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New Territories 新界 | |
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Coordinates: 22°24′36″N114°07′30″E / 22.410°N 114.125°E | |
Country | China |
SAR | Hong Kong |
Area | |
• Total | 952 km2 (368 sq mi) |
Population (2011) | |
• Total | 3,691,093 |
• Density | 3,801/km2 (9,845/sq mi) |
Time zone | UTC+08:00 (Hong Kong Time) |
New Territories | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chinese | 新界 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jyutping | San1gaai3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Literal meaning | New Frontier | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The New Territories is one of the three main regions of Hong Kong,alongside Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory,and contains around half of the population of Hong Kong. Historically,it is the region described in the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory. According to that treaty,the territories comprise the mainland area north of Boundary Street on the Kowloon Peninsula and south of the Sham Chun River (which is the border between Hong Kong and Mainland China),as well as over 200 outlying islands,including Lantau Island,Lamma Island,Cheung Chau,and Peng Chau in the territory of Hong Kong.
Later,after New Kowloon was defined from the area between the Boundary Street and the Kowloon Ranges spanned from Lai Chi Kok to Lei Yue Mun,and the extension of the urban areas of Kowloon,New Kowloon was gradually urbanised and absorbed into Kowloon.
The New Territories now comprises only the mainland north of the Kowloon Ranges and south of the Sham Chun River,as well as the Outlying Islands. It comprises an area of 952 km2 (368 sq mi). [1] Nevertheless,New Kowloon has remained statutorily part of the New Territories instead of Kowloon.
The New Territories were leased from Qing China by the United Kingdom in 1898 for 99 years in the Second Convention of Peking (The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory). Upon the expiry of the lease,sovereignty was transferred to the People's Republic of China in 1997,together with the Qing-ceded territories of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula.
In 2011,the population of the New Territories was recorded at 3,691,093. [2] with a population density of 3,801 per square kilometer (9,845 per square mile). [3]
Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain in 1842 and Kowloon south of Boundary Street and Stonecutters Island in 1860. The colony of Hong Kong attracted a large number of Chinese and Westerners to seek their fortune in the city. Its population increased rapidly and the city became overcrowded. The outbreak of bubonic plague in 1894 became a concern to the Hong Kong Government. There was a need to expand the colony to accommodate its growing population. The Qing Dynasty's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War had shown that it was incapable of defending itself. Victoria City and Victoria Harbour were vulnerable to any hostile forces launching attacks from the hills of Kowloon.
Alarmed by the encroachment of other European powers in China,Britain also feared for the security of Hong Kong. Using the most favoured nation clause that it had negotiated with Peking,the United Kingdom demanded the extension of Kowloon to counter the influence of France in southern China in June 1898. In July,it secured Weihaiwei in Shandong in the north as a base for operations against the Germans in Qingdao (Tsingtao) and the Russians in Port Arthur. Chinese officials stayed in the walled cities of Kowloon City and Weihaiwei.
The extension of Kowloon was called the New Territories. The additional land was estimated to be 365 square miles (945 km2) or 12 times the size of the existing Colonial Hong Kong at the time. [4]
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Although the Convention was signed on the 9 June 1898 and became effective on 1 July,the British did not take over the New Territories immediately. During this period,there was no Hong Kong Governor and Wilsone Black acted as administrator. James Stewart Lockhart,the Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong,was sent back from England to make a survey of New Territories before formal transfer. The survey found that the new frontier at Sham Chun River (Shenzhen river) suggested by Wilsone Black was far from ideal. It excluded the town of Shenzhen (Sham Chun),and the boundary would divide the town. There was no mountain range as a natural border. Lockhart suggested moving the frontier to the line of hills north of Shenzhen. This suggestion was not received favourably and the Chinese official suggested the frontier be moved to the hill much further south of the Sham Chun River. It was settled in March 1899 that the boundary remain at the Sham Chun River.
The new Hong Kong Governor,Henry Blake arrived in November 1898. The date for the takeover of the New Territories was fixed as 17 April 1899,and Tai Po was chosen as the administrative centre. The transfer was not smooth and peaceful. In early April 1899,Captain Superintendent of Police,Francis Henry May and some policemen erected a flagstaff and temporary headquarters at Tai Po and posted the Governor's proclamation of the takeover date. Fearing for their traditional land rights,in the Six-Day War of 1899,a number of clans attempted to resist the British,mobilising clan militias [5] that had been organised and armed to protect against longshore raids by pirates. The militia men attempted a frontal attack against the temporary police station in Tai Po that was the main British base but were beaten back by superior force of arms. An attempt by the clansmen at guerilla warfare was put down by the British near Lam Tsuen with over 500 Chinese men killed,and collapsed when British artillery was brought to bear on the walled villages of the clansmen. Most prominent of the villages in the resistance Kat Hing Wai,of the Tang clan,was symbolically disarmed,by having its main gates dismounted and removed. However,in order to prevent future resistance the British made concessions to the indigenous inhabitants with regards to land use,land inheritance and marriage laws;the majority of which remained in place into the 1960s when polygamy was outlawed. Some of the concessions with regard to land use and inheritance remain in place in Hong Kong to this day and is a source of friction between indigenous inhabitants and other Hong Kong residents.
