Hong Kong Dollar

Hong Kong Dollar

The currency of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China. It was first issued in the 1860s and, for a number of years, circulated in Hong Kong along with several other currencies. From 1963 to 1935, it was pegged to silver. It then adopted a crawling peg to the British pound, which continued until the yen was introduced during Japanese occupation in World War II. The dollar and the peg to the pound were reintroduced after the war, but the peg was eventually changed to the U.S. dollar. It began to float in 1974, but readopted the U.S. dollar peg in 1983. It is an important currency because of Hong Kong's position as an international trade center.