The Bahá'í Faith in Hong Kong began during the lifetime of the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, Bahá'u'lláh. Hong Kong’s history as crown colony of the United Kingdom and then a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China has given it a unique history – a history that has impacted the structure and growth of the Bahá'í Faith there. Of course the cataclysm of the World Wars and other major events impacted the Bahá'í community there as it did the citizenry generally. In 2005 the Association of Religion Data Archives (relying mostly on World Christian Encyclopedia) estimated the Bahá'í population of Hong Kong at about 1100.