Hong Kong ("Fragrant Harbour" or "Incense Harbour" in Cantonese) is a former British Crown Colony (1842-1997) and now an autonomous territory and special administrative region of China. This global financial center is located in the southern region of Mainland China and east of the Pearl River Estuary. At over 7.2 million residents, Hong Kong covers a total land and sea area of 2,754 km2 and ranks as the world's fourth most densely populated sovereign state or territory. Nicknamed "Pearl of the Orient", Hong Kong is renowned for its deep natural harbor, which provides international cargo ships ready access, and its "cement forest" skyline with an extremely high density of skyscrapers. As much of Hong Kong's terrain is hilly to mountainous with steep slopes, less than 25% of the territory's landmass is developed, and about 40% of the remaining land area is reserved as country parks and nature reserves. Students have been completing projects in Hong Kong since 2002.