refer to all variants of Chinese, since they are, after all, all spoken by Han Chinese. Some speakers of Hakka, for example, object that their own dialect should carry the name Hanyu, as its grammar is closer to that of ancient texts. See also:
- Commission on the Unification of Pronunciation
- Mandarin Promotion Council

Accents

Most Chinese (Beijingers included) speak Standard Mandarin with elements of their own dialects (i.e. their "accents") mixed in. For example, natives of Beijing, add a final "er" () — commonly used as a diminutive — sound to vocabulary items that other speakers would leave unadorned (兒音/儿音; pinyin: éryīn). On the other hand, speakers from northeastern or southern China as well as Taiwan often mix up zh ch sh and z c s, because their own home dialects often do not make these distinctions. See List of Chinese dialects for a list of articles on individual Chinese dialects and how their features differ from Standard Mandarin.

Role of standard Mandarin

From an official point of view, standard Mandarin is theoretically something like a lingua franca — a way for Han Chinese and non-Han ethnic groups speaking a wide variety of mutually unintelligible of languages to communicate with each other. The very name of "Putonghua", or "ordinary speech", reinforces this idea. In implementation, however, standard Mandarin is sometimes given the aura of the "only right language", and other languages or dialects, both Chinese and non-Chinese, have shown signs of greatly losing ground to standard Mandarin, to the chagrin of many local culture proponents. On Taiwan, Guoyu (national language) continues to be the official term for standard Mandarin. The term Guoyu is rarely used in Mainland China, because declaring a Beijing dialect based standard to be the national language would be deemed unfair to other Chinese dialects and ethnic minorities. The term Putonghua (ordinary speech), on the contrary, implies nothing more than the notion of a lingua franca. However, Guoyu does persist among many older Mainland Chinese, and it is common in U.S. Chinese communities, even among Mainlanders. Some in Taiwan, especially proponents of Taiwan independence, also object to the term Guoyu to refer to standardized Mandarin, on the grounds that the "nation" referred to in the name of the language is China and that Taiwan is or should be independent. They prefer to refer to Mandarin with the terms "Beijing dialect" or Zhongwen (writing of China). As with most things political in Taiwan, some support the name for precisely the same reasons that others oppose them. In December 2004, the first survey of language use in the People's Republic of China revealed that only 53% of its population could communicate in Standard Mandarin. [http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/26/content_403419.htm (China Daily)]

External links

Bibliography

- Ladefoged, Peter; & Maddieson, Ian. (1996). The sounds of the world's languages. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. ISBN 0-631-19814-8 (hbk); ISBN 0-631-19815-6 (pbk).
- Ladefoged, Peter; & Wu, Zhongji. (1984). Places of articulation: An investigation of Pekingese fricatives and affricates. Journal of Phonetics, 12, 267-278. Category:Chinese language Category:Languages of Singapore Category:Tonal languages category:Mandarin (linguistics) Category:December 2004 news ja:普通話 simple:Mandarin language th:ภาษาจีนกลาง zh-cn:普通话 zh-tw:普通話

Pinyin

Pinyin (Chinese: 拼音, pīnyīn) literally means "join (together) sounds" (a less literal translation being "phoneticize", "spell" or "transcription") in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: "Han language pinyin"), which is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin. Pinyin was approved in 1958 and adopted in 1979 by the government in the People's Republic of China. It superseded older transcriptions like the Wade-Giles system (1859; modified 1912) or Bopomofo. Similar systems have been designed for other Chinese spoken variants and non-Han minority languages in the PRC. Since then, pinyin has been accepted by the Government of Singapore, the Library of Congress, the American Library Association, and most international institutions as the preferred transcription system for Mandarin. In 1979 the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) adopted pinyin as the standard romanization for modern Chinese. It is important to maintain the distinction that pinyin is a romanization and not an anglicization; that is, it is equally applicable for transcription into any language that uses a Roman alphabet, but that the precise pronunciation need not match that of any of these languages. For example, the sounds indicated in pinyin by b and p are distinguished from each other (by aspiration) in a manner different from that of both English (which has voicing and aspiration) and of French (which has voicing alone). Other letters, like j or q indicate a combination of sounds that do not correspond to any exact sound in English. Some of the transcriptions in pinyin such as the ang ending, do not correspond to English pronunciations, either. Pinyin has also become a useful tool for entering Chinese language text into computers.

Pronunciation

The primary purpose of pinyin in Chinese schools is to teach Mandarin pronunciation. Many in the West are under the mistaken belief that pinyin is used to help children associate characters with spoken words which they already know, but this is incorrect as many Chinese do not use Mandarin at home, and therefore do not know the Mandarin pronunciation of words until they learn them in elementary school through the use of pinyin. Pinyin uses the Roman alphabet, hence the pronunciation is relatively straightforward for Westerners. A pitfall for English-speaking novices is, however, the unusual pronunciation x, q, c and z (and sometimes i) and the unvoiced pronunciation of d, b, g, j. More information on the pronunciation of all pinyin letters in terms of English approximations is given further below. The pronunciation of Chinese is generally given in terms of initials and finals, which represent the segmental phonemic portion of the language. Initials are initial consonants, while finals are all possible combinations of medials (semivowels coming before the vowel), the nucleus vowel, and coda (final vowel or consonant).

Initials

In each cell below, the first line indicates IPA, the second indicates pinyin. ^- and are interchangeable.

Finals

In each cell below, the first line indicates IPA, the second indicates pinyin for a standalone (no-initial) form, and the third indicates pinyin for a combination with an initial. Other than finals modified by an -r, which are omitted, the following is an exhaustive table of all possible finals. ¹ It is of interest to point out that the only syllable-final consonants in standard Mandarin are -n and -ng, and -r which is attached as a grammatical suffix. If you see a Chinese syllable ending with any other consonant, it is either a dialect (notably Cantonese), or a non-Pinyin Romanization system (where final consonants are used to indicate tones) is being used. ¹ /ər/ (而, 二, etc.) is written as er. For other finals formed by the suffix -r, pinyin does not use special orthography; one simply appends -r to the final that it is added to, without regard for any sound changes that may take place along the way. For information on sound changes related to final -r, please see Standard Mandarin.
² "ü" is written as "u" after j, q, or x.
³ "uo" is written as "o" after b, p, m, or f.
⁴ It is pronounced when it follows an initial, and pinyin reflects this difference.
In addition, ê is used to represent certain interjections.

Rules given in terms of English pronunciation

All rules given here in terms of English pronunciation are approximate.

Pronunciation of initials

Pronunciation of finals

The following is an exhaustive list of all finals, with or without final -r. To find the pronunciation of a final: #Look for the entire combination rather than the individual letters. For example, look for ian, not i + a + n. #For syllables starting with y- or w-, change the y- to i- and w- to u-, then take the i- and u- as part of the final. (E.g. yan -> ian, where "ian" is the final.) If this results in ii-, uu-, and iu-, change those to i-, u-, and ü- respectively. (E.g. yin -> in, wu -> u, yue -> üe) #If the initial is j-, q-, and x-, and the final starts with -u-, then change the -u- to -ü-.

Orthographic features

Pinyin differs from other romanizations in several aspects, such as:
- w is placed before syllables starting with u.
- y is placed before syllables starting with i and ü.
- ü is written as u when there is no ambiguity (such as ju, qu, and xu), but written as ü when there are corresponding u syllables (such as lü and nü)
- When preceded by a consonant, iou, uei, and uen are simplified as iu, ui, and un (which do not represent the actual pronunciation).
- Like zhuyin, what are actually pronounced as buo, puo, muo, and fuo are given a separate representation: bo, po, mo, and fo.
- The apostrophe (') is used before ɑ, o, and e to separate syllables in a word where ambiguity could arise, e.g., pi'ao (皮襖) vs. piao (票), and Xi'an (西安) vs. xian (先).
- Eh! alone is written as ê; elsewhere as e. Schwa is always written as e.
- zh, ch, and sh can be abbreviated as ẑ, ĉ, and ŝ. However, the shorthands are rarely used due to difficulty of entering them on computers.
- ng has the uncommon shorthand of ŋ.

Tones

ŋ The Pinyin system also incorporates suprasegmental phonemes to represent the four tones of Mandarin. Each tone is indicated by a diacritical mark above a non-medial vowel. Many books printed in China mix fonts, with vowels with tone marks rendered in a different font than the surrounding text, a practice that tends to give such Pinyin texts a typographically ungainly appearance. This style, most likely rooted in early technical limitations, has led many to believe that Pinyin's rules call for this practice and also for the use of "" (with no curl over the top) rather than the standard style of the letter "a" found in most fonts. The official rules of Hanyu Pinyin, however, specify no such practice. Note that tone marks can also appear on consonants in certain vowelless exclamations. # The first tone is represented by a macron (ˉ) added to the pinyin vowel: #:
# The second tone is denoted by an acute accent (ˊ): #:
# The third tone is symbolized by a caron (ˇ, also known as a reverse circumflex). Note, it is officially not a breve (˘, lacking a downward angle), although this misuse is somewhat common on the Internet. #:
# The fourth tone is represented by a grave accent (ˋ): #:
# The fifth or neutral tone is represented by a normal vowel without any accent mark: #:

:(In some cases, this is also written with a dot before the syllable; for example, ·ma.) Since most computer fonts do not contain the macron or caron accents, a common convention is to postfix the individual syllables with a digit representing their tone (e.g., "tóng" (tong with the rising tone) is written "tong2"). The digit is numbered as the order listed above, except the "fifth tone", which, in addition to being numbered 5, is also either not numbered or numbered zero, as in ma0 (吗/嗎, an interrogative marker). These tone marks normally are only used in Mandarin textbooks or in foreign learning texts, but they are essential for correct pronunciation of Mandarin syllables, as exemplified by the following classical example of five characters whose pronunciations differ only in their tones: The words are "mother", "hemp", "horse", "admonish" and a question particle, respectively.

Rules for placing the tone mark

The rules for determining on which vowel the tone mark appears are as follows: # If there is more than one vowel and the first vowel is i, u, or ü, then the tone mark appears on the second vowel. # In all other cases, the tone mark appears on the first vowel (y and w are not considered vowels for these rules.) The reasoning behind these rules is in the case of diphthongs and triphthongs, i, u, and ü (and their orthographic equivalents y and w when there is no initial consonant) are considered medial glides rather than part of the syllable nucleus in Chinese phonology. The rules ensure that the tone mark always appears on the nucleus of a syllable.

Miscellanea

An umlaut is placed over the letter u when it occurs after the initials l and n in order to represent the sound [y]. This is necessary in order to distinguish the front high rounded vowel in lü (e.g. 驴/驢 donkey) from the back high rounded vowel in lu (e.g. 炉/爐 oven). Tonal markers are added on top of the umlaut, as in lǘ. However, the ü is not used in other contexts where it represents a front high rounded vowel, namely after the letters j, q, x and y. For example, the sound of the word 鱼/魚 (fish) is transcribed in pinyin simply as yú, not as yǘ. This practice is opposed to Wade-Giles, which always uses ü, and Tongyong Pinyin, which always uses yu. Whereas Wade-Giles needs to use the umlaut to distinguish between chü (pinyin ju) and chu (pinyin zhu), this ambiguity cannot arise with pinyin, so the more convenient form ju is used instead of jü. Genuine ambiguities only happen with nu/nü and lu/lü, which are then distinguished by an umlaut diacritic. Many fonts or output methods do not support an umlaut for ü or cannot place tone marks on top of ü. Likewise, using ü in input methods is difficult because it is not present as a simple key on many keyboard layouts. For these reasons v is sometimes used instead by convention. Occasionally, uu (double u) or U (capital u) is used in its place. See also:
- Postal System Pinyin (unrelated)
- Combining diacritic marks Unicode #U0300

Pinyin in Taiwan

The Republic of China on Taiwan is in the process of adopting a modified version of pinyin (currently Tongyong Pinyin). For elementary education it has used zhuyin (also known as bopomofo), and for romanization there is no standard system in general use in Taiwan despite many efforts to standardize on one system. In the late-1990s, the government of Taiwan formally decided to move from zhuyin to pinyin. This has triggered a very heated discussion of which pinyin system to use: hanyu pinyin of People's Republic of China or some other system. Much of the controversy centers on issues of national identity because of political interests. Proponents for adopting pinyin maintain that it is an international standard that is already used throughout the world. Proponents for adopting a new system maintain that Taiwan should have its own identity and culture separate from the People's Republic of China. A new system Tongyong Pinyin was created in Taiwan in 1998. Tongyong Pinyin is mostly similar to Hanyu Pinyin with a number of changes in the letters and digraphs representing certain sounds. In October 2002, the ROC government adopted Tongyong Pinyin through an administrative order that local governments can override. Localities with governments controlled by the Kuomintang, most notably Taipei City, have overridden the order and converted to Hanyu Pinyin (although with a slightly different capitialization convention than the Mainland). As a result, English signs have inconsistent romanization in Taiwan, with many places using Tongyong Pinyin but some using Hanyu Pinyin, and still others not yet having had the resources to replace older Wade-Giles or MPS2 signage. This has resulted in the odd situation in Taipei City in which inconsistent pinyin are shown in freeway directions, with freeway signs, which are under the control of the national government, using one pinyin, but surface street signs, which are under the control of the city government, using the other. As of 2003, no form of pinyin is used in elementary education on Taiwan to teach pronunciation. Although the ROC government has stated the desire to use romanization rather than zhuyin in education, the lack of agreement on which form of pinyin to use and the huge logistical challenge of teacher training has stalled these efforts.

Other languages

Pinyin-like systems have been devised for other variants of Chinese. Guangdong Romanization is a set of romanizations devised by the government of Guangdong province for Cantonese, Teochew, Hakka (Moiyen dialect), and Hainanese. All of these are designed to use letters in a similar way to Pinyin. In addition, in accordance to the "Regulation of Phonetic Transcription in Hanyu Pinyin Letters of Place Names in Minority Nationality Languages" (《少数民族语地名汉语拼音字母音译转写法》) promulgated in 1976, place names in non-Chinese languages like Mongol, Uyghur, and Tibetan are also officially transcribed using Pinyin. The pinyin letters (26 Roman letters, ü, and ê) are used to approximate the non-Chinese language in question as closely as possible. This results in spellings that are different from both the customary spelling of the place name, and the Pinyin spelling of the name in Chinese:

Controversy

Debate continues about the actual suitability of pinyin as a Chinese romanization method. This argument revolves around pinyin's unconventional use of Roman letters, of which the phonological values of some phonemes are quite different from that of most languages utilizing the Roman alphabet. Some sinologists praise this as pinyin's flexibility in that it allows the entire Roman alphabet to be adapted to the Chinese sound system (compared to Wade-Giles, which leaves out or underuses many letters). Others point out that pinyin letter values are so unconventional that for a person unfamiliar with Chinese, they result in a larger number of mispronunciations when compared to Wade-Giles. However, as not only the PRC but by now most institutions and publications have adopted it, the debate seems increasingly obsolete. Pinyin, like all systems of romanization, has certain limitations that users should be aware of:
- Like the spelling systems of any other language, pinyin does not represent English pronunciation and should not be pronounced according to English conventions. Readers are advised to learn pinyin phonetic conventions, bearing in mind that many sounds have no equivalents in English.
- Chinese characters can indicate semantic cues. But since pinyin is based on the sounds of Mandarin alone, these semantic cues are no longer preserved. For speakers of other Chinese spoken variants, it becomes unsuitable for use in reading and writing because these sounds do not necessarily correspond to their speech.
- The phonotactics of spoken Mandarin dictate a relatively small set of possible syllables and there is a potential for homonyms. Because of this, pinyin can be ambiguous, especially when transcribing Standard Written Chinese, which uses formal constructions not often found in speech. However, this should not be an issue in the transcription of normal spoken Mandarin conversation since speakers would not use such ambiguous constructions in speech. Computer systems long provided the most convincing argument in favor of pinyin; early computers were able to display nothing but 7-bit ASCII (essentially the 26 letters, the 10 digits, and a handful of punctuation marks). Most contemporary computer systems are now able to readily display characters from not only Chinese, but from many other writing systems as well. In addition, multiple input method editors exist that use standard keyboards to type them (pinyin being one such method). Now, PDAs and digitizing tablets allow users to write characters with a stylus, which can then be stored and edited like any text. Thus, this justification is no longer as strong as it used to be. Nonetheless, pinyin has gained wide acceptance, and supporters believe it is useful for students of Chinese as a second language.

Reference

Yin Binyong 尹斌庸, Mary Felley: Chinese Romanization. Pronunciation and Orthography (Hanyu pinyin he zhengcifa 汉语拼音和正词法; Sinolingua, Beijing 1990), ISBN 7-80052-148-6 / ISBN 0-8351-1930-0.

External links

Auto-converters

- [http://www.chinese-tools.com/tools/annotation.html Chinese characters to Pinyin (with tone marks and English meaning)]
- [http://www.pinyin.info/unicode/marks3.html Pinyin with tone numbers to Pinyin with tone marks] (can handle 5 for neutral tone)
- [http://www.foolsworkshop.com/ptou/index.html Pinyin with tone numbers to Pinyin with tone marks]
- [http://www.rikai.com/perl/HomePage.pl?Language=Zh Rikai.com] A web-mediator that adds mouseover pinyin readings to Chinese web-pages.
- [http://www.mandarintools.com/dimsum.html DimSum Chinese Reading Assistant] Add pinyin (or bopomofo, etc.) to text, web pages, or RTF files. Includes dictionary, flashcards.

Other

- [http://www.pinyin.info/ Pinyin.info] — very complete explanation of Unicode pinyin.
- [http://www.pinyin.info/unicode/unicode_test.html Pinyin info Unicode testpage]
- [http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/read.shtml Read/Write using Unicode]
- [http://research.chtsai.org/papers/pinyin-comparison.html Tongyong and Hanyu Pinyin]
- [http://www.sinosplice.com/lang/pronunciation.html Sinosplice - Pronunciation of Mandarin Chinese]
- [http://www.fdicts.com/dictlist1.php?k1=126 Fdicts] Simplified Chinese Dictionary
- [http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php MDBG free online Chinese-English dictionary]
- [http://www.mandarintools.com/pyconverter.html Chinese Romanization Converter] - Convert between Hanyu Pinyin, Wade-Giles, Gwoyeu Romatzyh, and other common Romanization systems. Category:Chinese language romanization Category:Latin-derived alphabets Category:Mandarin terms ko:병음 ja:ピン音 th:พินอิน

Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (Traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國香港特別行政區; Simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国香港特别行政区 pronunciation), is a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It is located on the southeastern coast of China. Hong Kong (also known as Hongkong, which was common in older texts) has one of the world's most liberal economies and is a major international centre of finance and trade. A former British colony now administered by the PRC under the "one country, two systems" policy, Hong Kong is constitutionally entitled to a relatively high degree of autonomy; for example, it retains its own legal system, currency, customs, treaty negotiating rights, such as air traffic and aircraft landing rights, and immigration laws. Hong Kong even maintains its own road rules, with traffic continuing to drive on the left. Only national defence and diplomatic relations are responsibilities of the central government in Beijing. Despite Hong Kong's reversion from British to Chinese rule, the region's English name remains "Hong Kong" (the pronunciation in the local Cantonese language), and not, as some sources suggest, Xianggang (the Mandarin Chinese equivalent).

