Hong Kong belongs to China. However, Hong Kong has been a colony of the British Empire for 154 years and 11 months and it has been under Japan rule for three years and eight years. Hong Kong returned to China in 1997. Its special history has significant influence on the language development in Hong Kong. During the period of British Empire, the popularity of Christianity, the commercial usefulness of English and high prestige in the society have resulted in the widely spread of English.In addition, English-medium education is in a relatively high state under the colonial regime while Chinese-medium education to some extent is not emphasized. The government has ruled that if parents would like their children to be educated in a good government school, they need to receive English-medium education. Consequently, the majority of parents would like their children to be educated by English. Apart from that, English has a legal status as an official language during British Colonialism period in Hong Kong. Lastly, some scholars supported the existence of a new English variety in Hong Kong(Hong Kong English), but others do not believe that. The requirements of language policies and the process of language spread in Hong Kong could be explained using some theories such as‘linguistic imperialism’,‘Kachru’s concentric circles’ and‘Schneider’s five stages’. For instance, from Kachru’s perspective, the development of English in Hong Kong could be placed at the beginning of the third stage.It will firstly demonstrate some primary language policies in Hong Kong before its‘Handover’to China. And then, it will show several significant language spread theories and focus on relating them to the requirements of language policies and the process of language spread in Hong Kong.
