Hong Kong

This article reviews the development of sport policy in Hong Kong. The focus is on the sport development in Hong Kong after it returned to China’s sovereignty in 1997, including its largely independent international status as a legitimate non-sovereignty sporting participant which combines both the legacy of British colonisation and increasing interaction with Mainland China. In this article, Hong Kong’s, to some extent, unique political system in particular its relationship with Mainland China under the Basic Law, government involvement in sport and its sports organisational structure and funding are introduced. In addition, its policy priorities and the balance between elite sport, the hosting of sporting events and mass sport, elite sport achievements and emerging issues, most notably civil society’s ‘division’, regarding the relationship with Mainland China and the function of sport in Hong Kong’s identity shaping, social integration and its relationship with Beijing are discussed.