History

Even though Hong Kong has been occupied since the Neolithic Age, the area now known as Hong Kong only began to attract the attention of China and the rest of the world in the 19th century when it was ceded to Britain after the Opium Wars. Hong Kong was first visited by a European in 1513, the Portuguese mariner Jorge Álvares. Álvares began trading with the Chinese, and the Portuguese continued to make periodic trade stops at various locations up and down the coast. Kowloon Peninsula south of Boundary Street and Stonecutter's Island were ceded to the British in 1860 under the Convention of Peking after the Second Opium War. Various adjacent lands, known as the New Territories (including New Kowloon and Lantau Island), were then leased by Britain for 99 years, beginning on 1 July 1898 and ending on 30 June 1997. Hong Kong became a crown colony in 1843. For the first twenty years there was little contact between the European and Chinese communities. The first specially recruited Hong Kong civil servants to be taught Cantonese were recruited in 1862, markedly improving relations. Cantonese with the raising of the Union Flag and the Flag of the Republic of China.]] Tea, silk, and other Asian luxury goods were introduced in Europe by the Portuguese, and by the mid-18th century, these items were in high demand, particularly tea. The British, challenging China's near monopoly on the tea industry, invaded China, winning the First Opium War in 1841. During the war, Hong Kong Island was first occupied by the British, and was formally ceded by the Qing Dynasty of China in 1842 under the Treaty of Nanking. Hong Kong entered a dark age during the Japanese Occupation of World War II, which lasted for three years and eight months. Many Hong Kong people were executed by the Japanese army during the war. The Japanese subsequently surrendered on 15 August 1945. The port was quickly re-opened and welcomed a mass migration of Chinese refugees in 1949 from the civil war and the new Communist government in China. Hong Kong had been a trade port ever since the British occupation, but its position as an entrepot declined greatly after the United Nations ordered a trade embargo against the People's Republic of China as a result of the Korean War. In response, a textile industry was established, taking advantage of the new pool of workers from China who were willing to work for almost any wage. During this period, the economy grew extremely rapidly. Towards the 1970s, Hong Kong began to move away from the textile industry and develop its financial and banking economy. This led to even greater growth, and Hong Kong quickly became one of the wealthiest territories in the world. Its position as an entrepot was restrengthened since the Open Door Policy was adopted in the PRC in the late 1970s under Deng Xiaoping. In the 1980s, with the lease on the New Territories running out, the British government of Margaret Thatcher decided to negotiate the question of the sovereignty of Hong Kong. Although the British would have been legally required to transfer only the New Territories to the PRC, Whitehall decided that maintaining a rump colony would not be worthwhile - the majority of Hong Kong's land was in the New Territories, and failure to return the entire colony would doubtless have generated political friction between the UK and PRC. Pursuant to an agreement known as the Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed by the People's Republic of China and the United Kingdom on 19 December 1984, the whole territory of Hong Kong under British colonial rule became the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the PRC on 1 July 1997. In the Joint Declaration, the PRC promised that under the "One Country, Two Systems" policy proposed by Deng Xiaoping, the socialist economic system in mainland China would not be practised in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong's previous capitalist system and life-style would remain unchanged for 50 years, or until 2047. Hong Kong would enjoy a high degree of autonomy in all matters except diplomatic affairs and national defence. Hong Kong was transferred to the PRC at the stroke of midnight on 1 July 1997, with the last governor, Chris Patten leaving on the royal yacht. The handover coincided with the large scale collapse of land values in Hong Kong, greatly damaging the bubble economy, as part of the Asian financial crisis. The land values fell in some areas by over half, and the Hang Seng Index fell by over 1,500 points on 28 October, losing 22.8 % of its value in a week. Exacerbating the region's economic problems, Hong Kong was hit badly by the SARS virus in the summer of 2003, especially in the effect that it had on travel to and from Hong Kong. On 1 July the same year, half a million people marched in the largest protest rally ever aimed at the government of Hong Kong, voicing concerns about a proposed anti-subversion bill that would have eroded freedom of the press, of religion and of association arising from Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, as well as dissatisfaction with the poor state of the economy. Regina Ip, then Secretary for Security, and Anthony Leung, then Financial Secretary, were forced to leave office in 2003 under public pressure. On 10 March 2005, Tung Chee Hwa submitted his resignation as chief executive of Hong Kong. Donald Tsang, the Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong, served as Acting Chief Executive until 25 May, when he, too, resigned from his post to take part in the campaign for the new Chief Executive election. Following an interim government headed by Henry Tang, Tsang was eventually elected as Chief Executive.

Politics and government

Henry Tang.]] Henry Tang, and other protesters demand release of Aung San Suu Kyi. The Public Order Ordinance requires police permission to hold a demonstration of more than 30 participants.]] The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is headed by its Chief Executive, the head of government. This office is currently held by Donald Tsang, who was elected on 16 June 2005. Tsang had held the post of Chief Secretary for Administration prior. Donald Tsang assumed his post on 24 June 2005 in Beijing, China; he will finish the remaining portion of Tung Chee Hwa's last term which ends on 30 June 2007, according to the interpretation of Annex I and Article 46 by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. The election of a new Chief Executive by the 800-member Election Committee was expected to be held on 10 July 2005. On 16 June 2005, Donald Tsang was acclaimed the winner, as the only candidate securing the required 100 nominations from members of the election committee. Tung Chee Hwa, the first Chief Executive, assumed office on 1 July 1997, following his election by a 400-member electoral college. For the second five-year term of the Chief Executive which began in July 2002, Tung was the only nominated candidate and therefore acclaimed. The PRC set up a Provisional Legislative Council (PLC) just before the handover, and moved to Hong Kong to have its meetings after the handover. It reverted some laws passed by the original Legislative Council, which was formed by means of universal suffrage. The PLC passed some of its own laws, such as the Public Order Ordinance , which required permission from police to hold a demonstration where the number of people who participates exceeds 30. Legislative Council elections were held on 24 May 1998, 10 September 2000, and again on 12 September 2004, with the next election scheduled for 2008. According to the Basic Law, Hong Kong's "mini-constitution", the present third term of the Legislative Council has 30 seats directly elected from geographical constituencies, and 30 seats elected from functional constituencies. The 1998, 2000 and 2004 Legislative Council elections were seen as free, open, and widely contested, despite discontent among mainly 'pro-democratic' politicians, who contended that the functional constituency elections and the Election Committee elections (for 1998 and 2000) were undemocratic, as they consider that the electorate for these seats is too narrow. The civil service of Hong Kong maintains its quality and neutrality, operating without discernible direction from Beijing. Many government and administrative operations are located in Central on Hong Kong Island near the historical location of Victoria City, the site of the original British settlements. The Right of abode issue sparked debates in 1999, while the controversy over Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 was the focus of politics in Hong Kong between 2002 and 2003, culminating in a peaceful mass demonstration (over 500,000 demonstrators) on 1 July 2003, after which the government still tried to pass the law to the Legislative Council. But one of the major pro-government parties refused to vote for passing the bill. Thus the government found that the bill could not be passed. So it shelved the drafted law brought forth by Article 23. The focus of controversies shifted to the issue of universal suffrage towards the end of 2003 and in 2004, which was the slogan of another peaceful mass demonstration on 1 July 2004. On 24 September 2005, twenty-five Hong Kong pro-democracy Legco members, some of whom were previously labelled as traitors by Beijing after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and barred from entering the mainland, crossed the border into the southern province of Guangdong, following an unprecedented invitation by the PRC . The invitation was generally regarded as one of the greatest goodwill gestures from the PRC to the Hong Kong democrats since the Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989. On 4 December 2005, a demonstration was organised by the Civil Human Rights Front and pro-democracy lawmakers to express concerns about the lack of a working timetable that will allow for universal suffrage in the 2007 and 2008 elections for the Chief Executive and the Legistlative Council respectively. The turnout was reported to be 63,000 by the police, and at least 250,000 by the organisers.

Legal system and judiciary

pro-democracy.]] In contrast to mainland China's civil law system, Hong Kong continues to follow the common law tradition established by British colonial rule. Article 84 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong allows Hong Kong's courts to refer to decisions (precedents) rendered by courts of foreign jurisdictions and to invite foreign judges to participate in proceedings of Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal. Structurally, Hong Kong's court system consists of the Court of Final Appeal which replaced the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the High Court, which is made up of the Court of Appeal and the Court of First Instance, and the District Court, which includes the Family Court. Other adjudicative bodies include the Lands Tribunal, the Magistrates' Courts, the Juvenile Court, the Coroner's Court, the Labour Tribunal, the Small Claims Tribunal, and the Obscene Articles Tribunal, which is responsible for classifying non-video pornography to be circulated in Hong Kong. Justices of the Court of Final Appeal are appointed by Hong Kong's Chief Executive. The Basic Law of Hong Kong is subject to interpretation by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and this power has been invoked three times: the right of abode issue, an interpretation regarding post-2008 election procedures, and an interpretation regarding the length of the term of the Chief Executive. As in England, lawyers in Hong Kong are classified as barristers and solicitors, where one can choose to practice as either one but not both (but it is possible to switch from one to the other). The vast majority of lawyers are solicitors who are licensed and regulated by the Law Society of Hong Kong. Barristers, on the other hand, are licensed and regulated by the Hong Kong Bar Association. Only barristers are allowed to appear in the Court of Final Appeal and the High Court. Just as the common law system is maintained, so are British courtroom customs such as the wearing of robes and wigs by both judges and lawyers.

Geography

lawyers Hong Kong consists of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories. The Kowloon Peninsula is attached to the New Territories in the north, and the New Territories are in turn connected to mainland China across the Sham Chun River (Shenzhen River). In total, Hong Kong has 236 islands in the South China Sea, of which Lantau is the largest. Hong Kong Island itself is the second largest and also the most populated. Ap Lei Chau is the most densely populated island in the world. The name "Hong Kong", literally meaning "fragrant harbour", is derived from the area around present-day Aberdeen and Wong Chuk Hang on Hong Kong Island, where fragrant trees were once abundant and exported from. The body of water between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula is Victoria Harbour, one of the deepest maritime ports in the world. The landscape of Hong Kong is fairly hilly to mountainous with steep slopes. The highest point in the territory is Tai Mo Shan, at a height of 958 metres. Lowlands exist in the northwestern part of the New Territories. Hong Kong is 60 km to the east of Macau on the opposite side of the Pearl River estuary. Hong Kong has a land border with the Chinese city of Shenzhen to the north. Of the territory's 1,102 km² and nearly 7 million residents, less than 25% of it is developed and most live and work in high-rise building. The remaining land is remarkably green and reserved as country parks and nature reserves. Hong Kong's climate is subtropical and prone to monsoons. It is cool and dry in the wintertime which lasts from around January to March, and is hot, humid and rainy from spring through summer. It is warm, sunny, and dry in autumn. Hong Kong occasionally has typhoons. The ecology of Hong Kong is mostly affected by the results of climatic changes. Hong Kong's climate is seasonal due to alternating wind direction between winter and summer. Hong Kong has been geologically stable for millions of years. However, flora and fauna in Hong Kong are altered by climatic change, sea level alternation and human impact. The highest recorded temperature in Hong Kong is 40 degrees Celsius while the lowest recorded temperature is 0 degrees. The average temperature in the coldest month, February, is 16 degrees while the average temperature in the hottest month, July, is 28 degrees. Hong Kong's climate is subtropical but half of the year is temperate. The territory is situated south of the Tropic of Cancer which is equatable to Hawaii in latitude. In winter, strong and cold winds generate from the north and cool the city; in the summer, the wind's direction reverses and brings the warm and humid air in from the south. This climate can support a tropical rainforest.

Administrative divisions

tropical rainforest Hong Kong consists of 18 administrative districts:
# Islands # Kwai Tsing (Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi) # North # Sai Kung # Sha Tin # Tai Po # Tsuen Wan # Tuen Mun # Yuen Long # Kowloon City # Kwun Tong # Sham Shui Po # Wong Tai Sin # Yau Tsim Mong (Yau Ma Tei, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok) # Central and Western # Eastern # Southern # Wan Chai

Economy

Wan Chai houses offices and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.]] Hong Kong Stock Exchange 1997 after the real estate bubble economy collapsed, severely damaging the economy.]] Hong Kong has one of the least restricted economies in world and is basically duty-free. It is the world's 10th largest trading entity and 11th largest banking centre. The dominant presence of international trade is reflected in the number of consulates located in the territory: As of June 2005, Hong Kong had 107 consulates and consulates-general, more than any other city in the world. Even New York City, host of the United Nations, only has 93 consulates. The objective of Hong Kong's monetary policy is to maintain currency stability. Given the highly externally oriented nature of the economy, this objective was further defined as a stable external value for the Hong Kong dollar in terms of a linked exchange rate against the US dollar at the rate of HK$7.80 to one United States dollar until 2005, when it was allowed to trade within a band of HK$7.75-$7.85. Hong Kong has limited natural resources, and most food and raw materials must be imported. In fact, imports and exports (including re-exports) exceed the GDP of Hong Kong. Hong Kong has extensive trade and investment ties with the People's Republic of China which existed even before the handover on 1 July 1997. These ties and its autonomous status enable it to be the middleman between the Republic of China on Taiwan and the mainland. Flights, investment, and trade from Taiwan go through Hong Kong to get to the mainland. The service sector represented 86.5 % of the GDP in 2001. The territory, with a highly sophisticated banking sector and good communication links, hosts the Asian headquarters of many multinational corporations. At USD 24,080 in 2004, the nominal per capita GDP of Hong Kong is somewhat lower than that of the four big economies of western Europe. However, it would be ranked 11th in terms of per capita GDP (PPP) in the world (USD 32,292), which is even higher than Japan (USD 31,384), making Hong Kong one of the richest territorial regions in Asia. Growth averaged a strong 8.9% per annum in real terms in the 1970s and 7.2% p.a. in the 1980s. As the economy shifted to services (manufacturing currently accounts for just 4% of GDP), growth slowed to 2.7% p.a. in the 1990s, including a 5.3% decline in 1998, due to the Asian financial crisis' impact on demand in the region. Growth since 2000 has averaged 5.2% p.a. amid strong deflation. The economy rebounded rapidly, growing by 10 % in 2000. A world-wide global downturn and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak reduced economic growth to 2.3 % in 2002. Thereafter, a boom in tourism from the mainland because of China's easing of travel restrictions, a return of consumer confidence, and a solid rise in exports resulted in the resumption of strong growth in late 2003 and 2004, with growth averaging 6.5% in the first half of 2005. To further increase economic co-operation between Hong Kong and the mainland, the Individual Visit Scheme was started on 28 July 2003, which allows travellers from some cities in mainland China to visit Hong Kong without an accompanying tour group. As a result, the tourism industry in Hong Kong is booming due to an exponential increase in the number of visitors from mainland China. The upsurge is also boosted by the recent opening of Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. A revival in both external and domestic demand led to a strong upswing in growth in 2004, surging to 8.2 % for the year. The domestic sector completely shrugged off its earlier sluggishness, and the general weakness of the Hong Kong dollar, when included with the still modest cost and price pressures in Hong Kong, has resulted in a strengthening in Hong Kong's external price competitiveness. In addition, Hong Kong's 68-month-long deflationary spiral, the longest and highest deflation according to Guinness World Records, ended in mid-2004, with consumer price inflation hovering at near zero levels. Along with Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, ROC, Hong Kong's fast-paced industrialisation earned it a place as one of the four original East Asian Tigers.

Demographics

East Asian Tigerss intersperse throughout the pavement.]] The population of Hong Kong increased markedly during the 1990s, reaching 6.94 million in 2005. About 96 % of Hong Kong's population is Chinese, the majority of which are Cantonese. Groups such as the Hakka and Teochew are also substantial. Used in government matters, Cantonese is spoken by most of the local Chinese population at home and in the office, although English is also widely understood and spoken by more than one-third of the population. Since the Handover, a new group of immigrants from mainland China have increased the ethnic diversity of the Chinese population in the territory. The remaining 4 % of the population is composed of non-Chinese, who form a highly visible group, despite their small numbers. Among these is a significant South Asian population, which includes some of Hong Kong's wealthiest families. Some Nepalis residing in Hong Kong are Gurkhas, who chose to stay after their service to Britain, and their descendants. More than 15,000 Vietnamese, who came to Hong Kong as refugees, have become permanent residents, with the majority of whom surviving on casual work. Around 140,000 Filipinos work in Hong Kong as housekeepers, often known locally as amahs, or feiyungs, with other such workers coming from Thailand and Indonesia. On Sundays and public holidays, thousands of these workers, the majority of whom are women, gather in Central to socialise. There are also a number of Europeans, North Americans, Japanese, and Koreans, largely working in Hong Kong's financial sector. The top three sources of migration to Hong Kong are the Philippines (132,770), Indonesia (95,460), and the United States (31,330). Hong Kong is the fifth largest metropolitan area of the PRC by population. Considered as a dependency, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated countries/dependencies in the world, with an overall density of more than 6,200 people per km². Hong Kong has a fertility rate of .94 children per woman , one of the lowest in the world, and far below the 2.1 children per woman required to maintain an even population level. However, population is continuously growing due to immigration of about 45,000 people per year from mainland China. Despite the population density, Hong Kong was reported to be one of the greenest cities in Asia. The majority of people live in flats in high-rise buildings. The rest of the open spaces are often covered with parks, woods and shrubs. About 60 % of the land is designated as Country Parks and Nature Reserves. Hiking and camping are popular outdoor activities in Hong Kong's hilly country parks. The irregular and long coastline of Hong Kong also provides many bays and fine beaches for its inhabitants. Environmental concern and awareness is growing, however, as Hong Kong also ranks as one of the most (air-)polluted cities in the world. Estimates are that 70-80% of the city's air pollution comes from other parts of the Pearl River Delta.

Education

Pearl River Delta.]] A former British colony, Hong Kong's education system is based upon that of the United Kingdom, and in particular, the system used in England. In Hong Kong, there is a non-compulsory three-year kindergarten, which is followed by a compulsory six-year primary education, three-year junior secondary education, and a non-compulsory two-year senior secondary education leading to the Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examinations and a two-year matriculation course leading to the Hong Kong Advanced Level Examinations. There are also tertiary institutions offering various bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, other higher diplomas, and associate degree courses. In general, three types of comprehensive schools exist in Hong Kong. There are government schools, which are relatively rare, and subsidised schools (government-aided schools, grant schools), run by charitable (often Christian, but Buddhist, Taoist, Islamic and Confucian as well) organisations with government funding, to which most students go. Most private schools are run by Christian organisations as well; admissions are based more on academic merit than on financial resources. Outside this system are the schools under the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS) and private international schools, which provide an alternative to the high-pressured mainstream education in exchange for much higher tuition fees.

Culture

international school to the floating restaurant.]] Hong Kong is often described as a city where East meets West. This is reflected in all aspects of the culture, but especially in its shopping, nightlife, and dining. A popular destination for shoppers from around the world, Hong Kong has everything to offer from the latest European fashion to traditional Chinese wares. Malls, department stores, and designer boutiques offer an amazing contrast to the bustling open-air Stanley Market and Jade Market shopping areas. Every district in Hong Kong has old-fashioned stores that sell Chinese herbal medicine. The largest concentration of these shops is along Bonham Strand and Bonham Strand West in Sheung Wan, where all types of pills, plants, and dried animals are for sale. Hong Kong has an active nightlife centred around two major entertainment districts, Lan Kwai Fong (Central) and Wanchai. Both areas are frequented by expats and locals alike. For a more quiet evening, a trip to Victoria Peak offers a spectacular view of the city. There is also a promenade along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront, which is popular among young Chinese couples. Shopping, a form of entertainment for the people of Hong Kong, is even done at nightime as evident in the Temple Street Night Market. The city's cosmopolitan flavour can also be seen in the wide variety of cuisines available. While different varieties of Chinese selections, especially seafood, are most popular, there also many European, American, Japanese, Korean, and other restaurants. Ethnic dishes served in cha chaan teng and dai pai dong are also popular. The people of Hong Kong take their food seriously and many top chefs make their way to the city to show off their talents to these discriminating diners. The world famous Hong Kong International Dragonboat Festival, now known as the Circus Capital Stanley Dragon Boat Championships, is a celebration of community that is televised globally.

Religion

celebration]] Hong Kong enjoys a high degree of religious freedom, a right enshrined and protected through its constitutional document, the Basic Law. The majority of Hong Kong's population practices ancestor worship due to the strong Confucian influence. A sizable Christian community of around 500,000 exists, forming about 10% of the total population; roughly equally divided between Catholics and Protestants. There are also followers of Buddism or Taoism. There are also estimated 70,000 Muslims, between 2,000 and 3,000 Jews, and a few Hindus; Sikhs and Bahá'ís are also represented. Apart from offering religious instructions, many major religious bodies have established schools and provided social welfare facilities. Hong Kong's religious beliefs are tied to the region's early role as a fishing community. Tin Hau, the protector of seafarers, has been honoured with several temples throughout Hong Kong for at least 300 years. Hung Shing, another protector of seafarers, has also been honoured for centuries. Hong Kongers, especially elder generations, go to Taoist or Buddhist temples to appease the deities and, usually, to ask for compassion or good fortune. Gifts of food, and in particular fruit, are presented, and incense and paper offerings are burnt in respect. With the transfer of Hong Kong to the PRC, there was significant concerns over religious freedom in Hong Kong. So far, this has proved mostly unfounded - despite the banning of the Falun Gong sect by Beijing in 1999, adherents are still free to practice in Hong Kong. Similarly, the Catholic Church is free to appoint its own bishops in Hong Kong, unlike on mainland China, where the only approved 'Catholic' institution is the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, which bishops and priests are appointed by Beijing (though there is also an unofficial and illegal part of the Catholic church that maintains contact with the Vatican). A significant issue in the normalisation of ties between the PRC and the Vatican is Beijing's insistence that the Vatican drops its diplomatic ties with the ROC. Although freedom of religion remains true in Hong Kong, it remains a volatile issue for many, as any threat will have lasting implications for the perceived freedoms in Hong Kong.

