Hong Kong

Traditional and local scholars prefer to use the word Xianggang, since the term 'Hong Kong' has been put in use only after the 19th century. China was never formally colonised by any European power, but the setup of concession ports by various imperial entities made China a pseudo-European colony. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, the United States and even the Asian power Japanese had their share all across the Chinese coast. The forceful imposition of trade obligations between China and outside world led to a long-term cession of two such ports that continued till late 20th century - Hong Kong and Macau. A striking similarity between the European way of colonising China and neighbouring India was in both cases, the European traders imposed their willingness to trade and while the Chinese factions never let Europeans expand inwards, the local Indian kingdoms took their help in settling various domestic issues. The result, India became a full-fledged British colony with pockets of French and Portuguese possessions, while China still maintained its independence all throughout. 

A common pattern of British to apply English names to indigenous harbours can be observed from the fact that apart from the usual Victoria, the British christened an island and an important dock harbour after the Scottish city of Aberdeen. Except for New York in the United States and Australian territories such as New South Wales, Victoria, etc, no other settlement's name reached heights of prosperity and popularity, be it East London of South Africa, London of Canada or Aberdeen of Hong Kong. In the year 1842, China formally ceded Hong Kong to Britain under the Treaty of Nanking, which was shortly followed by giving Kowloon, Stonecutters Island, Lama Island and over 230 other islands as dependencies for the next 100 years. The British colonisation of a Chinese port had started and now it had two super Asian entities under its grip - India and parts of China. 

Another usual pattern of the British was to give English names to local streets. While India had places like Lansdowne, Dalhousie, Bombay, Connaught Place, Victoria Terminus, Hastings, Eden Garden etc., Hong Kong had a range of colonial names. Some of them are listed below: 

• Elgin Street
• Gloucester Street
• Queen Victoria Street
• Oxford Road
• Baker Street
• Amoy Street
• Seven Sisters Road, etc.

The renaming of most of these places haven't been put into force, majorly to retain the colonial legacy as its part of Hong Kong's history now. On older maps, one would find the following names as well:

• Green Island 
• Sulphur Channel
• Mt. Davis
• Victoria Peak
• Victoria Harbour
• Morrison Hill
• Mt. Kellett
• Mt. Gough
• Aberdeen
• Stanley
• Mt. Johnson
• Mt. Parlier
• Pottinger Peak
• Beaufort Island
• Mt. Senhouse
• Stonecutters Island

In 1997, Hong Kong was returned back to China after which the city transformed into what we know today. The rapid development of the city put it one of the biggest metropolitan of not just China or Asia, but also an entire world trade centre hub. Politically, it falls under the category of Special Administrative Region (SAR), the basis of its conflict with mainland China. 

Below here is recreated map of a 1866 dated map of Hong Kong.