Why did UK leave Hong Kong so developed?

[Blanquist]

HK was a British colony but turned out to be a top5 global financial center.

How is this explained?

[Prometeo liberado]

Off the top of my head I would say they did this as an economic bulwark against communism(ya, I know China isn't communist, leave it out). Never really looked into it but good topic.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

Off the top of my head I would say they did this as an economic bulwark against communism(ya, I know China isn't communist, leave it out). Never really looked into it but good topic.

Not only a bulwark, but an important channel for trade (much like Singapore). The "financial centre" aspect of it is recent, but likewise related to its position as a major port and trading hub. The importance of shipping to Hong Kong's growth cannot be underestimated. Hong Kong was also a major manufacturing centre until the general decline in the 1980's (previously serving as a window for exports from the Mainland to some extent), when most of the industry moved to Mainland China, which has been responsible for some social problems and growing unemployment in Hong Kong. Likewise Hong Kong has had some fairly social-democratic oriented governments which, with the resources provide by the fact that it is a trading hub, have managed to improve the situation. Hong Kong has a very good housing situation, with half the population living in public housing, compared to the dreadful situation in Mainland China.

Which illustrates just how disinterested the Capitalist party of China is in improving living standards more than anything.

[lombas]

There are good reason why Hong Kong, like Shanghai, is a major centre of financial activity and wealth.

After the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion, the Western powers had but small concessions in the Chinese mainland. Japan was another major power to deal with, and there was just no way to colonize China itself as it was too big, too developed and too "foreign" (ie: had a developed culture itself and not just tribal culture &c.).

So the British, and the French, &c. were stuck on small pieces of land (like in Shanghai and Hong Kong) that they had to put to good use. They invested massively in these territories as they had to secure the trade with the Chinese hinterland.

In the Congo, for example, the Belgians had a lot of areas to focus on. They had to develop some cities (like Leopoldville, Stanleyville, ...) to serve as administrative centres and centres of trade, while also investing in the economy (mostly farming and mines).

In Asia and especially China, the European powers didn't encounter this situation. They had the possibility to send a lot of their own people to a relatively small area which they had to develop of course to keep them satisfied; keeping them satisfied secured a steady inflow of the desired goods (tea, opium, ...). After this "colonial" area a well-developed city remained and was swiftly put to use for the new government. That's why Shanghai is China's financial centre right now.

[gorillafuck]

it's pretty simple. development is good for business.