Architecture

ROC Due to the creative destruction so endemic to Hong Kong over the past 50 years, few historical buildings remain in Hong Kong. Instead the city has become a centre for modern architecture, especially in and around Central. The tall business buildings of Central comprise the skyline along the coast of the Victoria Harbour, which is one of Hong Kong's famous tourist attractions. In Kowloon, which once included the anarchistic settlement called the Kowloon Walled City, strict height restrictions were in force until Kai Tak Airport closed in 1998, but these restrictions have now been lifted, and several new skyscrapers in Kowloon are being planned. Hong Kong's best-known building is arguably Ieoh Ming Pei's Bank of China Tower, completed in 1990 (Foster's HSBC Headquarters is another contender). The building attracted heated controversy from the start, as its sharp angles were said to cast negative feng shui energy into the heart of Hong Kong. The two white aerials on top on the building were deemed inauspicious as two sticks of incense are burned for the dead. Predating the Bank of China Tower, there is the HSBC Headquarters Building, finished in 1985. This building is featured on many of Hong Kong's banknotes. It was built on the site of Hong Kong's first skyscraper, which was finished in 1935 and was the subject of a bitter heritage conservation struggle in the late 1970s. One of the largest construction projects in Hong Kong and the world was the new Hong Kong International Airport on Chek Lap Kok near Lantau, a huge land reclamation project linked to the centre of Hong Kong by the Lantau Link, which features three new major bridges: the world's sixth largest suspension bridge, Tsing Ma, the world's longest cable-stayed bridge carrying both road and railway traffic, Kap Shui Mun, and the world's first major 4-span cable-stayed bridge, Ting Kau.

Transport

Ting Kau Ting Kau at Wan Chai Pier bus terminus.]] Hong Kong has a highly developed and sophisticated transport network, encompassing both public and private transport. The Octopus card stored value smart card payment system can be used to pay for fares on almost all railways, buses and ferries in Hong Kong. Most parking meters in Hong Kong only accept payment by Octopus card, and Octopus card payment can be made at various carparks. Hong Kong Island is dominated by steep, hilly terrain, which required the development of unusual methods of transport up and down the slopes. In Central and Western district there is an extensive system of escalators and moving sidewalks, including the longest outdoor covered elevator system in the world, the Mid-levels Escalator. Hong Kong has several different modes of public rail transport. The two metro systems for the city are the MTR and KCR (KCR also operates a light rail system in northwest New Territories), which are operated by the MTR Corporation Limited and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation respectively. The tramway system covers a large area and is the only tram system in the world run exclusively with double deckers. Five separate companies operate franchised public bus services in Hong Kong. Double-decker buses were introduced to Hong Kong in 1949. They are now used almost exclusively in Hong Kong just as in London and Singapore. However, single-decker buses remain in use for routes with lower demand or roads with lower carrying capacity and are used exclusively in South Lantau. Most normal franchised bus routes in Hong Kong operate until midnight. Public light buses run the length and breadth of Hong Kong, through areas where standard bus lines cannot reach or do not reach as frequently, quickly, or directly. Taxis are also widely used throughout Hong Kong. 99% of taxis in Hong Kong run on liquefied petroleum gas, the rest are still diesel operated. Most ferry services are provided by licensed ferry operators, which serve outlying islands, new towns, and inner-Victoria Harbour. The two routes operated by the Star Ferry, operating for over 100 years, are franchised. Additionally, 78 "kai-to" ferries are licensed to serve remote coastal settlements. Hong Kong has one active international airport, known as Hong Kong International Airport located at Chek Lap Kok. This replaced the famous airport of the same name at Kai Tak in 1998. After dreadful delays in the cargo systems in the first few months, the airport now serves as a transport hub for Southeast Asia, and as the hub for Cathay Pacific Airways, Dragonair, Air Hong Kong and Hong Kong Express. Additionally, both Hong Kong International Airport and Cathay Pacific Airways have been voted best in the world, in the airport and airline criteria respectively, by Skytrax from 2001 to 2005. Hong Kong International Airport serves more than 36 million passengers in the year 2004. Access to the airport includes 'Airport Buses' or 'Airbuses', These services connect the airport to the rest of Hong Kong. The Airport Express zooms passengers to Central on Hong Kong Island in just 23 minutes. Recent opening of Sunny Bay Station of the MTR allows easy access to the Disneyland Resort.

Military

MTR entering Hong Kong for the first time in 1997.]] The PRC Central People's Government (CPG) assumed sovereignty over Hong Kong on 1 July 1997 and stationed a garrison of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to manage its defence affairs. Although the garrison has no military significance, the stationing of the PLA troops in the region is a significant symbol of the PRC government's resumption of sovereignty over Hong Kong. According the Basic Law, military forces stationed in Hong Kong shall not interfere with local affairs; Hong Kong government shall remain responsible for the maintenance of public order. The Hong Kong Garrison, composed of ground, naval, and air forces, is under the command of the Chinese Central Military Commission. The garrison subsequently opened the barracks on Stonecutters Island and Chek Chu to the public to promote understanding and trust between the troops and residents. Under British rule, ethnic Chinese Hongkongers were allowed to join the British defence forces. However, since the handover in 1997, they were no longer allowed to join the PLA.

International rankings

- A.T. Kearney/Foreign Policy Magazine: [http://www.atkearney.com/main.taf?p=5,4,1,116 Globalization Index 2005], not ranked out of 62 countries
- Heritage Foundation/The Wall Street Journal: [http://www.heritage.org/research/features/index/ 2005] Index of Economic Freedom, ranked 1st out of 155 countries, for 11 years in a row.
- IMD International: [http://www01.imd.ch/wcy/ World Competitiveness Yearbook 2005], ranked 2nd out of 60 economies (countries and regions)
- Reporters without borders: [http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=11715 Third annual worldwide press freedom index (2004)], ranked 34th out of 167 countries
- Save the Children: [http://www.savethechildren.org/mothers/report_2005/ State of the World's Mothers 2005], not ranked out of 110 countries
- Skyline: [http://www.emporis.com/en/bu/sk/st/sr/], ranked 1st out of all cities of the world
- The Economist: [http://www.economist.com/theworldin/international/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3372495&d=2005 The World in 2005 - Worldwide quality-of-life index, 2005], ranked 18th out of 111 countries
- Transparency International: [http://www.t

Special Administrative Region

:This article deals with the Special Administrative Regions set up by the People's Republic of China. For the historic special administrative region set up by the Republic of China when it administered the mainland, view this article. Not to be confused with Special Economic Zone. : For the administrative division of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, go here. A Special Administrative Region (SAR) (Simplified Chinese: 特别行政区; Traditional Chinese: 特別行政區; pinyin: tèbié xíngzhèngqū; Cantonese IPA: /tɐk⁶piːt⁶ hɐŋ⁴tsɪŋ³kʰɵy¹/; Jyutping: dak6bit6 hang4zing3keoi1; Yale: dahkbiht hàhngjingkeūi) is a political subdivision of the People's Republic of China. The PRC at present has two SARs, Hong Kong and Macau; each has a Chief Executive as head of government.

Current situation

Background

Article 31 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China authorizes the National People's Congress to create special administrative regions and to create a Basic Law which provides those regions with a high degree of autonomy, a separate political system and a capitalist economy under the principle of "one country, two systems" proposed by Deng Xiaoping.

High degree of autonomy

Currently, the two SARs of Hong Kong and Macau are responsible for all issues except acts of state like diplomatic relations and national defence: consequently, they have their own judiciaries and courts of final appeal, immigration policies, currencies and extradition processes. The pre-existing legal systems, namely common law in Hong Kong and Portuguese law in Macau, are preserved except consequential to establishment of courts of final appeal. With listed exceptions, national laws applying in the mainland do not apply in an SAR. These listed exceptions must involve diplomacy, national defence or something beyond the scope of the SAR's autonomy.

Suffrage in the National People's Congress

Like other administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong and Macau are represented in the National People's Congress, although suffrage is not well-defined and is not open to the general public. Interestingly their representation is not prescribed in the constitution of the PRC, unlike provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and the military do. Before they became Special Administrative Regions, they had representation in the NPC through Guangdong Province, but had no representation to the legislature of the United Kingdom and Portugal. (Macau residents who are holders of Portuguese passports can vote in Portugal.)

External affairs

Special Administrative Regions are empowered to contract a wide range of agreements with other countries and territories such as mutual abolition of visa requirement, mutual legal aid, extradition, handling of double taxation and others. In diplomatic talks involving an SAR, the SAR concerned may send officials to be part of the delegation.

Defence and military

The People's Liberation Army is garrisoned in both the SARs. The garrison and its members must obey all SAR laws as well as national laws applicable to them. They do not participate in the governance of the SAR but the SAR may send for them in times of emergency such as natural disasters. According to the basic laws, defence is the responsibility of the Central People's Government. There is no law providing for enrolment of Hong Kong and Macau residents in the forces during ordinary times, and no Hong Kong and Macau residents are currently enroled.

Immigration and nationality

Each of the SARs issue passports on its own, only to its permanent residents who are concurrently nationals of the PRC, that is, PRC nationals satisfying one of the following conditions:
- born in the SAR;
- born anywhere while either parent was a permanent resident of the SAR;
- resided continuously for seven or more years in the SAR. Apart from affording the holder consular protection by the People's Republic of China, these passports also specify that the holder has right of abode in the issuing SAR. The National People's Congress has also put each SAR in charge of administering the PRC's Nationality Law in its respective realms, namely naturalisation, renunciation and restoration of PRC nationality and issuance of proof of nationality.

Offer to Taiwan

The People's Republic of China has offered Taiwan a similar status to that of a SAR if it accepts PRC sovereignty; however the Republic of China government on Taiwan refuses to accept the offer, and most polls indicate that only around 10 per cent of the electorate on the island support it. Unlike Hong Kong and Macau, the proposed Taiwan SAR would keep its own armed forces rather than receive a garrison. The promise of a high-degree of autonomy, as afforded to Hong Kong and Macau, among other things, is enshrined in the Anti-Secession Law of the People's Republic of China enacted in 2005. Proposal for Taiwan as a SAR: [http://www.china.org.cn/e-white/taiwan/10-4.htm]

Donald Tsang

Sir Donald Tsang Yam Kuen GBM JP KBE (Chinese: 曾蔭權, born October 7, 1944) has been the Chief Executive of Hong Kong since 2005. On June 16, 2005, he was declared winner as the only qualified candidate. He was appointed by the Central People's Government as the Chief Executive on June 21, 2005. Tsang has been a civil servant over 30 years. Tsang was the second Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong SAR. As Chief Secretary he served as acting Chief Executive until May 25, 2005, following Tung Chee Hwa's resignation on March 12, 2005. He resigned as Chief Secretary on the afternoon of May 25, after the Chief Executive Election (Amendment) (Term of Office of the Chief Executive) Bill was passed at the Legislative Council, and went on leave. Financial Secretary Henry Tang took up as acting Chief Executive. His resignation was accepted by the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China on June 2, 2005. Tsang is married and has two sons. His younger brother, Tsang Yam Pui, was the Police Commissioner of Hong Kong until December 2003, and had been a career police officer who worked his way through the ranks from inspector. Quite famous of his devoutness, Tsang is a Roman Catholic and goes to the Church every morning, though his political viewpoints are criticised by Joseph Zen, the bishop of the local Catholic Diocese, for times.

Early life

Tsang was born in Hong Kong in October, 1944. His father was a police officer and Donald Tsang is the eldest of his five sons and one daughter. After completing his secondary education at Wah Yan College, Hong Kong in 1964, he worked briefly as a salesman at Pfizer Corporation before joining the civil service.

Civil service

He joined the civil service in January 1967, and he has held positions in many different government departments, ranging from finance and trade to policies relating to the transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China. From 1981 to 1982 Tsang studied in the United States, where he completed a Master's degree in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has also received honorary doctorates from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the University of Hong Kong. He was attached to the Asian Development Bank in Manila in 1977 for a year and worked on water supply and railway development projects in the Philippines and Bangladesh. As Deputy Secretary of the General Duties Branch between 1985 and 1989, he was responsible for the implementation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the promotion of the "British Nationality Selection Scheme". He served as Director-General of Trade between 1991 and 1993, and was responsible for all facets of trade negotiation and administration affecting Hong Kong. In May 1993, he was promoted to Secretary for the Treasury, where he was responsible for the overall allocation of resources, the taxation system and the cost effectiveness of the Hong Kong government. In September 1995, he was appointed Financial Secretary, the first ethnic Chinese to hold the position. He was created a Knight Commander in the Order of the British Empire in 1997 for his long-time service to Hong Kong, being knighted by Prince Charles. Tsang was also awarded the Grand Bauhinia Medal by the Hong Kong government in June 2002. During his six-year tenure, he steered Hong Kong through the Asian financial crisis that swept across the region in 1997 and 1998. He worked with Joseph Yam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and waged war on the speculators attacking the Hong Kong currency peg. On May 1, 2001, former Chief Secretary Anson Chan resigned her post, citing personal reasons. Tung then appointed Tsang to become deputy leader and invited a civil service outsider, Antony Leung, to take up the post of Financial Secretary. As Chief Secretary, Tsang ranked second to the then Chief Executive of Hong Kong Tung Chee Hwa, advising him on matters of policy and deputising for him during his absence. He was also a member of the Tung's inner cabinet, the Executive Council, which is also the highest policy-making body in Hong Kong. He assumed the post of acting Chief Executive when Tung's resignation was approved by the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China on March 12, 2005. Polls showed that Tsang enjoyed the highest approval in Tung's administration.

Serving as acting chief executive

:Main article: Tung Chee Hwa's resignation According to [http://www.info.gov.hk/basic_law/fulltext/content0204.htm#Section_1 Article 53] of the Basic Law, if the Chief executive resigns, the Chief Secretary will assume the duty as acting Chief Executive for a maximum of six months. At 17:30 (HKT) on March 10, 2005 in Hong Kong, Tung Chee Hwa announced his resignation due to "health problems". The resignation was endorsed by the Central People's Government on March 12, which also confirmed Tsang as Acting Chief Executive. Tsang then assumed power as head of the Hong Kong government. It was always clear that Beijing had already endorsed Tsang as the new Chief Executive and that he would be elected unopposed by the 800 members of the Election Committee on June 16 2005. However, a recent "interpretation" of the Basic Law by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has made it clear that Tsang will only serve out the remaining two years of Tung Chee Hwa's term, rather than the full five years originally mooted. In 2007, he will doubtless seek such a full five year term, but whether or not he is successful depends very much on his performance before then and whether he retains the favour of the central authorities. Tsang formally styled himself Sir Donald Tsang KBE though, like many other prominent local Chinese honoured by the Colonial government, he has not used his title since the handover. Some see this as an effort to distance himself from the former British colonial authorities, since such ties are unhelpful when currying favour with Beijing which has the ultimate authority over Hong Kong. On May 25, 2005, Tsang resigned as Chief Secretary for Administration because of his intention to run for the post of Chief Executive.[http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200505/25/05250244.htm (Press Release by the HKSAR Government)] The Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands, Mr Michael Suen became Acting Chief Secretary for Administration as soon as Tsang's resignation was accepted by the Central People's Government.

Chief Executive Election Campaign

Tsang's resignation as Chief Secretary was accepted by the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China on June 2, 2005. He immediately established an Election Office, with LegCo member and chairman of the Bank of East Asia, David Li Kwok-po, as his election campaign chairman. Tsang claimed that his agenda could be summed up as one of "Resolute, pragmatic action". He also mentioned that his philosophy of governance was the reason he had decided to run in the election. He said, "I would like to share with you my vision for Hong Kong, and how I will put my philosophy into practice after I am elected." Tsang instantly became the frontrunner in the race to succeed Tung, due to his long-time experience and high approval ratings. However, some commentators feared that his close association with the past British colonial administration would lead Beijing to distrust him. Tsang, however, won the support of a wide spectrum of society ranging from pro-democracy groups to business tycoons and this appeared to outweigh the misgivings of certain members of the communist hierarchy and their supporters within Hong Kong. Accordingly, Tsang gained the support of the Central People's Government and his campaign ran without a hitch. On June 15, he handed in his nomination form which bore the signatures of 674 of the approximately 800 members of Election Committee. Later in the evening, the Returning Officer, Madam Justice Carlye Chu Fun Ling vetted the nomination form and determined that his nomination as a candidate in the election was valid. [http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200506/15/06150310.htm (Press Release by the HKSAR Government)] As there were fewer than the required 100 members of the election committee remaining to nominate other candidates, Tsang was declared the only valid candidate in the election and became the new Chief Executive. [http://www.donald-yktsang.com] This procedure (some would say, farce) constitutes a classic example of the old addage that the Central Government of China has absolutely no objection to elections as long as they know the results in advance. During the Chief Executive election campaign, Donald Tsang received about HK$27.33 million sponsorship for the campaign, about 20% of which came from the businessmen from the property sector, while Tung Chee Hwa received only one third of this amount for the second Chief Executive Election. Although Donald Tsang stated publicly that each sponsor could not sponsor in excess of hundred-thousand Hong Kong dollars, some of the businessmen tried to sponsor him in different names, for example, Stanley Ho from Shun Tak Group and Lee Shau Kee from Henderson Land Development each sponsored HK$1 million under their family members' names. In the Chief Executive election campaign, Donald Tsang used only HK$4.12 million of the sponsorship, which was HK$2 million less than the amount used by Tung Chee Hwa in his second Chief Executive Election. The remaining HK$23.21 million dollars would be donated to 14 charitable organizations. On June 21, 2005, he was officially appointed Chief Executive of the HKSAR by the State Council of the Central People's Government to complete the remainder of Tung's term, which ends on June 30, 2007. Tsang is awaiting renovations to the Government House, as his residence.

As Chief Executive

After 90% of fish from the mainland China was found to have Malachite green, forcing many fish stalls to close, fishermen and businessmen criticized the Tsang administration for acting too slowly. Subsequently, the approval rating of Tsang and his administration fell in opinion polls. On August 30, 2005, Tsang announced that the Cantonese Central Government invited all 60 members from the Legislative Council to visit Guangdong between September 25 to September 26, 2005. This is the first chance for most of the pro-democrats such as Martin Lee to visit the mainland China since 1989. On November 30, he televised appeal for support on the electoral reform package, however still there were thousands (63,000 as reported by the police, "at least 250,000 by the organisers) demonstrated against the reform package four days later. It seems that Tsang will not change the "anti-democracy" points in the reform package.

Trivia

- Tsang has been dubbed Bow-Tie Tsang (煲呔曾) because of his habit of wearing a bow tie.
- Tsang has a fondness of keeping koi. A pool is expectedly built in his new residence.

External link

Basic Law of Hong Kong

The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (中華人民共和國香港特別行政區基本法; or in short 香港基本法 or 基本法) serves as the constitutional document of Hong Kong. It was adopted on April 4, 1990 by the Seventh National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China (PRC), and went into effect on July 1, 1997 replacing the Letters Patent and the Royal Instructions, when this former colony of United Kingdom was handed over to the PRC. The Basic Law was drafted in accordance with the Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong (The Joint Declaration), signed between the Chinese and British governments on December 19, 1984. The Basic Law stipulates the basic policies of the PRC towards the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. As agreed between the PRC and the United Kingdom in the Joint Declaration, in accordance with the "One Country, Two Systems" principle, socialism as practised in the PRC would not be extended to Hong Kong. Instead, Hong Kong would continue its previous capitalist system and its way of life for a period of 50 years after 1997. A number of freedoms and rights of the Hong Kong residents are also protected under the Basic Law. The source of authority for the Basic Law is somewhat controversial, with most Chinese legal scholars arguing that the Basic Law is purely domestic legislation deriving its authority from the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, and with some legal scholars arguing that the Basic Law derives its authority directly from the Sino-British Joint Declaration. The argument is relevant in that it impacts the amount of authority that the PRC has to change the Basic Law, and the ability of the Hong Kong courts to challenge PRC domestic legislation.

