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Britons never made up more than a small portion of the population inHong Kong, despite Hong Kong having been underBritish rule for more than 150 years. However, they did leave their mark on Hong Kong's institutions,culture andarchitecture. The British population in Hong Kong today consists mainly of careerexpatriates working inbanking, education,real estate,law andconsultancy,^[1] as well as manyBritish-born ethnic Chinese, former Chineseémigrés to the UK and Hong Kongers (mostly ethnic Chinese) whosuccessfully applied for full British citizenship before thetransfer of sovereignty in 1997.

There were 33,733 Britons in Hong Kong, as of the 2011 Hong Kong Census.^[2]

Estimating the number of Britons in Hong Kong, as with the rest of Asia, can be difficult for a variety of reasons. One reason is that not allimmigrants or visitors register with theBritish Consulate-General in Hong Kong. Another is that a large part of the British population is transitory, working in the city for only a few months or years.^{[citation needed]}

Hong Kong'sImmigration Department estimated that there were 35,000 British citizens^[3] living in theSpecial Administrative Region eight months after thehandover of sovereignty in 1997.^[4][5] (This number included many British-born ethnic Hong Kong and ethnic Hong Kong who obtained full British citizenship in the 1990s under theBritish Nationality Selection Scheme in Hong Kong.) A large proportion of the British who were government employees left following the handover.

There have been noticeably fewer native Britons emigrating to Hong Kong since the handover. DuringBritish Hong Kong era, Britons wishing to live and work in Hong Kong were not subject to the immigration andvisa restrictions that would apply today. It was common for young Britons to go to Hong Kong to work in blue-collar occupations, particularly during economic downturns in Britain. This advantage ended with the handover: Britons applying for permission to work in Hong Kong must now prove they will have jobs that cannot be filled by local residents,^[6] which means blue-collar jobs in Hong Kong (e.g., inretail orconstruction) are for the most part no longer an option for Britons.

In the decade before the handover around 3.4 million British Dependent Territories Citizens (BDTCs) of Hong Kong (mainly ethnic Chinese) acquired the status ofBritish National (Overseas) (BN(O)) by registration. They do not have the right of abode in the UK (just as BDTCs did not have that right), and China does not recognise Hong Kong-born ethnic Chinese BN(O)s as British nationals. However, BN(O) are considered British outside China.^{[citation needed]}

The first British presence in the area was theBritish East India Company, which started trading in the area in 1699 and set up atrading post inCanton in 1711. The British capturedHong Kong Island in 1841 during theFirst Opium War and were officiallyceded the territory in 1842 under theTreaty of Nanking. Over the next 150 years Britons came to Hong Kong in relatively large numbers—many to work in the colony's administration, trading houses, andmerchant banks—along with other Europeans andAmericans.^{[citation needed]}

Between 1991 and 1996 there was a substantial increase in the number of British citizens in Hong Kong; the number of UK passport holders in Hong Kong more than doubled, to over 34,000. This increase was mainly due to theBritish Nationality Selection Scheme, which granted British citizenship to 50,000 families (mostly ethnic Chinese), some of whom did not emigrate. However, in those years many young people from the United Kingdom went to Hong Kong to take up unskilled jobs (e.g., as doorpersons or in food service).^[7][8]

Among the 33,733 citizens of the United Kingdom living in Hong Kong, 19,405 are of some European ethnicity, 6,893 are Chinese, 2,337 are Indian, 1,047 are Pakistani, 829 are Nepalese, 273 are other Asians, 227 are Filipino, 98 are Thai, 40 are Japanese, and 40 are Indonesian. 2,544 other Britons are of a different ethnicity.^[2]

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Schools using theeducation system of England in Hong Kong include:

• Harrow International School Hong Kong
• Kellett School – As of 2011 children with UK citizenship make up 69% of the student body^[9]
• Malvern College Hong Kong
• South Island School – As of 2011 children with UK citizenship are the largest component of the student body^[9]

• The Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist - As of 2011, it is one of the oldest Western ecclesiastical building of Hong Kong and as designed by British Gothic style in the city.
• Holy Trinity Cathedral

• British Hong Kong
• Demographics of Hong Kong
• Gweilo
• Hong Kongers in the United Kingdom
• Britons in China

• British diaspora in Asia
• British expatriates in Hong Kong
• European diaspora in Hong Kong
• Hong Kong people of British descent

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