[iheartlife]

Historically that might have been the case, today HK is rich because of its (financial) regulations that was mainly inherited from the british. HK is still one of the incorporation centers of the the world (akin to Delaware in US) as well as a major financial hub.

[robjan]

This is because it's the main route for money going in and out of China. Pretty much all of the commercial activity in Hong Kong is either trading/investing activities with China or facilitating trade/investment in China

[strogonoff]

Clearly, once HK loses the remnants of its autonomy and becomes literally a part of China rather than some external middle ground, it would no longer reap these benefits of its geography.