Drafting process of the Basic Law

- The Basic Law was drafted by a Committee composed of members from both Hong Kong and the Mainland. A Basic Law Consultative Committee formed purely by Hong Kong people was established in 1985 to canvass views in Hong Kong on the drafts.
- The first draft was published in April 1988, followed by a five-month public consultation exercise. The second draft was published in February 1989, and the subsequent consultation period ended in October 1989. The Basic Law was formally promulgated on 4 April 1990 by the NPC, together with the designs for the flag and emblem of the HKSAR.
- Some members of the Basic Law drafting committee were ousted by Beijing following the 4 June 1989 Tiananmen Square incident, after voicing their views supporting the students.

General principles enshrined under the Basic Law

- The HKSAR has a high degree of autonomy and enjoys executive, legislative and independent judicial power, including that of final adjudication (Article 2). An implication is that the former judicial recourse by appealing to the English Privy Council would no longer be available. Instead, the Court of Final Appeal was established within the HKSAR to take up the role.
- The executive authorities and legislature of the HKSAR shall be composed of permanent residents of Hong Kong in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Basic Law. (Article 3)
- The socialist system and policies shall not be practised in the HKSAR, and the previous capitalist system and way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years. (Article 5)
- The laws previously in force in Hong Kong, that is, the common law, rules of equity, ordinances, subordinate legislation and customary law (such as Chinese clan law) shall be maintained, except for any that contravene the Basic Law and subject to any amendment by the legislature of the HKSAR. (Article 8)
- The HKSAR shall protect the right of ownership of private property in accordance with law. (Article 6)
- All Hong Kong residents shall be equal before the law. Permanent residents of the HKSAR shall have the right to vote and the right to stand for election in accordance with law. (Articles 25-26)
- The freedom of the person of Hong Kong residents shall be inviolable. No Hong Kong resident shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful arrest, detention or imprisonment. Arbitrary or unlawful search of the body of any resident or deprivation or restriction of the freedom of the person shall be prohibited. Torture of any resident or arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of the life of any resident shall be prohibited. (Article 28)
- Hong Kong residents shall have, among other things, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and of publication; freedom of association, freedom of assembly, freedom of procession, of demonstration, of communication, of movement, of conscience, of religious belief, and of marriage; and the right and freedom to form and join trade unions, and to strike. (Articles 27-38).
- The provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and international labour conventions as applied to Hong Kong shall remain in force and shall be implemented through the laws of the HKSAR. (Article 39)
- The selection of Chief Executive is to be ultimately by means of Universal Suffrage. (Article 45)
- Although the PRC has responsibility for Hong Kong's foreign relations and defence, Hong Kong is permitted to participate in international organizations or conferences in appropriate fields limited to states and affecting the HKSAR, or may attend in such other capacity as may be permitted by the PRC government and the international organization or conference concerned, and may express their views, using the name "Hong Kong, China". The HKSAR may also, also using the name "Hong Kong, China", participate in international organizations and conferences not limited to states.

Interpretation of the Basic Law

- Under Article 158, the power of final interpretation of the Basic Law lies on Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC). Based on Article 158, it is through the court that such request of interpretation is made. However, starting from the Right of Abode issue in 1999, no such request of interpretation is made through the court. The government bypassed the legal system by submitting a "Report" to the State Council, proposing the State Council to make a request to NPCSC to interpret the Basic Law.
- The NPCSC have also the power to interpret the Basic Law on its own without the need of a request.
- Up this date, the government has sought the NPCSC to interpret the Basic Law twice, and on another occasion the NPCSC interpreted the basic law on its own.
- # 1999: The Right of Abode issue
- # 2004: Universal Suffrage in 2007 and 2008
- # 2005: The term of the new Chief Executive after the original Chief Executive resigned.

Controversial issues in relation to the Basic Law

After the reunification of Hong Kong in 1997, the Basic Law came under the spotlight for the following controversial issues:
- The Right of Abode issue in 1999, during which the Government sought an interpretation of Articles 22 and 24 from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to avoid a potential influx of over a million Mainland residents (according to Government estimates) into Hong Kong. This has triggered a debate on judicial independence in Hong Kong.
- Article 23 of the Basic Law requires Hong Kong to enact laws on its own to prohibit acts including treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government, and theft of state secrets. This became a subject of considerable controversy when the Government of the HKSAR attempted to introduce legislation to implement the Article in 2002 to 2003. The proposed legislation gave much power to the police, such as not requiring a search warrant to search a home of a "suspected terrorist". This has led to public outcry, and resulted in massive demonstrations, where it is esimated that over five hundred thousands people took to the streets, in July 1, 2003. After the demonstrations, the government indefinitely shelved its drafted law.
- The possibility of universal suffrage in 2007 and 2008. Following the Article 23 controversy, a sector of the population, led by the democratic camp, has begun to call for universal suffrage for the election of the Chief Executive in 2007, and for all seats of the Legislative Council in 2008. While this is not ruled out under Articles 45 and 67 of the Basic Law, the conservative camp and legal experts in Mainland China have claimed that this would violate the "Principle of gradual and orderly progress" and "in the light of the actual situation" set forth in Articles 45 and 67. The controversy was finally settled through interpretation of Basic Law by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, which ruled out the possibility of universal suffrage in 2007 and 2008 on April 26, 2004.
- The question of whether pay-cuts for civil servants and having a deficit budget are allowed under the Basic Law. According to the Article 100 of the Basic Law, the civil servants may remain in employment with pay, allowances, benefits and conditions of service no less favourable than before the handover. Article 107 stated the SAR Government should follow the principle of keeping the expenditure within the limits of revenues in drawing up its budget. During the economic downturn after 1997, there was a growing fiscal deficit, and the government imposed a pay-cut to the Civil Servants, causing the above two questions to arise.
- The term of the new Chief Executive after the original Chief Executive resigned. This question arose after the original Chief Executive Tung Chi-hwa resigned in March 10, 2005. The legal community and the pro-democracy camp claim that the term of the new Chief Executive should follow Article 46, that is, a 5 year term. However, the Hong Kong government, some Beijing figures and the pro-Beijing camp claim that it should be the remaining term of the original Chief Executive, based on some insignificant Chinese words in the Chinese version of the Basic Law, introducing the remaining term concept. The HKSAR government has sought interpretation from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on April 6, 2005, and the standing committee ruled on April 27, 2005, that the Annex I of the Basic Law requires that if any Chief Executive should resign on or before 2007, the new Chief Executive should serve the previous's remaining term. Hong Kong residents that favor autonomy view the "interpretation" from the Standing Committee as an intrusion into Hong Kong legal system by the central government in violation of the spirit of the One Country, Two Systems policy, and breaking the rule of law.
- No formal terms for extradition of criminals exist. Article 95 provides for mutual judicial assistance between Hong Kong and the PRC; however, serious stumbling blocks, such as capital punishment stand in the way of a formal understanding of extradition. Additionally, HKSAR authorities have ruled that Articles 6 and 7 of the PRC Criminal Code does not give Hong Kong sole jurisdiction in criminal matters, particularly when a crime is committed across provincial or SAR borders. The current status quo is that Hong Kong will ask for the return of Hong Kong residents who have committed crimes in Hong Kong and are abducted in the mainland. A mainlander who commits a crime in Hong Kong and flees back to the mainland; however, will be tried in the mainland. In cases of concurrent jurisdiction, the Central Government has demanded that the trial be held in the mainland. Prominent authorities, such as Albert Chen, a professor, and Gladys Li, chairman of justice of the Hong Kong section of the International Commission of Jurists, feel that this situation has serious ramifications for judicial independence in Hong Kong.

External link

- [http://www.info.gov.hk/basic_law/flash.html Hong Kong Government website on the Basic Law]
- [http://www.info.gov.hk/basic_law/fulltext/index.htm Full text of the Basic Law] category:Constitutions Category:Politics of Hong Kong Category:Hong Kong law category:Laws of the People's Republic of China Category:1990 in law

Central People's Government

The Central People's Government is the central government of the People's Republic of China in Beijing.

Executive Council of Hong Kong

The Executive Council (ExCo) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is an organ in the Executive branch of the political structure of Hong Kong. It is responsible for assisting the Chief Executive in policy-making. (Article 54 of the Basic Law). In other words it is the cabinet of the Chief Executive. The Executive Council normally meets once a week (on Tuesday). The Executive Council is consulted before the Chief Executive makes important policy decisions or introduces bills to the Legislative Council.

History

The Executive Council was first set up by the colonial government. Ex-officio members were the Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary and Attorney General. Non-official members were appointed from prominent people of the colony. Non-official members made up the majority of the council, and are led by a senior member. The formation of the Executive Council remained after the transfer of sovereignty in 1997 (except the title of senior member was renamed convenor) until a ministerial system (named Principal Officials Accountability System or POAS) was introduced in 2002, Tung Chee Hwa's second term of office. Since then all secretaries are political appointees and have to leave the civil service. All secretaries are appointed to the council, transforming the council effectively into a cabinet. Non-official members are minorities in the council, and are like ministers-without-portfolio. The position of convenor was abolished. In fulfilling his election platform, Donald Tsang, the new Chief Executive, appointed eight new non-official members the day after the policy address was delievered on October 12, 2005. Secretaries of bureaux will sit in meetings of the Council when the agenda is related to their portfolio, and the position of convenor was restored. It was seen as a move to re-strengthen the role of the Council as a link with the community.

Composition

The members of ExCo are appointed by the Chief Executive from among principal officials, members of Legislative Council, and public figures. The appointment and removal is decided by the Chief Executive. There is no fixed term of office, but the term of office of members shall not extend beyond the expiry of that of the Chief Executive who appoints them. (Article 55 of the Basic Law) The Council is presided over by the Chief Executive. There are currently 14 ex-officio members and 15 non-official members in the Executive Council. Ex-officio members except the Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary and Secretary for Justice only sit in meetings that are related to their portfolio.

Members include

Location

The Executive Council meets in the Main Wing of the Central Government Offices on Government Hill, in Central and below Government House (former residence of the British Governor of Hong Kong).

External link

- [http://www.info.gov.hk/info/exco.htm Executive Council] Category:Politics of Hong Kong category:National cabinets Category:Hong Kong-related lists

1 July

July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining.

Events

- 251 – The battle of Abrittus is won by Goths against Romans. Roman Emperors Decius and Herennius Etruscus are killed.
- 1097 - Battle of Dorylaeum: Crusaders under Bohemond of Taranto defeat a Turkish army under Qilich Arslan I.
- 1690 - Battle of the Boyne as reckoned under Julian calendar.
- 1782 - American privateers attack Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
- 1858 - The joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace's papers on evolution to the Linnean Society.
- 1862 - Russian State Library is founded
- 1863 - American Civil War: the Battle of Gettysburg begins.
- 1867 - The British North America Act takes effect as the constitution of Canada, creating the Canadian Confederation; John A. Macdonald sworn as first Prime Minister.
- 1870 - The United States Department of Justice formally comes into existence.
- 1873 - Prince Edward Island joins the Canadian Confederation.
- 1878 - Canada joins the Universal Postal Union.
- 1881 - World's first international telephone call takes place between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, USA.
- 1881 - General Order 70, the culmination of the Cardwell-Childers reforms of the British Army's organisation, came into effect.
- 1885 - United States terminates reciprocity and fishery agreement with Canada.
- 1890 - Canada and Bermuda linked by telegraph cable.
- 1904 - Games of the III Olympiad open in Saint Louis, Missouri.
- 1916 - First day on the Somme: On the first day of the Battle of the Somme 20,000 soldiers of the British Army are killed and 40,000 wounded.
- 1931 - Official opening of Milan Central Station.
- 1923 - Canadian Parliament suspends all Chinese immigration.
- 1935 - Regina, Saskatchewan police and Royal Canadian Mounted Police ambush strikers participating in On-to-Ottawa-Trek.
- 1947 - The Australian real estate franchise L. J. Hooker lists on the Australian Stock Exchange
- 1948 - Official opening of New York International Airport (now known as John F. Kennedy International Airport) at Idlewild.
- 1957 - The International Geophysical Year begins (until December 31, 1958).
- 1958 - The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation links television broadcasting across Canada via microwave.
- 1958 - Flooding of the St. Lawrence Seaway begins.
- 1959 - The Party of the African Federation (PFA) holds its constitutive conference.
- 1960 - Independence of Somalia.
- 1962 - Independence of Rwanda.
- 1962 - Independence of Burundi.
- 1963 - ZIP Codes are introduced for United States mail.
- 1963 - The British Government admits that former diplomat Kim Philby had worked as a Soviet agent.
- 1963 - U.S President John F. Kennedy arrives in Rome
- 1966 - First colour television transmission in Canada, from Toronto.
- 1967 - The European Community is formally created out of a merger with the Common Market, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Commission.
- 1968 - The CIA's Phoenix Program is officially established.
- 1968 - The Nuclear non-proliferation treaty signed by about sixty countries in Geneva, Switzerland.
- 1968 - Formal separation of the United Auto Workers from the AFL-CIO.
- 1969 - Rock group The Band release their influential debut Music From Big Pink.
- 1972 - Andreas Baader, Jan-Carl Raspe and Holger Meins of the Red Army Faction are captured in Frankfurt after a shootout with the police.
- 1979 - Sony introduces the Walkman.
- 1980 - O Canada officially becomes the national anthem of Canada.
- 1983 - A North Korean Ilyushin Il-62M jet en route to Conakry Airport in Guinea crashes into the Fouta Djall Mountains in Guinea-Bissau, killing all 23 people on board.
- 1986 - In an interview with Playboy magazine, science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke comes out as a bisexual.
- 1987 - Excavation begins on the Channel Tunnel.
- 1988 - Bologna, Italy: Quartetto Cetra's last concert after over forty years' musical career.
- 1990 - East Germany accepts the Deutsche Mark as its currency, thus uniting the economies of East and West Germany.
- 1991 - The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved.
- 1992 - Silicon Graphics releases OpenGL 1.0.
- 1997 - The United Kingdom hands sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.
- 1999 - The Scottish Parliament is officially opened by Queen Elizabeth on the day powers are officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh.
- 2000 - Vermont's civil unions law goes into effect.
- 2002 - A Bashkirian Airlines Tupolev TU-154 and a DHL (German cargo) Boeing 757 collide in mid-air over southern Germany, killing 71.
- 2003 - In Hong Kong, 500,000 people march to protest a new anti-subversion law.
- 2004 - In Hong Kong, 530,000 people march to urge a faster pace of democratisation and universal suffrage.
- 2004 - Saturn Orbit Insertion of Cassini-Huygens begins at 01:12 UT and ends at 02:48 UT.
- 2005 - Microsoft plans to end official support of Windows 2000
- 2005 - Make Poverty History's White Band Day.
- 2005 - United Kingdom takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
- 2005 - Revaluation of the Romanian Leu

Births

- 1481 - King Christian II of Denmark, Sweden and Norway (d. 1559)
- 1506 - King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia (d. 1526)
- 1534 - King Frederick II of Denmark (d. 1588)
- 1574 - Joseph Hall, English bishop and writer (d. 1656)
- 1586 - Claudio Saracini, Italian composer (d. 1630)
- 1633 - Johann Heinrich Heidegger, Swiss theologian (d. 1698)
- 1646 - Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German mathematician and philosopher (d. 1716)
- 1723 - Pedro Rodríguez, Conde de Campomanes, Spanish statesman and writer (d. 1802)
- 1725 - Comte de Rochambeau, French soldier (d. 1807)
- 1742 - Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, German physicist (d. 1799)
- 1804 - George Sand, French writer (d. 1876)
- 1818 - Ignaz Semmelweis, Hungarian-Austrian physician (d. 1865)
- 1863 - William Stairs, Canadian explorer (d. 1892)
- 1869 - William Strunk Jr., American grammarian (d. 1946)
- 1872 - Louis Blériot, French aviation pioneer (d. 1936)
- 1879 - Léon Jouhaux, French labor leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1954)
- 1899 - Thomas A. Dorsey, American father of gospel music (d. 1993)
- 1899 - Charles Laughton, English actor (d. 1962)
- 1902 - William Wyler, French-born film director (d. 1981)
- 1903 - Amy Johnson, English pilot (d. 1941)
- 1906 - Estée Lauder, American cosmetics entrepreneur (d. 2004)
- 1908 - Peg Entwistle, Welsh actress (d. 1932)
- 1909 - Bill Stern, American sportscaster (d. 1971)
- 1912 - David R. Brower, American environmentalist (d. 2000)
- 1916 - Olivia de Havilland, British actress
- 1917 - Humphry Osmond, British psychiatrist
- 1921 - Seretse Khama, first President of Botswana
- 1925 - Farley Granger, American actor
- 1926 - Robert Fogel, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1926 - Hans Werner Henze, German composer
- 1929 - Gerald Edelman, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1930 - Bobby Day, American singer (d. 1990)
- 1931 - Leslie Caron, French actress
- 1934 - Jamie Farr, American actor
- 1934 - Jean Marsh, English actress
- 1934 - Sydney Pollack, American film director, producer, and actor
- 1941 - Alfred G. Gilman, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1941 - Myron Scholes, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1941 - Twyla Tharp, American choreographer
- 1942 - Karen Black, American actress
- 1942 - Geneviève Bujold, Canadian actress
- 1942 - Andraé Crouch, American singer, conductor, and actor
- 1945 - Deborah Harry, American musician, (Blondie)
- 1946 - June Montiero, American singer (Toys)
- 1949 - John Farnham, Australian singer
- 1951 - Fred Schneider, American keyboardist (The B-52's)
- 1952 - Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor
- 1960 - Evelyn King, American singer
- 1961 - Kalpana Chawla, astronaut and engineer (d. 2003)
- 1961 - Diana, Princess of Wales, (d. 1997)
- 1961 - Carl Lewis, American athlete
- 1961 - Michelle Wright, Canadian singer, songwriter, and musician
- 1961 - Malcolm Elliott, British cyclist
- 1963 - Roddy Bottum, American musician (Faith No More and Imperial Teen)
- 1965 - Harald Zwart, Norwegian film director
- 1967 - Pamela Anderson, Canadian model and actress
- 1971 - Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, American singer
- 1971 - Julianne Nicholson, American actress
- 1972 - Claire Forlani, American actress
- 1975 - Sufjan Stevens, American musician
- 1976 - Patrick Kluivert, Dutch footballer
- 1976 - Ruud van Nistelrooy, Dutch footballer
- 1977 - Jarome Iginla, Canadian hockey player
- 1977 - Liv Tyler, American actress
- 1981 - Tadhg Kennelly, Australian footballer
- 1982 - Adrian Ward, American football player
- 1982 - Carmella DeCesare, American model
- 1982 - Hilarie Burton, American actress

Deaths

- 251 – Decius, Roman Emperor (b. 207)
- 251 – Herennius Etruscus, Roman Emperor (b. ca. 227)
- 868 - Ali al-Hadi, Shia Imam (b. 828)
- 1109 - King Alfonso VI of Castile (b. 1040)
- 1277 - Baibars, Mameluk sultan of Egypt (b. 1223)
- 1566 - Nostradamus, French astrologer (b. 1503)
- 1592 - Marc Antonio Ingegneri, Italian composer
- 1614 - Isaac Casaubon, French-born classical scholar (b. 1559)
- 1622 - William Parker, 4th Baron Monteagle, British politician (b. 1575)
- 1681 - Oliver Plunkett, Irish saint (b. 1629)
- 1708 - Emperor Tekle Haymanot I of Ethiopia (b. 1706)
- 1774 - Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, English statesman (b. 1705)
- 1782 - Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1730)
- 1784 - Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, German composer (b. 1710)
- 1819 - Jemima Wilkinson, American preacher (b. 1752)
- 1894 - Allan Pinkerton, American private detective (b. 1819)
- 1896 - Harriet Beecher Stowe, American author (b. 1811)
- 1925 - Erik Satie, French composer (b. 1866)
- 1944 - Tanya Savicheva, Russian diarist (b. 1930)
- 1950 - Eliel Saarinen, Finnish architect (b. 1873)
- 1961 - Louis-Ferdinand Céline, French writer (b. 1894)
- 1964 - Pierre Monteux, French conductor (b. 1875)
- 1965 - Wally Hammond, English cricketer (b. 1903)
- 1971 - William Lawrence Bragg, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1890)
- 1974 - Juan Perón, President of Argentina (b. 1895)
- 1981 - Carlos de Oliveira, Portuguese writer (b. 1921)
- 1983 - R. Buckminster Fuller, American architect and philosopher (b. 1903)
- 1984 - Moshe Feldenkrais, Ukrainian-born educator (b. 1904)
- 1991 - Michael Landon, American actor, director, and producer (b. 1936)
- 1995 - Wolfman Jack, radio personality (b. 1939)
- 1996 - William T. Cahill, Governor of New Jersey (b. 1904)
- 1997 - Robert Mitchum, American actor (b. 1917)
- 1999 - Edward Dmytryk, Canadian-born film director (b. 1908)
- 1999 - Forrest Mars Sr., American candy magnate (b. 1904)
- 1999 - Sylvia Sidney, American actress (b. 1910)
- 2000 - Walter Matthau, American actor (b. 1920)
- 2001 - Nikolay Basov, Russian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922)
- 2003 - Herbie Mann, American jazz flutist (b. 1930)
- 2003 - Wesley Mouzon, American boxer (b. 1927)
- 2003 - N!xau, Namibian actor (b. 1944)
- 2004 - Peter Barnes, English writer (b. 1931)
- 2004 - Marlon Brando, American actor (b. 1924)
- 2005 - Luther Vandross, American singer (b. 1951)

