evidence: - Hong Kong is not a country, but a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. [...] Hong Kong is not a country unto itself, but a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, in which the territory is supposed to have autonomy in terms of political governance and how it runs its economy. [...] During World War II, Imperial Japanese forces occupied Hong Kong, and its population was more than halved from 1.6 million in 1941 to just 650,000 by the time the Japanese surrendered in 1945. After WWII ended, however, people began streaming back into Hong Kong, and the territory began to revive its economy. But it was not until the 1970s that the territory’s economy began to sizzle, eventually making it one of the so-called Asian Tiger economies. In 1997, in accordance with the Convention of 1898, the UK returned Hong Kong to Chinese control, but with special conditions meant to preserve the territory’s free market economy and political system. Hence, Hong Kong became what is now known as a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.