1994 Hong Kong electoral reform of British administration and replaced it with the Provisional Legislative Council. The decision of transfer of the sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997 was finalised by the Chinese and British governments on 18 December 1984 in the Sino-British Joint Declaration. The Declaration stated that the Chinese government would resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong (including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories), effective on 1 July 1997, from the British government. Within these declarations, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be under the direct jurisdiction of the Central People’s Government and shall enjoy a high degree
Religion in Hong Kong which comprehend the worship of local gods and ancestors, in many cases not declaring this practice as a religious affiliation in surveys. The traditional Chinese religiosity was generally discouraged during the British rule over Hong Kong, which favoured Christianity. With the end of the British rule and the handover of the sovereignty of the city-state to China, there has been a renewal of Buddhist and Chinese folk religions. Chinese folk religion, also named Shenism, is the indigenous religion of the Han Chinese. Its focus is the worship of the "shen" (神 "expressions", "gods"), that are the generative powers of nature,