Holidays and observances

- Canada Day (formerly Dominion Day) - national holiday of Canada
- Moving Day in the province of Québec
- Memorial Day in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador
- Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Establishment Day
- World Architecture Day

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/1 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/7/1 Today in History: July 1] ---- June 30 - July 2 - June 1 - August 1 -- listing of all days ko:7월 1일 ja:7月1日 th:1 กรกฎาคม

United Kingdom

:For other meanings of the terms "United Kingdom" and "UK" , see United Kingdom (disambiguation) and UK (disambiguation). :For an explanation of terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (usually shortened to the United Kingdom or the UK) is a country located off the north-western coast of continental Europe, surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. It is composed of four constituent parts: three constituent countries—England, Scotland, and Wales—on the island of Great Britain, and the province of Northern Ireland on the island of Ireland. The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland forms the United Kingdom's principal international land border, although there is a nominal frontier with France in the middle of the Channel Tunnel. The UK has several overseas territories and the Crown dependencies of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands come under the UK's sovereignty. The UK also has close relationships with the fifteen other Commonwealth Realms, as they all share the same head of state. The UK is also one of the largest member states of the European Union and a founding partner of both the UN and NATO.
Terminology

- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: The official name for the sovereign state
- United Kingdom: an abbreviation of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Britain: an informal term that sometimes means United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and sometimes means Great Britain
- British: an informal term that sometimes means from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and sometimes means from Great Britain
- Great Britain (as a geographical term): the largest island of the British Isles
- Great Britain (as a political term): England + Wales + Scotland
- British Isles (as a geographical term): Great Britain + Ireland + many smaller surrounding islands. This term is disputed, please see below.
- Ireland (as a geographical term): the second largest island of the British Isles
- Ireland (as a political term): an abbreviation of the Republic of Ireland, a sovereign state on the island of Ireland
- Northern Ireland: a political region of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Ulster (as a geographical term): Often used to refer to Northern Ireland. It is derived from the Irish Language term 'Ulad.' It was one of the ancient Irish provinces (the others were Connaught, Leinster and Munster.). Although it is normally used to refer to Northern Ireland, Ulster also (traditionally) includes Counties Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal, which lie in the Republic of Ireland. The term Ulster is often favoured by the Protestant community.
History
Protestant Today's state is the latest of several unions formed over the last 1000 years. Scotland and England have existed as separate unified entities since the 10th century. Wales, under English control since the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, became part of the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Act 1535. With the Act of Union 1707, the separate kingdoms of England and Scotland, having shared the same monarch since 1603, agreed to a permanent union as the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Act of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland, which had been gradually brought under English control between 1169 and 1691, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was formed in 1922, after bitter fighting which echoes down to the current political strife, the Anglo-Irish Treaty partitioned Ireland into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, with the latter remaining part of the United Kingdom. As provided for in the treaty, Northern Ireland, which consists of six of the nine counties of the Irish province of Ulster, immediately opted out of the Free State and to remain in the UK. The nomenclature of the UK was changed in 1927 to recognise the departure of most of Ireland, with the current name being adopted. 1927 The United Kingdom, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, played a leading role in developing Western world ideas of property, liberty, capitalism and parliamentary democracy - to say nothing of its part in advancing world literature and science. At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one quarter of the Earth's surface and encompassed a third of its population. The first half of the 20th century saw the UK's strength seriously depleted from the effects of World War I and World War II. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous nation. The UK has been a member of the European Union since 1973. Its attitude towards further integration is conservative, and there is significant Euroscepticism in UK politics. It has not chosen to adopt the Euro, owing to internal political considerations and the government's judgement of the prevailing economic conditions.
Government and politics
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, with executive power exercised on behalf of the Queen by the Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers who head departments. The cabinet, including the Prime Minister, and other ministers collectively make up Her Majesty's Government. These ministers are drawn from and are responsible to Parliament, the legislative body, which is traditionally considered to be "supreme" (that is, able to legislate on any matter and not bound by decisions of its predecessors). The UK is one of the few countries in the world today that does not have a codified constitution, relying instead on customs and separate pieces of constitutional law. While the monarch is Head of State and holds all executive power, it is the Prime Minister who is the head of government. The government is answerable chiefly to the House of Commons and the Prime Minister is drawn from this chamber of Parliament by constitutional convention. The majority of cabinet members will be from the House of Commons, the rest from the House of Lords. Ministers do not, however, legally have to come from Parliament, though that is the modern day custom. The British system of government has been emulated around the world - a legacy of the United Kingdom's colonial past - most notably in the other Commonwealth Realms. The Prime Minister is chosen as the MP who can command a majority in the House of Commons - usually the leader of the largest party or, if there is no majority party, the largest coalition. The current Prime Minister is Tony Blair of the Labour Party, who has been in office since 1997. In the United Kingdom the monarch has extensive theoretical powers, but his or her role is mainly, though not exclusively, ceremonial. The monarch is an integral part of Parliament (as the "Crown-in-Parliament") and theoretically gives Parliament the power to meet and create legislation. An Act of Parliament does not become law until it has been signed by the Queen (being given Royal Assent), although no monarch has refused to assent to a bill that has been approved by Parliament since Queen Anne in 1708. Although the abolition of the monarchy has been suggested several times, the popularity of the monarchy remains strong in spite of recent controversies. Support for a British republic usually fluctuates between 15% and 25% of the population, with roughly 10% undecided or indifferent [http://www.mori.com/mrr/2000/c000616.shtml]. The current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II who acceded to the throne in 1952 and was crowned in 1953. Parliament is the national legislature of the United Kingdom. It is the ultimate legislative authority in the United Kingdom, according to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. It is bicameral, composed of the elected House of Commons and the unelected House of Lords, whose members are mostly appointed. The House of Commons is the more powerful of the two houses. The House of Commons has 646 members who are directly elected from single-member constituencies based on population. The House of Lords has 724 members (though this number is not fixed): hereditary peers, life peers, and bishops of the Church of England. The Church of England is the established church of the state in England. established church]] The two largest political parties are the Labour Party and Conservative Party. The UK has long had a two-party system, but in the last 20 years the Liberal Democrats have re-emerged as a large third party. The electoral system used for general elections is first-past-the-post. The constitution of the United Kingdom is un-codified and partially unwritten, which means that no single document regulates how the government works, and unwritten constitutional conventions are used extensively. The constitution is based on the principle that Parliament is the ultimate sovereign body in the country. There has long been a widespread sense of national identity in the Celtic nations. Throughout the late 19th century the UK debated giving Ireland home rule. The Scottish National Party was founded in 1934, and Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) in 1925. Referenda for devolution succeeded in 1997 for Scotland and Wales and in 1998 for Northern Ireland. In 1999, the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales were established, the former having primary legislative power. Proportional representation is used for the elections, which has resulted in a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition government in Scotland. Due to internal disagreements, the Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended since 2002.
Subdivisions
The United Kingdom is a country that is divided into four constituent parts:
- England
- Scotland
- Northern Ireland
- Wales The constituent parts of the United Kingdom have administrative subdivisions as follows:
- The regions and administrative counties of England
- The council areas of Scotland
- The counties and county boroughs of Wales
- The districts of Northern Ireland The Laws in Wales Act 1535 incorporated Wales and England into England and Wales for legal purposes. Although all four have historically been divided into counties, England's population is an order of magnitude larger than the others so in recent years it has for some purposes been divided into nine intermediate-level Government Office Regions. Each region is made up of counties and unitary authorities, apart from London, which consists of London boroughs. Although at one point it was intended that each or some of these regions would be given its own regional assembly, the plan's future is uncertain, as of 2004, after the North East region rejected its proposed assembly in a referendum. Scotland consists of 32 Council Areas. Wales consists of 22 Unitary Authorities, styled as 10 County Boroughs, 9 Counties, and 3 Cities. Northern Ireland is divided into 26 Districts. Also sometimes associated with the United Kingdom, though not constitutionally part of the United Kingdom itself, are the Crown dependencies (the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, and the Isle of Man) as self-governing possessions of the Crown, and a number of overseas territories under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.
Military
The armed forces of the United Kingdom are known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majesty's Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Crown. Their Commander-in-Chief is the Queen and they are managed by the Ministry of Defence. Ministry of Defence The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the United Kingdom and its overseas territories, promoting the United Kingdom's wider security interests, and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in NATO and other coalition operations. The United Kingdom fields one of the most powerful and comprehensive military forces in the World. Its global power projection capabilities are second only to those of the United States Armed Forces. The British Army had a reported strength of 112,700 in 2004, including 7,600 women, and the Royal Air Force a strength of 53,400. The 40,900-member Royal Navy is in charge of the United Kingdom's independent strategic nuclear arm, which consists of four Trident Ballistic Missile Submarines, while the Royal Marines provide infantry units for amphibious assault and for specialist reinforcement forces in and beyond the NATO area. This puts total active duty military troops in the 210,000 range, currently deployed in over 80 countries. The UK's special forces, principally the SAS, provides elite commandos trained for quick, mobile, military responses; often where secrecy or covert operations are required. The Royal Navy is the second largest navy in the World in terms of gross tonnage. Despite the United Kingdom's wide ranging capabilities, recent pragmatic defence policy has a stated assumption that any large operation would be undertaken as part of a coalition. Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Granby, No-Fly-Zones, Desert Fox and Telic) may all be taken as precedent - indeed the last true war in which the British military fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982, in which military action was initiated by Argentina and the UK was fighting a defensive, rather than offensive, campaign. The British army has been actively involved in the Troubles in Northern Ireland. However, a programme of demilitarisation is being gradually implemented.
Geography
Troubles World Factbook Map of the United Kingdom]] Most of England consists of rolling lowland terrain, divided east from west by more mountainous terrain in the Northwest (Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake District) and north (the upland moors of the Pennines) and limestone hills of the Peak District by the Tees-Exe line. The lower limestone hills of the Isle of Purbeck, Cotswolds, Lincolnshire and chalk downs of the Southern England Chalk Formation. The main rivers and estuaries are the Thames, Severn and the Humber Estuary. The largest urban area is Greater London. Near Dover, the Channel Tunnel links the United Kingdom with France. There is no peak in England that is 1000 metres (3,300 ft) or greater. Wales is mostly mountainous, the highest peak being Snowdon at 1085 metres (3,560 ft) above sea level. North of the mainland is the island of Anglesey. The largest and capital city is Cardiff, located in South Wales. Scotland's geography is varied, with lowlands in the south and east and highlands in the north and west, including Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain at 1343 metres (4,406 ft). There are many long and deep-sea arms, firths, and lochs. A multitude of islands west and north of Scotland are also included, notably the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. The largest city is Glasgow. Northern Ireland, making up the north-eastern part of Ireland, is mostly hilly. The main cities are Belfast ('Beal Feirste' in Irish) and Londonderry / Derry ('Doire' in Irish). The province is home to one of the UK’s World Heritage Sites, the Giant's Causeway, which consists of more than 40,000 six-sided basalt columns up to 40 feett (12 m) high. In total it is estimated that the UK includes around 1098 small islands, some being natural and some being crannogs, a type of artificial island which was built in past times using stone and wood, gradually enlarged by natural waste building up over time.
Economy
artificial island The United Kingdom, a leading trading power and financial centre, has an essentially capitalist economy, the fourth largest in the world in terms of market exchange rates and the sixth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates. Over the past three decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership by means of privatisation programmes, and has contained the growth of the Welfare State. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with only 1% of the labour force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial state. Services, particularly banking, insurance and business services, account for by far the largest proportion of GDP. Industry continues to decline in importance, although the UK is still Europe's largest manufacturer of armaments, petroleum products, personal computers, televisions, and mobile telephones. Tourism is also important: with over 24 million tourists a year, between China (33) and Austria (19.1), the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world. The Blair government has put off the question of participation in the Euro system, citing five economic tests that would need to be met before they recommend that the UK adopts the Euro, and hold a referendum.
Society

Demographics
At the April 2001 census, the United Kingdom's population was 58,789,194, the third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and metropolitan France) and the twenty-first largest in the world. Its overall population density is one of the highest in the world. Almost one-third of the population lives in England's prosperous south-east and is predominantly urban and suburban--with about 7.2 million in the capital of London. The United Kingdom's high literacy rate (99%) is attributable to universal public education introduced for the primary level in 1870 and secondary level in 1900 (except in Scotland where it was introduced in 1696). Education is mandatory from ages five through sixteen. referendum The Church of England and the Church of Scotland function as the official national religions in their respective countries, but most religions found in the world are represented in the United Kingdom. Anglicanism is the state religion that has been established in England since 1534 during the reign of King Henry VIII. During his reign, England broke ties with the Roman Catholic church and established the Church of England as the offical religion of England. Reforms to the nature of the church's relationship to the state have been ongoing, especially concerning the nature of the House of Lords and the appointment of a fixed amount of the lordships going to Lords Temporal, bishops of the Church of England. A group of islands close to continental Europe, the British Isles have been subject to many invasions and migrations, especially from Scandinavia and the continent, including Roman occupation for several centuries. Contemporary Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic stocks that settled there before the eleventh century. The pre-Celtic, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse influences were blended on Great Britain under the Normans, Scandinavian Vikings who had lived in Northern France. Although Celtic languages persist in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, the predominant language is English, which is a West Germanic language descended from Old English, featuring a large amount of borrowings from Norman French.The other indigenous languages include the Celtic languages; Welsh, the closely related Irish and Scots Gaelic, and the Cornish language; as well as Lowland Scots, which is closely related to English; Romany; and British Sign Language (Northern Ireland Sign Language is also used in Northern Ireland). Celtic dialectal influences from Cumbric persisted in Northern England for many centuries, most famously in a unique set of numbers used for counting sheep. Recent immigrants, especially from the Commonwealth, speak many other languages, including Bengali, Cantonese, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. The United Kingdom has the largest number of Hindi speaking peoples outside of the Indian sub continent.
Culture
Urdu The United Kingdom contains many of the world's leading universities, including the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and the University of London (which incorporates, amongst others, Imperial College and University College London), and has produced many great scientists and engineers including Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Isambard Kingdom Brunel; the nation is credited with many inventions including the locomotive, vaccination, television, vacuum, and both the internal combustion and the jet engine. The English language has spread to all corners of the world (primarily because of the country’s empire) and is referred to as a ‘global language’. It is now taught as a second language more than any other around the world. Over the next few decades, it is estimated that approximately half the world’s population will be proficient in the language. Playwright William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous writer in the history of the English language; other well-known writers from the United Kingdom include the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne), Jane Austen, William Thackeray, J. R. R. Tolkien, John Milton, H. G. Wells and Charles Dickens. Important poets include Lord Byron, Robert Burns, Lord Tennyson and William Blake. Notable composers from the United Kingdom have included William Byrd, John Taverner, William Lawes, John Dowland, Thomas Tallis, and Henry Purcell from the 16th and early 17th centuries, and, more recently, Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Arthur Sullivan (most famous for working with librettist Sir W. S. Gilbert), Ralph Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten in the 19th and 20th. George Frideric Handel spent most of his composing life in England. The BBC is the oldest and perhaps the most respected broadcasting network on the globe, with the BBC World Service radio channel and its news output held in particularly high regard. The other main television networks are ITV, Channel 4, five (TV) and Sky Television. Popular programmes in the UK include the three soaps Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, as well as the comedy news quiz Have I Got News For You and Reality TV shows Big Brother and The X Factor. Various British TV formats have been exported to other nations, notably Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, The Weakest Link and The Office. The UK was, with the US, one of the two main contributors in the development of rock and roll, and the UK has provided some of the most famous rock stars, including the Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, The Who and many others. The UK was at the forefront of punk rock music in the 1970s with bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash, and the subsequent rebirth of heavy metal with bands such as Motörhead and Iron Maiden. In mid to late '90s, the Britpop phenomenon has seen bands such as Oasis, Blur, Radiohead and Coldplay gain international fame. The UK is also at the forefront of electronica, with British artists such as Aphex Twin, Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney and Lamb at the cutting edge. The United Kingdom was also associated with music from the Caribbean, with a large number of Jamaicans and other Caribbean nationals being present in the UK.
Sport
A great number of major sports originated in the United Kingdom, including football, golf, cricket, rugby, tennis and boxing. The national sport of the UK is association football, but the UK does not compete as a nation in any major football tournament. Instead, the home nations compete individually as England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is because of this unique four-team arrangement that the UK currently does not compete in football events at the Olympic Games. However, a united team will probably take part in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, as these are hosted in London. The English and Northern Irish football associations have confirmed participation in this team while the Scottish FA and the Welsh FA have declined to participate. The UK also hosts many world-renowned football clubs, such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal in England and Rangers and Celtic in Scotland. Clubs compete in national leagues and competitions and some go on to compete in European competitions. Both forms of rugby are national sports. Rugby League originates from and is generally played in the North of England, whilst Rugby Union is played all over Britain. In Rugby League the UK plays as one nation - Great Britain - whilst in union it is represented by the four nations. England are the current holders of the Rugby Union World Cup. Every four years the British and Irish Lions (comprising the best players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) tour other countries. Cricket is also played in the UK, although it is focussed in England. The Wimbledon Championships are an international tennis event held in Wimbledon in south London every summer and are seen as the most prestigious of the tennis calendar. Golf is one of the most popular participation sports played in the UK and St Andrews in Scotland is the sport's home course.
Miscellaneous topics

External links

- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations] History of the nations within the UK.
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)]
- [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html CIA World Factbook: UK.]
- [http://www.direct.gov.uk Gateway to UK governmental services and websites.]
- [http://www.number-10.gov.uk Number 10 Downing Street]
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk Office of National Statistics]
- [http://www.opsi.gov.uk Office of Public Sector Information] Source for all UK legislation 1987-present (successor to Her Majesty's Stationery Office).
- [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ The British Isles] Independent view of the UK.
- [http://www.royal.gov.uk The British Monarchy]
- [http://www.parliament.uk/ The United Kingdom Parliament]
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=5703&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=272 Official Yearbook of the UK] factbook produced by the Office for National Statistics (years 2000 to 2005 available online).
- [http://www.ukcities.co.uk UK Cities] lists a variety of useful resources for every city in the UK.
- [http://www.justuk.org UK travel guide] United Kingdom for travellers.
- [http://www.world66.com/europe/unitedkingdom World66 Guide to United Kingdom] A travel guide written by its users.
- [http://www.multimap.co.uk www.multimap.co.uk] provides online maps and aerial photographs of the UK.
- [http://www.streetmap.co.uk www.streetmap.co.uk] an alternative to multimap.
- [http://www.freeworldmaps.net/europe/united-kingdom/map.html Physical map of United Kingdom.]
- [http://www.upmystreet.com www.upmystreet.com] detailed localised information about places in the United Kingdom.
- [http://www.parks.it/world/UK/Eindex.html UK Parks] National parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and other protected areas. ----
Category:British Isles Category:European countries Category:European Union member states Category:Members of the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Monarchies A als:Grossbritannien und Nordirland zh-min-nan:Liân-ha̍p Ông-kok ko:영국 ms:United Kingdom ja:イギリス simple:United Kingdom th:สหราชอาณาจักร

Hong Kong Basic Law Article 45

Hong Kong Basic Law Article 45 (香港基本法第四十五條) is a controversial article in the Basic Law (constitution) of Hong Kong. It states that the chief executive should be chosen by universal suffrage as an eventual goal. Its speedy implementation is advocated by the Basic Law Article 45 Concern Group.

