Hong Kong

香港
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Flag

Coat of Arms

## Government and Politics

### Administration and Legislature

Hong Kong is a Dependent Territory of the United Kingdom and maintained an administration roughly modeled after the Westminster system. The Basic Law of Hong Kong formed the constitutional basis of the colonial government and the Governor Instructions detailed how the territory should be governed and organized.

The Governor was the head of government and appointed by the British monarch to serve as the representative of the Crown in the territory. Executive power was highly concentrated with the Governor, who himself appoints all members of the Executive Council and three members of the Legislative Council while also serving as President of both councils.

The Executive Council determines administrative policy changes and is an advisory body to the Governor. The Legislative Council was reformed in the beginning months to introduce more individual representation and more efficiency within the Legislative Council. Indirectly elected functional constituency seats were introduced and popularly elected geographical constituency seats. The administrative Civil Service was led by the Chief Secretary, who was deputy to the Governor.

Sir Harvey Galloway (Governor)George Mountbatten (Chief Secretary)
### Judiciary

The judicial system was based on English Common law, with the Supreme Court of Hong Kong being the highest court and ruled on all civil and criminal cases in the territory. The Supreme Court consists of two justices with justices having limited restrictions on partisanship outside the role similar to the Chief Secretary.

### Politics

The politics of Hong Kong is mainly divided into two camps: Pro-Democracy and Pro-Establishment. The Pro-Establishment camp has been the largest camp since the territory was formed, having the most political control over the territory. The Pro-Democracy camp is filled with populist politicians who are to the right of the Conservatives. They advocate for the democratization of the Legislative Council and greater democracy within Hong Kong. The Pro-Establishment camp is considered to be the “status-quo” camp generally conservative and pro-business. They support maintaining functional constituencies and the political system which gives business owners representation within the Legislative Council. However, there are outliers, such as Dolores Umbridge who is a part of the Pro-Democracy camp but does not affiliate with populism.

## Culture

Hong Kong is characterised as a hybrid of East and West. Traditional Chinese values emphasising family and education blend with Western ideals, including economic liberty and the rule of law. British and Chinese are the predominant influences, influencing architecture, public holidays and events. Affluence is heavily embedded within Hong Kong Culture as residents are required to have a bank account and the creation of places such as the Royal Hong Kong Golf Club. A sense of commercialism and business is a part of the cultural environment as seen with the Times Square Mall and administrative priority on the economy.

## Media

Most media are in the form of publications that publish news articles. However, information-based news such as RTHK with its successors Global News and Channel Asia News have been the most popular, focusing mostly on the territory. Newspaper Publications like the London Oracle and The Daily Defender mostly focus on events in the United Kingdom. Most media companies also have subsidiary companies in opinion polling.