Japanese occupation of Hong Kong in the context of "Hong Kong SAR"

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. Situated on China's southern coast just south of Shenzhen, it consists of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories. With 7.5 million residents in a 1,114-square-kilometre (430 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong is the fourth-most densely populated region in the world.

Hong Kong was established as a colony of the British Empire after the Qing dynasty ceded Hong Kong Island in 1841–1842 as a consequence of losing the First Opium War. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and was further extended when the United Kingdom obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. Hong Kong was occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. The territory was handed over from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. Hong Kong maintains separate governing and economic systems from that of mainland China under the principle of one country, two systems.

Hong Kong was under British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a brief period of Japanese occupation during the Second World War from 1941 to 1945. It was a Crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 to 1981, and a dependent territory from 1981 to 1997. The colonial period began with the British occupation of Hong Kong Island under the Convention of Chuenpi in 1841 of the Victorian era, and ended with the handover of Hong Kong in July 1997.

In accordance with Article III of the Treaty of Nanking of 1842, signed in the aftermath of the First Opium War, the island of Hong Kong was ceded in perpetuity to Great Britain. It was established as a Crown colony in 1843. In 1860, the British expanded the colony with the addition of the Kowloon Peninsula and was further extended in 1898 when the British obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories. Although the Qing had to cede Hong Kong Island and Kowloon in perpetuity as per the treaty, the leased New Territories comprised 86.2% of the colony and more than half of the entire colony's population. With the lease nearing its end during the late 20th century, Britain did not see any viable way to administer the colony by dividing it, whilst the People's Republic of China would not consider extending the lease or allowing continued British administration thereafter.

During British rule, Liberation Day celebration took place in Hong Kong on the last Monday in August to commemorate the liberation of Hong Kong from Japanese occupation on 30 August 1945. No official ceremonies have taken place in Hong Kong since the handover to China in 1997. Nevertheless, unofficial delegations mark the day at The Cenotaph, and the flag poles are occasionally dressed.

On September 9, 1998, the Holidays (Amendment) Bill 1998, which included the abolition of the public holiday for Liberation Day, was passed.

The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the People's Republic of China occurred at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule, dating back to the cession of Hong Kong Island in 1841 during the First Opium War.

Hong Kong was a colony of the British Empire from 1841, except during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong from 1941 to 1945. Its territory expanded after the First Opium War with the addition of the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island in 1860 and the New Territories in 1898 under a 99-year lease. The 1984 Sino–British Joint Declaration set the terms of the 1997 handover, under which China pledged to uphold "one country, two systems" for 50 years. Hong Kong became China's first special administrative region, followed by Macau in 1999 under similar arrangements. With a population of about 6.5 million in 1997, Hong Kong made up 97 percent of the population of all the British Dependent Territories and was Britain's last major colony.

Kowloon Walled City (Chinese: 九龍城寨) was an extremely densely populated and largely lawless enclave of China within the boundaries of Kowloon City of former British Hong Kong. Built as an imperial Chinese military fort, the walled city became a de jure enclave after the New Territories were leased to the United Kingdom in 1898. Its population increased dramatically after the end of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II, attracting mostly refugees fleeing the renewed Chinese Civil War.

By the late 1980s, the walled city contained roughly 35,000 residents within its territory of 2.6 hectares (6+1⁄2 acres), resulting in a staggering population density of over 1.2 million inhabitants per square kilometre (3 million inhabitants per square mile). As a result of the absence of any widely recognized bureaucracy, the city's residents and businesses had no municipal codes to govern them. Enabled by the enclave's anarchic nature, trade in banned products thrived, ranging from narcotics to dog meat. From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was controlled by local triad gangs and had high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug abuse.

The Liberation of Hong Kong (Yue Chinese: 香港重光), also known as the British Reoccupation of Hong Kong (Yue Chinese: 英國重佔香港) or the Resumption of British Sovereignty Over Hong Kong (Yue Chinese: 英國對香港恢復行使主權), refers to the end of Japanese occupation of Hong Kong following Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945, the arrival of the Royal Navy on 30 August, and the official surrender ceremony in Hong Kong on 16 September. Prior to the surrender in the Cairo Conference, leader of Nationalist China Chiang Kai-Shek once requested that Hong Kong come under Nationalist control after the war, but the British rejected. As friction increased between Nationalists and Communists in China, Chiang relented and agreed to resume British sovereignty instead. In the position of Supreme Commander of Allied forces in China Theater, Chiang delegated Admiral of the Royal Navy Cecil Harcourt to accept Japanese surrender. As a result of British rule, Hong Kong was able to avoid the bloodshed of the Chinese Civil War and paved the way for economic growth.

UTC+09:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +09:00.

During the Japanese occupations of British Borneo, Burma, Hong Kong, Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Philippines, Singapore, and French Indochina, it was used as a common time with Tokyo until the fall of the Empire of Japan.