Hong Kong Basic Law Article 53

Hong Kong Basic Law Article 53: If the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is not able to discharge his or her duties for a short period, such duties shall temporarily be assumed by the Administrative Secretary, Financial Secretary or Secretary of Justice in this order of precedence. In the event that the office of Chief Executive becomes vacant, a new Chief Executive shall be selected within six months in accordance with the provisions of Article 45 of this Law. During the period of vacancy, his or her duties shall be assumed according to the provisions of the preceding paragraph. Category:Basic Law of Hong Kong

Financial Secretary of Hong Kong

Financial Secretary, often abbreviated as FS, is a position of the Hong Kong Government. The FS assists the Chief Executive (Governor before the transfer of sovereignty) in supervising the policy bureaux as directed by the CE, mostly finance and economy-related, and plays a key role in ensuring harmonisation in policy formulation and implementation. The FS is also responsible for delivering the annual budget at the Legislative Council. Before 1940, the position was titled Colonial Tresurer.

List of Financial Secretaries after 1997

- Donald Tsang (July 1997 - May 2001)
- Antony Leung (May 2001 - July 2003)
- Henry Tang (July 2003 - )

List of Financial Secretaries between 1937 and 1997

- S. Caine (1937-1940)
- H. R. Butters (1940-1941)
- Sir Charles Geoffrey Shield Follows (1946-1951)
- Arthur Grenfell Clarke (1951-1961)
- Sir John James Cowperthwaite (1961-1971)
- Sir Charles Philip Haddon-Cave (1971-1981)
- Sir John Henry Bremridge (1981-1986)
- Sir Piers Jacobs (1986-1991)
- Sir Nathaniel William Hamish Macleod (1991-1995)
- Sir Donald Tsang (1995-1997)

List of Colonial Treasurers before 1937

- Alfred Lister (? -1890)
- N. G. Mitchell-Innes (1890-1895)
- A. M. Thomson (acting) (1895-1897)
- T. Sercombe Smith (1897-1898)
- A. M. Thomson (1899-1918)
- C. McI. Messer (1918-1931)
- E. Taylors (1931-1937) Financial Secretary Category:Hong Kong-related lists Financial Secretary

Secretary for Justice

Secretary for Justice (律政司司長) is a member of the Hong Kong Government responsible for prosecutions and legal matters. The Secretary for Justice heads the Department of Justice. The Secretary for Justice is the third in order, after the Chief Secretary and the Financial Secretary, to acting for the Chief Executive when the Chief Executive is on leave or is out of the territory, and to assume the duty of the office of the Chief Executive when the position is temporarily vacant. Before the transfer of sovereignty, the position was titled Attorney General (律政司), and the department was called Legal Department.

List of Secretaries for Justice

- Elsie Leung (July 1 1997 - October 20 2005)
- Wong Yan Lung (October 20 2005 - )

List of Attorneys General before 1997

Before 1997, the Department of Justice was known as the Legal Department. It was headed by the Attorney General:
- Edward Louchlin O'Malley (1884-1889)
- W. Meigh Goodman (1890-1902)
- Sir Henry Spencer Berkeley (1902-1906)
- Rees Davies (1907-1912)
- J. A. S. Bucknill (1912-1914)
- Sir Joseph H. Kemp (1914-1930)
- C. G. Alabaster (1930-1941)
- G. E. Strickland (acting) (1946)
- John Bowes Griffin (1947-1951)
- Arthur Ridehalgh (1952-1961)
- Maurice Heenan (1962-1966)
- Denys Tudor Emil Roberts (1966-1973)
- John Williams Dixon Hobley (1973-1979)
- John Calvert Griffiths (1979-1983)
- Michael David Thomas (1983-1988)
- Jeremy Fell Mathews (1988 - June 30 1997) Justice, Secretary for Category:Hong Kong-related lists Justice, Secretary for Category:Common law Category:Lawyers

Government House, Hong Kong

The Government House () was the residence of the Governor of Hong Kong from 1855 to 1997. It nestles at the Government Hill, Central, Hong Kong Island. The building was built in 1855, designed by Charles St George Cleverly.

History

Government House was previously the official residence and office of 25 of Hong Kong's 28 Governors. Construction works started in 1851, eight years after Hong Kong was declared a British colony, and took four years to complete. The first Governor to live there was Sir John Bowring, the 4th Governor of the territory. The last one was the last Governor, Chris Patten. Sir Hercles Robinson also had a residence, Mountain Lodge, built as an alternate home. Only the Gate Lodge and Victoria Peak Garden remains. Fanling Lodge in the New Territories remains the alternate residence after 1997. In 1891, an annex was added to the house for social functions (namely the Ballroom). During the Japanese occupation during World War II (1941-1945), it was occupied by the Japanese Military Governor. The form of the building changed to a hybrid Japanese / NeoClassical image by Seichi Fujimura in 1944, primarily through the addition of a tower and roof elements. Since the handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China (1997), the House has become a guesthouse and is used for formal banquets. Tung Chee Hwa resided at Harbour View, 11 Magazine Gap Road and Grenville House from 1997 to 2005 (He did not mobe in because of bad "feng shui"). Donald Tsang, the current Chief Executive, has said he was going to move in, but the schedule has not yet been announced. Some renovation is still taken place at the moment, and a pool is expectedly built for Tsang's favourite koi.

Major features

The main entrance of the House faces south towards the Victoria Peak. Down on the northern side is the Central Government Offices, where most Government Secretariat offices are situated. Government House has a front lawn and a back garden. Eminent among the plants in the garden are the numerous azaleas that come to full bloom in spring. Inside, the Ballroom, the Drawing Room, the Dining Room and the Conference Room are frequently used for receiving guests at official functions.

Open Days

The Garden of Government House is open six times a year to the public. At least one will be arranged in spring to enable members of the public to share the delight in viewing the full bloom of the azaleas. Visitors are usually allowed to pass by the Drawing Room, Dining Room and Ballroom where key official functions are held. The Open Days are generally arranged during the weekends. Dates will be announced through press releases to be issued nearer the time. No admission fee is needed.

Booking

The Ballroom of Government House is reserved on three Fridays in a month for bookings by charitable, non-profit or public organisations to host events that benefit the community. The nature of the event under application must be well-matched with the identity of Government House as an important historical monument of Hong Kong and with its status as a dignified location for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to hold official functions.

Trivia

According to an urban legend, the nearby Bank of China Tower was deliberately designed to shape like a blade so as to bring bad Feng Shui to the Government House and its British administration. Whether deliberate or not, a number of feng shui masters have expressed that the feng shui for Government House, which is surrounded by skyscrapers, is far from optimal. According to [http://www.nytimes.com/specials/hongkong/archive/970127feng-shui.html media reports], this was precisely the reason Tung Chee Hwa refused to live or work in Government House upon becoming Chief Executive. Ironically, during his terms as Chief Executive, he was still heavily critised by the local population, and his popularity in the long run fell to well below 40% by the time of his resignation.

External link

- [http://www.info.gov.hk/ce/govindex.htm Government House Monument], official website Category:Hong Kong landmarks Category:Declared monuments of Hong Kong category:Mid-levels

Donald Tsang

Early life

Civil service

Serving as acting chief executive

Chief Executive Election Campaign

As Chief Executive

Trivia

- Tsang has been dubbed Bow-Tie Tsang (煲呔曾) because of his habit of wearing a bow tie.
- Tsang has a fondness of keeping koi. A pool is expectedly built in his new residence.

External link

Richard Graves Macdonell

Sir Richard Graves Macdonnell , KCMG C.B. (Chinese Translated Name 麥當奴) (3 September, 1814 – 5 February, 1881) was a British colonial governor who became the 6th Governor of Hong Kong.

Early Life

Macdonnell was born in Dublin 8 September, 1814. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was a scholar 1833, and graduated B.A. in 1835, M.A. in 1836, LL.B. in 1845, and LL.D. in 1862.

Legal Career, Early Colonial Services

MacDonnell was called to the Irish bar in 1838, and to the English bar, at Lincoln’s Inn on 25 January 1841. On 20 July 1843, he was appointed chief justice of the Gambia, and on 1 October 1847, governor of the British settlements on Gambia. While holding that post, MacDonnell conducted several exploring expeditions, opening up the interior of Africa from the Gambia to the Senegal. He also organized and accompanied some military expeditions, with success, against native tribes who had long oppressed the traders of the river. In 1852, he was nominated as lieutenant governor of St. Lucia, but without taking up the post he was sent on 10 January 1853 to become administrator and captain-general of the island of St. Vincent. From 8 June 1855 to 4 March 1862 he was governor of South Australia, where he aided in opening up the Murray river and in developing the resources of the colony. He was afterwards lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia from 28 May 1864 until October 1865.

Governor of Hong Kong

In 19 October, 1865, Robinson was appointed as Governor of Hong Kong, a position in which he served until 1872. During his tenure, MacDonnell developed Victoria Peak, which would eventually become the premier residential quarters in Hong Kong, accessible only to the rich and famous. MacDonnell also ordered the construction of a hospital catered to the needs of the local Chinese population. In addition, MacDonnell legalized gambling in Hong Kong, which led to widespread social problems, and was later made illegal once again. Finally, MacDonnell's administration was marred by a huge budget deficit, which resulted in the government asking the HSBC for a financial aid package. Also, the administration was damaged by the actions of the Canton Customs agency, who patrolled the waters off Hong Kong and boarded ships to search for smuggled goods. This was called by Hong Kong's British merchant community as a blockade, and it affected Hong Kong's economy for the next 20 years.

Post-Governorship, Retirement

Following his retirement from the public service on a pension, MacDonnell was gazetted C.B. on 12 February 1852, and was knighted by the queen at Buckingham Palace on 28 January, 1856. On 23 February, 1871, Robinson was created K.C.M.G..

Personal Life

MacDonnell married Blanche Ann in 1847, and died at Hyères, France, on 5 February, 1881. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.

Publications With His Involvement

- The Church of the Future, an address by the Rev. Thomas Binney in 1859
- Christian Union, as discussed by the Bishop of Adelaide
- "Sir R. C. MacDonnell, &c.,, 1859
- A lecture on ‘Australia,’ Dublin, 1864

Places Named After Him

The MacDonnell Ranges in the south of the Northern Territory of Australia were named after him by explorer John McDouall Stuart in 1860. Port MacDonnell near Mount Gambier was also named after him. In Hong Kong, Macdonnell Road was named after him.

External links

- [http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=39794 Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online]
- [http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogMc.html#macdonnell1 Dictionary of Australian Biography] Macdonnell, Richard Graves Macdonnell, Richard Graves Macdonnell, Richard Graves MacDonnell, Richard Graves Macdonnell, Richard Graves Macdonnell, Richard Graves Macdonnell, Richard Graves

New Territories

The New Territories (Chinese: 新界, Pinyin: Xīnjiè) is the area of land in Hong Kong, north of the Kowloon peninsula, south of Shenzhen He / Shum Chun River (深圳河) and Hong Kong's outlying islands (including Lantau Island, Lamma Island, Cheung Chau, and Peng Chau), leased from Qing China to Britain in 1898 for 99 years, by Second Convention of Peking (展拓香港界址專條, The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory). Population (2000): 3,336,200. The lease comprised of all the land and adjacent islands between Boundary Street in Kowloon (to the south) and the Shum Chun River (to the north). Not included in the lease were the part of Kowloon south of Boundary Street, and Hong Kong Island; both were already ceded to Britain. The lease was made as a result of France's colonisation of Bay of Canton (Kwang-Chou-Wan). In modern conversations, however, New Territories often exclude New Kowloon, which was leased out as part of the New Territories but is now an integral part of the Kowloon urban area. Much of the New Territories were - and to a limited extent still are - rural areas. Attempts at modernising the area were not extensive until the late 1970s, in which many new towns were built to take the overspill from the urban areas in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. As the expiration date of the lease neared in the 1980s, talks between the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China led the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration (1984), in which the whole of Hong Kong would be returned, instead of only the New Territories. This is because Hong Kong's new airport, shipping ports, and other vital installations were (and are) all in the New Territories. The New Territories comprise the following districts:
- Islands
- Kwai Tsing (Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi Island)
- North
- Sai Kung
- Sha Tin
- Tai Po
- Tsuen Wan
- Tuen Mun
- Yuen Long

External links

- [http://www.info.gov.hk/yearbook/2003/english/chapter21/21_03.html Lease of the New Territories]
- [http://www.info.gov.hk/yearbook/2002/ehtml/e21-03.htm Lease of the New Territories]
- [http://www.legislation.gov.hk/blis_ind.nsf/0/06cb20f78512760748256648002f8720?OpenDocument Cap 1 Sched 5A - Area of the New Territories]

1997

1997 (MCMXCVII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar.

Designations

International organizations, including the United Nations, designated 1997 as the International Year of the Reef.

Events

January

- January 5 - NBC's Today Show Bryant Gumbel signs off for the last time
- January 8 - Mister Rogers receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
- January 9 - Yachtsman Tony Bullimore found alive five days after his boat capsized in the Southern Ocean
- January 16 - Ennis Cosby, the only son of actor Bill Cosby, is killed by a gunman while changing a flat tire in Los Angeles, California
- January 18 - In north west Rwanda, Hutu militia members kill 3 Spanish aid workers, 3 soldiers and seriously wound one other.
- January 19 - Yasser Arafat returns to Hebron after more than 30 years and joins celebrations over the handover of the last Israeli-controlled West Bank city
- January 20 - Bill Clinton starts his second term as President of the United States
- January 21 - Newt Gingrich becomes the first leader of the United States House of Representatives to be internally disciplined for ethical misconduct
- January 22 - Madeleine Albright becomes the first female secretary of state after confirmation by the United States Senate.
- January 23 - Mir Aimal Kasi receives the death sentence for a 1993 assault rifle attack outside CIA headquarters that killed two and wounded three others.
- January 27 - It is revealed that French museums had nearly 2,000 pieces of art that were stolen by Nazis.
- January 28 - Clive Davis receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

February

- February 4
- O. J. Simpson is found in civil court to be liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Simpson is ordered to pay $35,000,000 in damages to the families of the two victims
- On their way to Lebanon two Israeli troop-transport helicopters collide killing 73
- After at first contesting the results, Serbian President Slobodan Milošević recognizes opposition victories in the November 1996 elections
- February 5
- The so-called "Big Three" banks in Switzerland announce the creation of a $71 million fund to aid Holocaust survivors and their families
- Morgan Stanley and Dean Witter investment banks announce a $10 billion merger.
- February 6 - British Diane Blood wins the right to use the sperm of her dead husband to have a child
- February 9 - The Simpsons surpasses The Flintstones as the longest-running prime-time animated series.
- February 10 - The United States Army suspends Sgt. Major Gene McKinney, its top-ranking enlisted soldier, after hearing allegations of sexual misconduct
- February 10 - Australian newspapers publish stories that the government of Papua New Guinea has brought mercenaries onto Bougainville - the Sandline affair goes public
- February 11 - Bill Parcells becomes head coach of New York Jets.
- February 13
- Tune-up and repair work on the Hubble Space Telescope is started by astronauts from the Space Shuttle Discovery
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above 7,000 for the first time gaining 60.81 to 7,022.44.
- February 19 - The last of the People's Republic of China's major revolutionaries, Deng Xiaoping dies at 92, this was followed by weeks of mourning for the leader.
- February 22 - In Roslin, Scotland, scientists announce that an adult sheep named Dolly had been successfully cloned and was born in July 1996.
- February 23 - A large fire occurred in the Russian Space station, Mir.

March

- March 1 - Osaka Dome opens in Chiyozaki, Nishi-ku, Osaka, Japan.
- March 4 - United States President Bill Clinton bars federal funding for any research on human cloning.
- March 6 - Picasso's Tete de Femme is stolen from a London gallery (it was recovered a week later).
- March 6 - In Sri Lanka, Tamil Tigers overrun a military base and kill more than 200
- March 9 - Rap legend Notorious B.I.G. is murdered in Los Angeles, just six months after the killing of Tupac Shakur.
- March 10 - The main office of Fuji TV moves from Kawadacho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan to Odaiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
- March 11 - An explosion at a nuclear waste reprocessing plant in Japan exposes 35 workers to low-level radioactive contamination in the worst nuclear accident in Japan's history.
- March 12 - Mikail Markhasev is arrested in Los Angeles, California and charged with shooting Bill Cosby's 27-year-old son, Ennis Cosby.
- March 13 - India's Missionaries of Charity chooses Sister Nirmala to succeed Mother Teresa as its leader.
- March 16 - Sandline affair - On Bougainville, soldiers of commander Jerry Singirok arrest Tim Spicer and his mercenaries of the Sandline International
- March 18 - The tail of a Russian An-24 charter plane breaks off while en-route to Turkey causing the plane to crash killing all 50 on board and later the grounding of all An-24s.
- March 21 - In Zaire, Etienne Tshiksekedi is appointed new prime minister - he ejects supporters of Mobutu Sese Seko from his cabinet
- March 21 - Mercenaries of Sandline International withdraw from Papua New Guinea
- March 22 - 14 year, 10 month old Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest champion of the women's world figure skating competition.
- March 24 - Roberto Sanchez Vilella, the second Democratically Elected Governor of Puerto Rico, dies at age 84.
- March 26
- Thirty-nine bodies found in Heaven's Gate cult suicide.
- Survey of a claimed gold site of Bre-X Minerals in Indonesia reveals it is worthless; Bre-X complains and accuses Internet rumours.
- March 26 - Julius Chan resigns as a prime minister of Papua New Guinea - the Sandline affair ends.
- March 30 - The UK's fifth terrestrial television channel, Channel Five begins broadcasting at 6pm

April

- April 3 - Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.
- April 11 - Fire damages Turin Cathedral in Italy
- April 14
- Fire breaks out in a pilgrim camp on the Plain of Mena, seven miles form Mecca - 343 dead
- Former SS captain Erich Priebke is retried. On July 22 he is sentenced for five years in prison
- April 16 - Houston, Texas socialite Doris McGowen Beck Angleton is murdered in her River Oaks home. Roger Nicholas Angleton admits to the crime in the suicide note. Despite being found innocent of the crime by a Texas jury, he later gets arrested by the Department of Justice for similar charges.
- April 18 - The Red River of the North breaks through dikes and floods Grand Forks, North Dakota and East Grand Forks, Minnesota, causing 2 billion USD in damage.
- April 21 - First space burial, carrying the remains of 24 people on a Pegasus rocket into earth orbit.
- April 22 - Haouch Khemisti massacre in Algeria; 93 villagers killed.
- April 22 - A 126-day hostage crisis at the residence of the Japanese ambassador in Lima, Peru ends after government commandos storm and capture the building rescuing 71 hostages. One hostage dies of a heart attack, two soldiers are killed from rebel fire and all 14 Tupac Amaru rebels are slain
- April 22 - France supports new transitional government for Zaire, withdrawing its support of Zaire
- April 22 - In Lima, Peru, after four-month standoff, government troops storm the Japanese ambassador's residence - they release 71 hostages and kill one hostage and 14 captors
- April 23 - Omaria massacre in Algeria; 42 villagers killed.
- April 27 - Andrew Cunanan murders Jerffrey Trail, beginning a murder spree that will last until July and terminate with the murder of fashion designer Gianni Versace.
- April 31 - Mobutu and Laurent Kabila meet aboard South African warship Outenigus with Nelson Mandela and United Nations envoy Mohammad Sahnoun. They do not reach agreement

May

Mohammad Sahnoun on May 2, 1997]]
- May 1
- Tasmania becomes the last state in Australia to decriminalize homosexuality
- The UK's Labour Party end 18 years of Conservative rule in the 1997 UK general election
- HM Prison Pentridge in Melbourne, Australia is officially closed
- May 2 - Tony Blair appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- May 10 - An earthquake near Ardekul in northeastern Iran kills at least 2,400
- May 11 - IBM's Deep Blue defeated Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, the first time a computer beat a chess World champion in a match.
- May 12
- Barnes and Noble Inc. filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com, a day before Amazon launched its initial public offering.
- The Russian-Chechen Peace Treaty signed.
- May 14 - The Star Alliance is formed between Air Canada, Lufthansa, SAS, Thai Airways International and United Airlines
- May 14 - Laurent Kabila does not attend a second meeting with Mobutu
- May 16- Mobutu Sese Seko leaves Kinshasa (eventually settles in Morocco)
- May 16 - US President Bill Clinton issues a formal apology to the surviving victims of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and their families, 25 years after the 40 year "study" was exposed by reporter Jean Heller.
- May 17 - Troops of Laurent Kabila march into Kinshasa
- May 22 - Women in the military: Kelly Flinn, US Air Force's first female bomber pilot certified for combat, accepts a general discharge in order to avoid a court martial
- May 25
- Strom Thurmond becomes the longest serving member in the history of the United States Senate (41 years and 10 months)
- A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koromah.
- May 27 - A strong tornado hits in Jarrell, Texas killing 27 people. It was the second deadliest tornado of the 1990s (see Jarrell Tornado).
- May 31 - Official opening of the Confederation Bridge, the longest bridge spanning ice covered waters.

