Editor's note: Ranked the world's freest economy by Vancouver-based think tank the Fraser Institute since 1997, China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) is a free port and global metropolis that enjoys great economic and social prosperity. Over the years, Hong Kong has emerged stronger as an international financial, shipping and trading center, with increasing external interactions and a rising international profile. As Hong Kong prepares to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its return to the motherland, China.org.cn looks at the city's top 10 landmarks.

# Bank of China Tower

The Bank of China Group Investment Ltd announced its intention to build the tower in 1984, the same year that the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed, to show its confidence in Hong Kong's future. The 315-meter-tall skyscraper (367.4 meters in total if including the spires on the roof) was put into use in 1990 to house the Hong Kong headquarters of the Bank of China. Designed by world-renowned architect Ieoh Ming Pei, the skyscraper's bamboo-shaped structure embodies strength, vitality and enterprising spirit, while the granite-filled exterior walls of the building's base symbolize the Great Wall and China.