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Hong Kong’s verticality was born out of

necessity – the scarcity of land and the sloping terrain have always put property at a premium in this densely populated place. Some buildings, such as Central Plaza ( Click here) and Two

International Finance Centre ( Click here), have seized height at all costs; others are smaller but revel in elaborate detail, such as the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank building ( Click here). A privileged few, such as the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre ( Click here), have even made the audacious move to go horizontal.

Though the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank building and the Hong Kong International Airport in Chep Lap Kok (1998) – both by English architect Norman Foster, in Late Modern high-tech style – may be Hong Kong’s best known modern architecture, there are quite a number of fine modernist buildings in the territory designed by old masters. The Lippo Centre ( Map; 89 Queen’s Way, Admiralty), which resembles koalas hugging a tree, is a pair of office towers built in 1987 by American Paul Rudolph.

The new Hong Kong Club building ( Map; 1 Jackson Rd, Central), a reincarnation of Hong Kong’s first gentlemen’s club, was designed by Australian Harry Siedler in the ’80s and features opposing concave and convex curves reminiscent of a swimming stingray. The deceptively modest-looking Mandarin Oriental (Click here) was built in 1963 by John Howarth of Leigh & Orange Architects, a firm headquartered in Hong Kong.

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top picks

OLD AS NEW

Chi Lin Nunnery ( Click here) Built to last a millennium, Hong Kong’s only Buddhist nunnery is an immaculate replica of a Tang-dynasty monastery, a work of art in timber that embodies a flair and finesse rarely seen in faux-ancient architecture.

Crown Wine Cellars (Click here) This Unesco award–winning former ammo depot featuring underground wine cellars and a restaurant with bunkers was the last place in Hong Kong to surrender to the Japanese in WWII.

Maryknoll Convent School ( Map Click here; 2336 0611; 130 Waterloo Rd, Kowloon Tong; MTR Kowloon Tong, minibus 25) A russet sprawl of cloistered courtyards and medieval towers, Hong Kong’s most beautiful school was set up in 1937 to provide an inspired alternative to colonial-style education. Call about open days.

Shek Kip Mei Estate, Mei Ho House ( Map Click here; Block 41, Shek Kip Mei Estate, Sham Shui Po; MTR Shek Kip Mei, exit A) A future youth hostel, there’s grace in the simplicity of this remaining block of Hong Kong’s earliest public housing estate, built in 1953 for the victims of a squatter fire.

Nan Lian Garden ( Map Click here; 3658 9311; www.nanliangarden.org) This splendid Tang-style garden connected to Chi Lin Nunnery is adorned with a pagoda, tea pavilion (Click here), koi pond, Buddhist pines, and sedimentary boulders resembling clouds.

Pawn (Click here) Four tenement houses and a century-old pawn shop make up this contemporary dining address in old Wan Chai.

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For more on Hong Kong’s contemporary architecture, pick up a copy of the illustrated pocket guide Skylines Hong Kong, by Peter Moss, or the more specialist Hong Kong: A Guide to Recent Architecture, by Andrew Yeoh and Juanita Cheung.

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ECONOMY

Soon after the handover, Hong Kong slumped into a recession as a result of the Asian financial crisis. The internet stock bubble provided a brief rebound, but when it burst the economy headed further south. More blows came in the form of 11 September 2001 and the deadly SARS epidemic. The economy finally bottomed out in mid-2003. But a little help from the Central Government, such as allowing individual tourists from the mainland to visit the city, soon had the economy back on its feet, and the stock market entered a four-year bull run until October 2007.

During the downturn, there was talk – ill-advised as it turned out – that Shanghai was the new Asian world city and Hong Kong was doomed to become a mere backwater. A mature economic hub, Hong Kong has the infrastructure and a clear rule of law, vital to business, that had