June

- June - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraqi military escorts on board an UNSCOM helicopter try to physically prevent the UNSCOM pilot from flying the helicopter in the direction of its planned destination, threatening the safety of the aircraft and their crews.
- June 2 - Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 terrorist bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- June 5 - Kim Hyun Chul, son of Kim Young Sam, president of South Korea, is charged with bribery and corruption related to the awarding of government contracts
- June 6 - Melissa Drexler kills her newborn baby in a toilet
- June 7 - A computer user known as "_eci" published his Microsoft C source code on a Windows 95 and Windows NT exploit, which would later become WinNuke. The source code gets wide distribution across the internet, and Microsoft is forced to release a security patch.
- June 7 - The Detroit Red Wings sweep the Philadelphia Flyers in 4 games in the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals.
- June 10 - Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot orders the killing of his defense chief Son Sen and 11 of Sen's family members before Pol Pot flees his northern stronghold (the news did not reach outside Cambodia for three days)
- June 11 - The British House of Commons votes for a total ban on handguns
- June 12 - The United States Department of the Treasury unveils a new $50 bill meant to be more counterfeit-resistant
- June 13 - A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to the death penalty for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
- June 16 - Dairat Labguer massacre in Algeria; some 50 people killed.
- June 19 - Fast food chain McDonald's won a partial victory in its libel trial, known as the McLibel case, against two environmental campaigners. The judge decided it was true that McDonald's targeted its advertising at children, who pestered their parents into visiting company's restaurants.
- June 25 - An unmanned Progress spacecraft collided with the Russian Space station, Mir.

July

Mir.]]
- July 1 - The United Kingdom hands sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China
- July 4 - NASA's Pathfinder space probe lands on the surface of Mars.
- July 5 - In Cambodia, Hun Sen of the Cambodian People's Party overthrows Norodom Ranariddh in a coup
- July 8 - Mayo Clinic researchers warn that the dieting-drug "fen-phen" can cause severe heart and lung damage
- July 8 - NATO invites the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance in 1999
- July 10 - In London, scientists report their DNA analysis findings from a Neanderthal skeleton which support the out of Africa theory of human evolution placing an "African Eve" at 100,000 to 200,000 years ago
- July 13 - The remains of Che Guevara are returned to Cuba for burial alongside some of his other comrades
- July 15 - Serial killer Andrew Phillip Cunanan shoots fashion designer Gianni Versace to death outside Versace's Miami, Florida residence.
- July 16 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 63.17 to close at 8,038.88. It is the Dow's first close above 8,000. The Dow has doubled its value in 30 months.
- July 17 - The F.W. Woolworth Company closes after 117 years in business
- July 21 - The fully restored USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides") celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years
- July 22 - The second Blue Water Bridge opens between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario
- July 23 - Digital Equipment Corporation files antitrust charges against chipmaker Intel
- July 25 - K.R. Narayanan is sworn-in as India's 10th president and the first member of the Dalits caste to hold this office.
- July 27 - Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria; about 50 people killed.

August

- August 1 - Boeing and McDonnell Douglas complete merger.
- August 2 - Australian ski instructor Stuart Diver is rescued as the sole survivor from the Thredbo landslide in New South Wales, Australia, in which 18 lives were lost.
- August 3 - Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria; 40-76 villagers killed.
- August 4
- 185,000 Teamsters union United Parcel Service drivers walk off the job.
- The first chapter of the manga One Piece is printed in Japan's Shonen Jump
- August 6 - Microsoft buys a $150 million share of financially troubled Apple Computer.
- August 13 - The animated American TV series South Park is aired.
- August 13 - In Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Cruzeiro wins Sporting Cristal of Peru by 1-0 and are Copa Libertadores de América champions by second time.
- August 20 - Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people killed, 15 kidnapped.
- August 26 - Beni-Ali massacre in Algeria; 60-100 people killed.
- August 26 - The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning set up in Northern Ireland, as part of the peace process.
- August 29 - Rais massacre in Algeria; over 98 (and possibly up to 400) people killed.
- August 29 - Christopher Maier of Lexington, Kentucky is bludgeoned to death by serial killer Angel Maturino Resendiz. Angel also rapes and beats Christopher's girlfriend, who survives. This is the first of a string of murders that Angel commits.
- August 31 - Diana, Princess of Wales is taken to a hospital after a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris. She is pronounced dead at 4:00 the next morning.

September

Paris from Kensington Palace.]]
- September 3 - Arizona Governor Fife Symington is convicted for various crimes tied to his real estate business, effectively forcing him out of office.
- September 4 - In Lorain, Ohio, the last Ford Thunderbird for three years rolls off the assembly line.
- September 5
- Beni-Messous massacre in Algeria; over 87 killed.
- The IOC picks Athens to be the host city for the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Death of Mother Teresa
- September 6 - The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales takes place at Westminster Abbey, watched by over 1 billion people worldwide.
- September 7 - First test flight of the F/A-22 Raptor.
- September 11 - Scotland votes to create its own Parliament after 290 years of union with England
- September 13 - Iraq disarmament crisis: An Iraqi military officer attacks an UNSCOM weapons inspector on board an UNSCOM helicopter while the inspector was attempting to take photographs of unauthorized movement of Iraqi vehicles inside a site designated for inspection
- September 15 - Norwegian parliamentary election, 1997
- September 17 - Iraq disarmament crisis: While waiting for access to a site, UNSCOM inspectors witness and videotape Iraqi guards moving files, burning documents, and dumping waste cans into a nearby river
- September 18 - Wales votes in favour of devolution and the formation of a National Assembly
- September 19 - Guelb El-Kebir massacre in Algeria; 53 killed.
- September 21 - The AIS, the FIS' armed wing, declares a unilateral ceasefire in Algeria.
- September 22 - Bentalha massacre in Algeria; over 200 villagers killed.
- September 25 - Iraq disarmament crisis: UNSCOM inspector Dr. Diane Seaman catches several Iraqi men sneaking out the back door of an inspection site with log books for the creation of prohibited bacteria and chemicals.
- September 26 - 234 die in air crash in Indonesia. Probable cause is the smoke rising from numerous forest fires in the area

October

- October 1 - The main office of Kansai TV moves from Nishi-Temma, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan to Ogimachi, Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan. Luke Woodham walked into Pearl High School in Pearl, Mississippi and opened fire killing two girls, after earlier in the morning killing his mother.
- October 2 – UK scientists Moira Bruce and John Collinge with their colleagues independently show that the new variant form of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is the same disease as Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or "mad-cow disease"
- October 4 - One million men gather for Promise Keepers' Stand in the Gap event in Washington DC.
- October 12 - Sidi Daoud massacre in Algeria; 43 killed at a fake roadblock.
- October 15 - Andy Green sets the first supersonic land speed record for the ThrustSSC team, led by Richard Noble of the United Kingdom. ThrustSSC goes through the flying mile course at Black Rock Desert, Nevada at an average speed of 1,227.985 km/h (763.035 mph).
- October 17 - The remains of Che Guevara were laid to rest with full military honours in a specially built mausoleum in the city of Santa Clara, where he had won the decisive battle of the Cuban Revolution thirty-nine years before
- October 27 - Stock markets around the world crash because of a global economic crisis scare. The Dow Jones Industrial Average follows suit and plummets 554.26, or 7.18%, to 7,161.15. The points loss exceeds the loss from Black Monday. Officials at the New York Stock Exchange for the first time invoke the "circuit breaker" rule to stop trading (this was a very controversial move and prompted a quick change in the rule; trading stops will only occur when the DJIA drops at least 10 or 20 percent) (see October 27, 1997 mini-crash).
- October 28 - The bulls come running back as the Dow Jones Industrial Average gains a record 337.17 to 7,498.32. One billion shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange for the first time ever.
- October 29 - Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq says it will begin shooting down U-2 surveillance planes being used by UNSCOM inspectors
- October 30 - British au pair Louise Woodward is found guilty of the baby-shaking death of 8-month-old Matthew Eappen.

November

- November 3 - In France, striking truck drivers blockade ports during a dispute over pay
- November 10
- Telcoms WorldCom and MCI Communications announce a US$37 billion merger to form MCI WorldCom (the largest merger in US history).
- A jury in Fairfax, Virginia finds Mir Aimal Kasi guilty of the murder of two CIA employees in 1993.
- November 11
- Mary McAleese is elected the eighth President of Ireland
- The last Pentium 586 MMX cpu (233 MHz) made. (until the Pentium II)
- November 12 - Ramzi Yousef is found guilty of masterminding the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
- November 16 - After nearly 18 years of incarceration, the People's Republic of China releases Wei Jingsheng, a pro-democracy dissident, from jail for medical reasons.
- November 17 - In Luxor, Egypt, 62 people are killed by 6 Islamic militants outside the Temple of Hatshepsut (police killed the assailants)
- November 19 - In Carlisle, Iowa, Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to septuplets in the second known case where all seven babies were born alive.
- November 20 - Boeing 727 of Portuguese TAP airline crashes just before landing in Funchal airport in Madeira - 123 dead
- November 27 - Second Souhane massacre in Algeria; 25 killed.

December

- December 1 - Michel Carneal fires at students in West Paducah, Ky - 3 dead, five wounded.
- December 3 - In Ottawa, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign a treaty prohibiting manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel landmines. The United States, People's Republic of China, and Russia do not sign the treaty, however.
- December 16 - An episode of Pokemon (called Electric Soldier Porygon) in Japan caused 685 children to have epileptic seizures.
- December 24 - Sid El-Antri massacre in Algeria; 50-100 villagers killed.
- December 27 - Loyalist paramilitary leader Billy Wright is assassinated in Northern Ireland, inside Long Kesh prison.
- December 29 - Hong Kong begins to kill all the chickens within its territory (1.25 million) to stop the spread of a potentially deadly influenza strain.
- December 30 - In the worst incident in Algeria's insurgency, the Wilaya of Relizane massacres of December 30, 1997, 400 people are killed from four villages in the wilaya of Relizane: Khrouba (176 deaths), Sahnoun (113 deaths), El-Abadel (73 deaths), and Ouled-Tayeb (50 deaths). Six days later they would be followed by another set of local massacres.
- December 31 - After 26 years in operation, Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee closed to the public.

Unknown Dates

- Miami police arrests Russian criminal who tries to sell a Russian submarine to the Columbian drug cartels
- The term "weblog" was coined by Jorn Barger in December 1997.
- The Toyota Prius comes to showrooms, only in Japan. The Prius was the first hybrid vehicle to go into full production. The Prius would come to US showrooms in 2000.

Fictional Events

- August 29: Judgment Day in the Schwarzenegger movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
- October 1: The "end day" in the SNK game, Crystalis for the NES and Game Boy Color.

Births

Deaths

January-May

- January 10 - Sheldon Leonard, American producer, actor, director
- January 10 - Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Scottish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
- January 12 - Charles B. Huggins, Canadian-born cancer researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1901)
- January 17 - Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (b. 1906)
- January 19 - James Dickey, American poet and novelist (b. 1923)
- January 20 - Curt Flood, American baseball player (b. 1938)
- January 21 - Colonel Tom Parker, Dutch-born celebrity manager (b. 1909)
- February 1 - Herb Caen, American newspaper columnist (b. 1916)
- February 2 - Chico Science, Brazilian musician (automobile accident) (b. 1967)
- February 5 - Pamela Harriman, U.S. Ambassador to France (b. 1920)
- February 11 - Don Porter, American actor (b. 1912)
- February 19 - Deng Xiaoping, leader of the People's Republic of China (b. 1904)
- March 6 - Cheddi Jagan, President of Guyana (b. 1918)
- March 7 - Edward Mills Purcell, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
- March 7 - Martin Kippenberger, German artist (b. 1953)
- March 9 - The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (b. 1972)
- March 10 - La Vern Baker, American singer (b. 1929)
- March 14 - Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-born director (b. 1907)
- March 19 - Willem de Kooning, Dutch artist (b. 1904)
- March 20 - Tony Zale, American boxer (b. 1913)
- April 5 - Allen Ginsberg, American poet (b. 1926)
- April 7 - Witto Aloma, Cuban Major League Baseball player (b. 1923)
- April 7 - Georgi Shonin, cosmonaut (b. 1935)
- April 12 - George Wald, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)
- April 16 - Doris Angleton, American socialite (b. common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar.

Designations

International organizations, including the United Nations, designated 1997 as the International Year of the Reef.

Events

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Unknown Dates

Fictional Events

- August 29: Judgment Day in the Schwarzenegger movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
- October 1: The "end day" in the SNK game, Crystalis for the NES and Game Boy Color.

Births

Deaths

January-May

- January 10 - Sheldon Leonard, American producer, actor, director
- January 10 - Alexander R. Todd, Baron Todd, Scottish chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1907)
- January 12 - Charles B. Huggins, Canadian-born cancer researcher, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1901)
- January 17 - Clyde Tombaugh, American astronomer (b. 1906)
- January 19 - James Dickey, American poet and novelist (b. 1923)
- January 20 - Curt Flood, American baseball player (b. 1938)
- January 21 - Colonel Tom Parker, Dutch-born celebrity manager (b. 1909)
- February 1 - Herb Caen, American newspaper columnist (b. 1916)
- February 2 - Chico Science, Brazilian musician (automobile accident) (b. 1967)
- February 5 - Pamela Harriman, U.S. Ambassador to France (b. 1920)
- February 11 - Don Porter, American actor (b. 1912)
- February 19 - Deng Xiaoping, leader of the People's Republic of China (b. 1904)
- March 6 - Cheddi Jagan, President of Guyana (b. 1918)
- March 7 - Edward Mills Purcell, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1912)
- March 7 - Martin Kippenberger, German artist (b. 1953)
- March 9 - The Notorious B.I.G., American rapper (b. 1972)
- March 10 - La Vern Baker, American singer (b. 1929)
- March 14 - Fred Zinnemann, Austrian-born director (b. 1907)
- March 19 - Willem de Kooning, Dutch artist (b. 1904)
- March 20 - Tony Zale, American boxer (b. 1913)
- April 5 - Allen Ginsberg, American poet (b. 1926)
- April 7 - Witto Aloma, Cuban Major League Baseball player (b. 1923)
- April 7 - Georgi Shonin, cosmonaut (b. 1935)
- April 12 - George Wald, American scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1903)
- April 16 - Doris Angleton, American socialite (b. leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining.

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

External links

Politics of Hong Kong

On July 1, 1997, Hong Kong was resumed to Chinese control, when the sovereignty of Hong Kong was transferred to the People's Republic of China (PRC), ending more than 150 years of British colonial control. Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the PRC with a high degree of autonomy in all matters except foreign and defense affairs. According to the Sino-British Joint Declaration (1984) and the Basic Law – Hong Kong's mini-constitution – for "50 years", a slogan-type description, after transition Hong Kong will retain its political, economic, and judicial systems and unique way of life and continue to participate in international agreements and organisations as a dependent territory. For instance, the International Olympic Committee recognises Hong Kong as a participating dependency under the name, "Hong Kong, China", separate from the Mainland China.

Overview

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The government is economically very liberal and is rather democratic but with limited suffrage for special elections. The head of government (the Chief Executive of Hong Kong) is not elected directly but through an electoral college which is partially appointed with the rest elected in special elections with limited suffrage. The Basic Law comprises the constitution, which was approved in March 1990 by National People's Congress of the (PRC). On the other hand, the legal system of Hong Kong is generally based on the English common law system. The current legal system will stay in force until at least 30 June 2047. All citizens 18 years of age and older are eligible for the direct elections, as suffrage is universal for permanent residents living in the territory of Hong Kong for the past seven years. Meanwhile, eligibility for certain indirect elections limited to about 180 000 voters in twenty-eight functional constituencies (composed of business and professional sectors), and the Chief Executive is elected by an 800-member electoral college drawn mostly from the voters in the functional constituencies but also from religious organisations and municipal and central government bodies.

Government structure

:Main article: Government of Hong Kong

Executive branch

Donald Tsang was formally sworn in and installed into the office of Chief Executive on June 24, having been elected 16 June and appointed by the Central People's Government on 21 June. Tung Chee-Hwa, Hong Kong's first Chief Executive, assumed office formally on July 1, 1997, following his election by the 400-member Election Committee which was in turn generated by the Preparatory Committee of the HKSAR. The process had been so designed such that Chief Executive candidates must be acceptable to the PRC Government. Tung was declared re-elected uncontested to his second term in 2002 by the judiciary, as he was the only legally nominated candidate, and the Election Committee (which had newly been expanded to 800 members) did not have to go into session. The mechanism of electing the Chief Executive in the future is currently under consultation by the Government. Any Basic Law amendment bill would first have to pass on a two-thirds vote by LegCo, and gain the approval of the sitting Chief Executive, and the National People's Congress, to become an electoral law, due to the requirements laid out in Section 7 of Annex I to the Basic Law. In 2002, Tung has changed the system of Government such that the posts of top officials are no longer civil servant posts. Instead, such posts are to be held by political appointees, and supported by career civil servants. The new system is dubbed the "accountability system" of principal officials. Under the new system, principal officials are chosen by the Chief Executive and would need to shoulder political responsibilities for their policies and decisions. They can now be more focused on political efforts such as bargaining with Legislative Council members. The system was also supposed to strengthen Tung's hold on the running of the government. Tung announced resignation on March 10, 2005, this being approved by the Central Government two days later. Donald Tsang, as Chief Secretary, assumed duty as Acting Chief Executive. Tsang resigned on May 25, 2005 to contest in the by-election. The Finaincial Secretary assumed duty as Acting Chief Executive, whereas Michael Suen served as Acting Chief Secretary. Donald Tsang was the only candidate to obtain the required nominations from 100 members of the Election Committee for candidacy, and was, like Tung, declared elected immediately following the close of nominations, and five days later the Central People's Government endorsed his election. He went to Beijing to be formally installed and sworn in. Overall, the Civil Service still maintains its quality and neutrality nowadays, operating without discernible direction from Beijing.

