hk domain Domain

.hk is the country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) for Hong Kong. It exists since 1990.

Hong Kong is located on the south coast of the People's Republic of China. With its more than seven million inhabitants and its flourishing financial and economic sector, the metropolis is one of the world's cities.

Since 1841 Hong Kong was occupied by the United Kingdom and was considered a British colony. In 1997, sovereignty was transferred to the People's Republic of China. Since then, Hong Kong has been a Chinese Special Administrative Region with great internal autonomy and its own market economy.

The domain was managed by the Joint University Computer Center until 2002.

Through a Memorandum of Understanding with the Hong Kong Government, the Hong Kong Internet Registration Corporation (HKIRC) took over the administration of the system in 2002.

The daily administration of the registration service for certain .hk domain names and generic domain names (example: www.myname.hk) is the responsibility of Hong Kong Domain Name Registration Corporation Limited (HKDNR), a subsidiary of HKIRC.

The domain names can be registered on the second as well as on the third level.

Initially, after the introduction, the subscription rights for a .hk domain always had to be proven in writing, but since 2004, legal entities and natural persons can register freely. Earlier necessities, such as a branch office or residence, have been dropped.
Nevertheless, companies must still provide their commercial register and VAT number, while natural persons must present their identity card number and date of birth.

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) approved the use of Chinese characters in 2010. It was introduced at the same time as the .tw and .cn extensions to cover the Chinese language area.
?? (Hong Kong in simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese characters; DNS name: .xn - j6w193g) by HKIRC, is the internationalized TLD.
In July 2010 the TLD was added to the DNS.

The first domain was activated on 23 March 2011. Further domain categories have been opened for registration since May 31, 2011, e.g. com.hk for commercial companies registered in Hong Kong or .edu.hk for educational institutions.

The .hk has been one of the most popular TLDs in the world for years, but unfortunately it is often associated with Internet crime. In 2008, McAfee found that almost one in five websites in this domain is considered to be of concern. It will remain one of the most dangerous TLDs in the years to come.