Legislative branch

There is a unicameral Legislative Council (often abbreviated LegCo) which functions as the main legislative body. The Third Legislative Council (term: 2004-2008) holds 60 seats, 30 having been returned from the twenty-eight functional constituencies (indirect election through the business and economic sectors) and 30 from geographical constituencies (electoral districts) by universal suffrage. The composition of LegCo's second and third terms was specified by the Basic Law (specifically Ann. 2, Sect. 1). Starting with the Second Legislative Council, members have served four-year terms. The First Legislative Council was in office only two years because of Article 69 of the Basic Law. The geographical constituencies are elected based on proportional representation system with seats allocated according to the largest remainder method with Hare quotas. The functional constituencies are returned using two systems: 4 special functional constituencies (Heung Yee Kuk, Agricultural and Fisheries, Insurance, and Transport) elect their representatives using the preferential elimination system, one (Labour) applies Block vote, while the other 23 ordinary functional constituencies use the first past the post system. Under the initial design, the last Legislative Council of Hong Kong under British rule was to be elected according to the Basic Law and would have become the first Legislative Council of the HKSAR. Christopher Patten, the last British Governor of Hong Kong, had extended the electorate of functional constituencies to cover virtually all employees in Hong Kong, and the 1995 Council was therefore elected by virtual universal suffrage. The PRC government strongly criticized such an arrangement as breaching diplomatic agreements between China and the UK, and had set up a Provisional Legislative Council appointed prior to the handover to take over the role of legislature on 1 July 1997. The first Legislative Council elections after the handover proceeded May 24, 1998, the second on September 10, 2000, and the third on September 12, 2004. Thirty seats each are returned from geographical constituencies and functional constituencies (Ann. 2, Sect. 1, Basic Law). The method of selecting legislative council seats from 2008 onwards has become a subject of intense debate in the government recently. The elections were praised by pro-Government camp as free, open, and widely contested, but were criticized by the pro-democracy camp as unfair and not democratic enough, as some can cast more than one vote (in both geographical and functional constituencies). In all of these elections, the indirect election method spelled out by Annex II of the Basic Law caused the pro-Beijing bloc to win an overall majority of the seats, including a majority of indirectly elected positions while pro-democracy and the independents took most of the directly elected seats. For instance, the 2004 election saw the pro-Beijing camp take 23 of the 30 functional constituency seats and the democratic camp take 18 of 30 directly-elected seats, with the pro-China bloc taking the overall majority in LegCo 35 seats to 25. According to the Article 68 and Annex II of the Basic Law, the passage of bills and motions introduced by the government requires the approval of a simple majority of Legislative Council members present (the quorum set at one half of the members), while bills and motions introduced by Legislative Council members require simple majority votes of each of the two groups of members: those returned by functional constituencies, and those returned by geographical constituencies. As a result, a bill from the government is much easier to pass than a bill from members. This arrangement reflects the "executive-led" philosophy underlying the Basic Law, but was considered by some as weakening the role of the legislature in overseeing the government.

Judicial branch

The supreme judicial body is the Court of Final Appeal, which is given final adjudication in all cases by virtue of Article 82 of the Basic Law.

Major political issues in recent years

Right of Abode

:Main article: Right of abode issue, Hong Kong On 29 January, 1999, the Court of Final Appeal, the highest judicial authority in Hong Kong interpreted several Articles of the Basic Law, in such a way that the Government estimated would allow 1.6 million Mainland China immigrants to enter Hong Kong within ten years. This caused widespread concerns among the public on the social and economical consequences. While some in the legal sector advocated that the National People's Congress (NPC) should be asked to amend the part of the Basic Law to redress the problem, the HKSAR Government decided to seek an interpretation to, rather than an amendment of, the relevant Basic Law provisions from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC). The NPCSC issued an interpretation in favour of the Government in June 1999. While the full powers of NPCSC to interpret the Basic Law is provided for in the Basic Law itself, some critics argues this undermines judicial independence.

Basic Law Article 23

:Main article: Hong Kong Basic Law Article 23 In 2003, the HKSAR Government proposed to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law by legislating against acts such as treason, subversion, secession and sedition. However, there are concerns that the legislation might infringe on human rights. Some are also worried that the legislation might introduce the mainland's concept of national security into the HKSAR via the proposed power of proscribing organisations that endanger the security of the state. General dissatisfaction with the Tung administration led to the 1 July protests in 2003. After the mass protest, the Liberal Party, whose support is essential for the passage of the legislation schedule for 9 July 2003, called for a delay in passing the legislation. On 6 July, Tung Chee Hwa announced that the second reading of the proposed legislation was to be postponed after James Tien of the Liberal Party resigned from the Executive Council and would have his party members vote for a postponement.

Universal suffrage

Towards the end of 2003, the focus of political controversy shifted to the dispute of how subsequent Chief Executives get elected. The Basic Law's Article 45 stipulates that the eventual goal is universal suffrage; when and how to achieve that goal, however, remains open but controversial. Under the Basic Law, electoral law could be amended to allow for this as soon as 2007 (Ann.1, Sect.7). Arguments over this issue seemed to be responsible for a series of Mainland Chinese newspapers commentaries in February 2004 which stated that power over Hong Kong was only fit for "patriots." The interpretation of the NPCSC to Annex I and II of the Basic Law, promulgated on April 6 2004, made it clear that the National People's Congress' support is required over proposals to amend the electoral system under Basic Law. On April 26, 2004, the Standing Committee of National People's Congress denied the possibility of universal suffrage in 2007 (for the Chief Executive) and 2008 (for LegCo). The NPCSC interpretation and decision were regarded as obstacles to the democratic development of Hong Kong by the democratic camp, and were criticized for lack of consultation with Hong Kong residents. On the other hand, the pro-government camp considered them to be in compliance with the legislative intent of the Basic Law and in line with the One country, two systems principle, and hoped that this would put an end to the controversies on development of political structure in Hong Kong.

The 1 July Protests

The first 1 July protest took place in 2003 after the SARS outbreak also in response to the anti-subversive legislation and general dissatisfaction towards the Hong Kong Government. Fear of the loss of freedom of speech and other freedoms, as well as a general dissatisfaction against the Government, prompted a mass protest of hundreds of thousands of people on July 1, 2003. The planners originally wanted all four football courts in Victoria Park, but all courts were booked for a pro-Beijing festival and fair. The organizers originally predicted only 20,000 demonstrators would participate. The actual number ranged from 350,000 (as quoted by the police) to 700,000 (as quoted by protesters) and even 1,000,000 (quoted from a pro-Falun Gong agency), but the generally accepted figure is 500,000, which is just less than one tenth of the population. Their route stretched from Victoria Park football field through Causeway and Central to the Government's Central offices. Nonetheless, the large numbers meant that people were still starting the march as late as 10PM. In dissatisfaction with the NPC's interpretation of Basic Law that universal suffrage was impossible for Chief Executive and Legislative Council elections in 2007 and 2008 respectively, and in fear of the loss of freedom of speech fueled by the heated patriotic debate and abrupt pause of popular radio programmes allegedly suppressed by Beijing authorities, another similar protest march occurred on the same day in 2004. The peaceful march took the same route from the previous year from Victoria Park through Hennessy road and by Admiralty and Central MTR stations, and ended at the Government's Central Offices. The numbers were estimated to be 530,000 by organisers, whilst the police gave numbers around 200,000. The probable lower numbers were attributed to the fact that it was the hottest 1 July ever recorded, at 34 degrees Celsius. Another suggested reason is that a large number of people stayed up late until the early morning to watch the Euro 2004 match between Portugal and the Netherlands. There was a noticeable fall in the general anger of the crowds when compared to the 2003 march, attributed to the fact that the Hong Kong economy was showing signs of recovery, and the dissolution of Article 23. However, there was much criticism as to the slogan for the 2004 protest by some Beijing bureaucrats and pro-Beijing political parties. The phrase "Return power to the people" was particularly inflammatory because it implied that power was taken away from the people, which in fact they never had. Some pro-democracy political leaders such as Lau Chin-shek had considered changing the phrase, but many criticized this move as it was seen to be satisfying Beijing. The organizers kept the phrase. The planners instructed the protesters to wear white, as a sign of democracy. Furthermore, unlike the previous year, the protest march started as soon as the football field venues were 80% full, causing the protest to start half hour earlier. Learning from the previous year, planning was much more smooth, allowing more of the road to be open as well as starting earlier. Most of the protesters had finished their march by 7PM, ending earlier than the previous year. In 2005 a follow up protest was attempted, however only about 21,000 poeple participated in the march, as the economy had come back since 2003. That led some people to claim that many Hong Kong protesters from the first two marches care more about their economic livelihood than political reform.

Resignation of Tung Chee-hwa and interpretation of Basic Law

:Main article: Tung Chee Hwa's resignation On March 12, 2005, the Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, resigned. Tung's position is now filled by Donald Tsang, formerly the Chief Secretary for Administration — a popular bow tie-wearing career civil servant who was educated at Harvard and received a knighthood for his service during British colonial rule. Immediately after Tung's resignation, Tsang assumed the role of acting Chief Executive, which he stepped down from prior to putting himself forward as a candidate for the post of Chief Executive. Tsang was subsequently chosen to be the next Chief Executive, and his term will expire in 2007. After Tung's resignation, there was dispute over the length of the term of the Chief Executive. To most local legal professionals, the length is obviously five years, under whatever circumstances. It should also be noted that the wordings in the Basic Law on the term of the Chief Executive is substantially different from the articles in the PRC constitution concerning the length of term of the president, premier, etc. Nonetheless, legal experts from the mainland said it is a convention a successor will only serve the remainder of the term if the position is vacant because the predecessor resigned. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress excercise its right to interpret the Basic Law, and affirm that the successor will only serve the remainder of the term. Many in Hong Kong saw this an adverse impact on the rule of law in the territory, as the Central People's Government interpret the Basic Law to serve its need, that is, a two-year probation for Tsang, instead of a five-year term.

Donald Tsang Reform Package

On December 4 2005, people in Hong Kong demonstrated against Donald Tsang's proposed reform package, before a vote on December 21. Turnout estimates ranged from 63,000 to 250,000.

Nationality and citizenship

Chinese nationality

Before and after the handover, the PRC recognises the ethnic Chinese people in Hong Kong as its citizens. The PRC issues Home Return Permits for them to enter the mainland China. Most residents of Hong Kong are PRC citizens, by virtue of the [http://www.info.gov.hk/trans/jd/jd6.htm PRC Memorandum] to the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Hong Kong issues the [http://www.immd.gov.hk/ehtml/hktraveldoc_1.htm HKSAR passport] through its Immigration Department to all PRC citizens who are permanent residents of Hong Kong (permanent residency implies that they have the right of abode in Hong Kong) . The HKSAR passport is not the same as the ordinary PRC passport (which is issued to residents of mainland China), and only permanent residents of Hong Kong who are PRC citizens are eligible to apply. To acquire the status of permanent resident one has to have "ordinarily resided" in Hong Kong for a period of seven years and adopted Hong Kong as their permanent home. Therefore, citizenships between residents of mainland China and residents Hong Kong are differentiated. Interestingly, new immigrants from mainland China (still are Chinese Citizens) to Hong Kong are denied from getting an ordinary PRC passport from the mainland authorities, and are not eligible to apply for an HKSAR passport. They usually hold the Document of Identity (DI) as the travel document, until the permanent resident status is obtained after seven years of residence. Naturalisation as a PRC Citizen is common among ethnic Chinese people in Hong Kong who are not PRC Citizens. Some who have surrendered their PRC citizenship, usually those who have emigrated to foreign countries and have retained the permanent resident status, can apply for PRC citizenship at the Immigration Department. Naturalisation of persons of non-Chinese ethnicity is rare. A notable example is Michael Rowse, a permanent resident of Hong Kong and the current Director-General of Investment Promotion of Hong Kong Government, naturalised and became a PRC citizen, for the offices of secretaries of the policy bureaux are only open to PRC citizens.

British nationality

Hong Kong residents who were born in Hong Kong in the colonial era (about 3.5 million) could acquire the British Dependent Territories citizenship (BDTC). HK residents who were not born in Hong Kong could also naturalize as a BDTC before the handover. To allow them to retain the status of British national while preventing a possible flood of immigrants from Hong Kong, the United Kingdom created a new nationality status, British National (Overseas) (BN(O)) that Hong Kong British Dependent Territories citizens could apply for. Holders of the BN(O) passports, however, have no right of abode in the UK. See British nationality law and Hong Kong for details. British National (Overseas) status was given effect by the [http://www.britishcitizen.info/HKBNO1986.pdf Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986]. Article 4(1) of the Order provided that on and after 1 July 1987, there would be a new form of British nationality, the holders of which would be known as British Nationals (Overseas). Article 4(2) of the Order provided that adults and minors who had a connection to Hong Kong were entitled to make an application to become British Nationals (Overseas) by registration. Becoming a British National (Overseas) was therefore not an automatic or involuntary process and indeed many eligible people who had the requisite connection with Hong Kong never applied to become British Nationals (Overseas). Acquisition of the new status had to be voluntary and therefore a conscious act. To make it involuntary or automatic would have been contrary to the assurances given to the Chinese government which led to the words "eligible to" being used in paragraph (a) of the [http://www.info.gov.hk/trans/jd/jd6.htm United Kingdom Memorandum] to the Sino-British Joint Declaration. The deadline for applications passed in 1997. Any person who failed to register as a British Nationals (Overseas) by 1 July 1997 and would thereby be rendered stateless, automatically became a British Overseas citizen under [http://www.britishcitizen.info/StatelessReductionProvisions.pdf article 6(1) of the Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986]. However, former BDTCs (also holding PRC citizenship) who failed to register as a BN(O) became solely PRC citizens on 1st July 1997. After reunification, all PRC citizens with the right of abode in Hong Kong (holding Hong Kong permanent identity cards) are eligible to apply for the HKSAR passport issued by the Hong Kong Immigration Department. As the number of visa-free-visit destinations of the HKSAR passport surprassed the BN(O) passport and the application fee for the former is lower, the HKSAR passport is becoming more popular among residents of Hong Kong. However many Hong Kong people who are eligible for both HKSAR and BN(O) passports have applied for both passports, as they are both PRC citizen and British National (Overseas). Hong Kong residents who were not born in Hong Kong (and had not naturalised as a BDTC) could only apply for the Certificate of Identity (CI) from the colonial government as travel document. They are not issued (by neither the British nor Chinese authorities) after handover. Former CI holders holding PRC Citizenship (e.g. born in mainland China or Macau) and are permanent residents of Hong Kong are now eligible for the HKSAR passports, making the HKSAR passports more popular. Recent changes to India's Citizenship Act, 1955 (see Indian nationality law) will also allow some [http://www.britishcitizen.info/ children of Indian origin, born in Hong Kong after 7 January 2004], who have a solely BN(O) parent to automatically acquire British Overseas citizenship at birth under the provisions for reducing statelessness in [http://www.britishcitizen.info/StatelessReductionProvisions.pdf article 6(2) or 6(3) of the Hong Kong (British Nationality) Order 1986]. If they have acquired no other nationality after birth, they will be entitled to [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199900/ldhansrd/pdvn/lds04/text/41220w04.htm#column_WA123 subsequently register for full British citizenship] with right of abode in the UK. See also: British nationality law and Hong Kong, nationality, citizenship

Political parties and leaders

The three main political parties are as follows. Each holds a significant portion of LegCo. Twelve members are registered as affiliated with the DAB, ten with the Liberal Party, and nine with the Democratic Party. There are also many unofficial party members: politicians who are members of political parties but have not registered such status in their election applications. There are two major blocs: the democratic camp and the pro-Beijing camp, the former pushing for rapid democratisation tends to follow the position of the Central People's Government in Beijing.
- Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) (Ma Lik, chairman) (pro-Beijing)
- Democratic Party (Lee Wing Tat, chairman) (pro-democracy)
- Liberal Party (James Tien Pei-chun, chairman) (pro-business; moderate/conservative politically) Others include:
- Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood (Frederick Fung Kin-kee, chairman) (pro-Democracy)
- Citizens Party (Alex Chan Kai-chung, chairperson) (pro-Democracy)
- The Frontier (Emily Lau Wai-hing, convenor) (radical pro-Democracy)
- Hong Kong Progressive Alliance (Ambrose Lau Hon-chuen, chairman) (pro-Beijing) (merged with the DAB 16 February 2005)

Political pressure groups and leaders

- Article 45 Concern Group
- [http://www.cgcc.org.hk Chinese General Chamber of Commerce]
- [http://www.cma.org.hk Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong]
- Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions ([http://www.labour.org.hk/can_lau.html Lau Chin-shek], President; [http://www.labour.org.hk/can_lee.html Lee Cheuk-yan], General Secretary)
- [http://www.fhki.org.hk Federation of Hong Kong Industries]
- Hong Kong Federation of Students
- Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions ([http://www.info.gov.hk/info/exe7a.htm Cheng Yiu-tong], President)
- The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China (Szeto Wah, Chairman)
- Hong Kong and Kowloon Trade Union Council
- [http://www.chamber.org.hk Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce]
- [http://www.hkptu.org Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union]([http://www.cheungmankwong.org.hk Cheung Man-kwong], President)
- Liberal Democratic Federation (Hu Fa-kuang, Chairman)

External links

- [http://www.info.gov.hk HKSAR Government web site]
- [http://www.info.gov.hk/info/exe7a.htm Executive Council]
- [http://www.legco.gov.hk Legislative Council]
- [http://www.olympicwatch.org/news.php?id=63 Olympic Watch (Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games in a Free and Democratic Country) on the status of Hong Kong] Category:Political parties in Hong Kong

Chief Executive of Macau

The Chief Executive of Macao is the head of the government of Macao, a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China and a former Portuguese overseas province. Under the Basic Law of Macau, the CE's role is: ...be the head of the Macao Special Administrative Region and shall represent the Region. The Chief Executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region shall be accountable to the Central People's Government and the Macao Special Administrative Region in accordance with the provisions of this Law. The current chief executive is Edmund Ho Hau Wah.

Powers of the CE of Macau

The powers of the CE of Macau are outlined in the region's Basic Law:
- (1) To lead the government of the Region;
- (2) To be responsible for the implementation of this Law and other laws which, in accordance with this Law, apply in the Macao Special Administrative Region;
- (3) To sign bills passed by the Legislative Council and to promulgate laws; To sign budgets passed by the Legislative Council and report the budgets and final accounts to the Central People's Government for the record;
- (4) To decide on government policies and to issue executive orders;
- (5) To formulate the administrative regulations and promulgate them for implementation;
- (6) To nominate and to report to the Central People's Government for appointment the following principal officials: Secretaries of Departments, Commissioner against Corruptions, Director of Audit, the leading members of the Police and the customs and excise; and to recommend to the Central People's Government the removal of the above mentioned officials;
- (7) To appoint part of the members of the Legislative Council;
- (8) To appoint or remove members of the Executive Council;
- (9) To appoint or remove presidents and judges of the courts at all levels and procurators in accordance with legal procedures;
- (10) To nominate and report to the Central People's Government for appointment of the Procurator-General and recommend to the Central People's Government the removal of the Procurator-General in accordance with legal procedures;
- (11) To appoint or remove holders of public office in accordance with legal procedures;
- (12) To implement the directives issued by the Central People's Government in respect of the relevant matters provided for in this Law;
- (13) To conduct, on behalf of the Government of the Macao Special Administrative Region, external affairs and Other affairs as authorized by the Central Authorities;
- (14) To approve the introduction of motions regarding revenues or expenditure to the Legislative Council;
- (15) To decide, in the light of security and vital interests, whether government officials or other personnel in charge of government affairs should testify or give evidence before the Legislative Council or its committees;
- (16) To confer medals and titles of honour of the Macao Special Administrative Region in accordance with law;
- (17) To pardon persons convicted of criminal offences or commute their penalties in accordance with law; and
- (18) To handle petitions and complaints.

History

The Office of the CE was created by the First Session of the Eighth National People' s Congress of the People ' s Republic of China on 31 March 1993 and came into effect on 20 December 1999.

Election of the CE

The CE is selected by election or through consultations held locally and be appointed by the Central People's Government. The term of office of the Chief Executive shall be five years and may serve for not more than two consecutive terms.

Resignation

Under Section 54 of the Basic Law, the CE can resign if:
- (1) When he or she loses the ability to discharge his or her duties as a result of serious illness or other reasons;
- (2) When, after the Legislative Council is dissolved because he or she twice refuses to sign a bill passed by it, the new Legislative Council again passes by a two-thirds majority of all the members the original bill in dispute, but he or she still refuses to sign it within 30 days; and
- (3) When, after the Legislative Council is dissolved because it refuses to pass a budget or any other bill concerning the overall interests of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the newly elected Legislative Council still refuses to pass the original bill in dispute. Section 55 covers the temporary assignment of the role of the CE proceeding resignation.

List of Chief Executives of Macau

References

- [http://www.macau.gov.mo/constitution/basiclaw_en.phtml#section%201 Role of the Chief Executive - Basic Law of Macau]
- [http://www.macau.gov.mo/show_resume1.phtml?id=14 Biography of the CE of Macau]

Category:Heads of government

Category:Government occupations Category:Political office-holders by role Category:Institutions of government

Civezza

Civezza é uma comuna italiana da região da Ligúria, província de Impéria, com cerca de 536 habitantes. Estende-se por uma área de 3 km², tendo uma densidade populacional de 179 hab/km². Faz fronteira com Cipressa, Dolcedo, Imperia, Pietrabruna, San Lorenzo al Mare. Categoria:Comunas da Itália Categoria:Comunas da Ligúria Categoria:Comunas de Impéria

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