Lord Lugard was Governor from 1907 to 1912,and he proposed the return of Weihaiwei to the Chinese government,in return for the ceding of the leased New Territories in perpetuity. The proposal was not received favourably,although if it had been acted on,Hong Kong might have remained forever in British hands.
Much of the New Territories was,and to a limited extent still is,made up of rural areas. Attempts at modernising the area did not become fully committed until the late 1970s,when many new towns were built to accommodate the population growth from urbanised areas of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. Despite rapid development of the new towns,which now accommodate a population of over 3 million,the Hong Kong Government confines built-up areas to a few areas and reserves large parts of the region as parkland.
As the expiry date of the lease neared in the 1980s,talks between the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China led to the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration (1984),in which the whole of Hong Kong would be returned,instead of only the New Territories.
The New Territories comprises nine districts each with their own District Council:
According to the 2011 census,the population of the New Territories was 3,691,093,representing 52.2% of Hong Kong's total population. [2] 88.4% of the residents of New Territories use Cantonese as their main language. 4.3% of its residents use English, [6] 1.2% use Mandarin Chinese,and 3.3% of New Territories' residents use other Chinese dialects. 95.1% of the district's population is of Chinese descent. The largest ethnic minority groups are Filipinos (31.5%),Indonesians (26.2%),South Asians (14.5%),Mixed (11.2%) and Whites (10.0%). [7]
New Kowloon covers the entirety of the Wong Tai Sin and Kwun Tong districts,as well as the mainland portion of the Sham Shui Po District (i.e. excluding the Stonecutters Island) and the northern portion of the Kowloon City District (portion to the north of Boundary Street/Prince Edward Road West[ citation needed ],as well as reclaimed land including the Kai Tak Airport).
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), can be divided into three geographical regions: Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories. Hong Kong is a coastal city and major port in Southern China, bordering Guangdong Province through the city of Shenzhen to the north and the South China Sea to the east, south, and west. Hong Kong and its 260 nearby islands and peninsulas are located at the mouth of the Pearl River Delta. The area of Hong Kong is distinct from Mainland China, but is considered a part of "Greater China".
Hong Kong has a highly developed transport network, encompassing both public and private transport. Based on Hong Kong Government's Travel Characteristics Survey, over 90% of daily journeys are on public transport, the highest rate in the world. However, in 2014 the Transport Advisory Committee, which advises the Government on transportation issues, issued a report on the much-worsened congestion problem in Hong Kong and pointed at the excessive growth of private cars during the past 10–15 years.
Kowloon is an urban area in Hong Kong comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of 43,033/km2 (111,450/sq mi) in 2006. It is one of the three regions of Hong Kong, along with Hong Kong Island and the New Territories, and is the smallest, second most populous and most densely populated.
The Kowloon–Canton Railway was a railway network in Hong Kong. It was owned and operated by the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) until 2007. Rapid transit services, a light rail system, feeder bus routes within Hong Kong, and intercity passenger and freight train services to China on the KCR network, have been operated by the MTR Corporation since 2007.
Sham Shui Po is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (石硤尾). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui Po District.
Yuen Long District is one of the districts of Hong Kong. Located in the northwest of the New Territories, it had a population of 662,000 in 2021
Tai Po District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. The suburban district covers the areas of Tai Po New Town, Tai Po Tau, Tai Po Kau, Hong Lok Yuen, Ting Kok, Plover Cove, Lam Tsuen Valley, Tai Mei Tuk and other surrounding areas, and its exclaves Sai Kung North, in the northern part of the Sai Kung Peninsula and including islands such as Grass Island, and Ping Chau. Tai Po proper and Sai Kung North are divided by the Tolo Channel and the Tolo Harbour. The district is located in the Eastern New Territories. The de facto administrative centre of the district is Tai Po New Town.
Sha Tin District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. As one of the 9 districts located in the New Territories, it covers the areas of Sha Tin, Tai Wai, Ma On Shan, Fo Tan, Siu Lek Yuen, Kwun Yam Shan and Ma Liu Shui. The district is the most populous district in Hong Kong, with a population of 659,794 as per 2016 by-census, having a larger population than many states or dependencies including Iceland, Malta, Montenegro and Brunei.
Sai Kung District is one of the 18 districts of Hong Kong. The district comprises the southern half of the Sai Kung Peninsula, the Clear Water Bay Peninsula in the New Territories and a strip of land to the east of Kowloon. Areas in the district include Sai Kung Town, Hong Kong UNESCO Global Geopark, Tseung Kwan O and over 70 islands of different sizes. The administrative centre had been located in Sai Kung Town until the Sai Kung District Office was relocated to Tseung Kwan O recently. The district's population is concentrated in Tseung Kwan O, as of 2011. In 2011, the district was the third youngest district, with a median age of 39.3. Known as the "back garden of Hong Kong", Sai Kung has been able to retain its natural scenery. Many traditional customs and cultures are still retained in the rural villages.
Lo Wu is an area in North District, New Territories, Hong Kong. It lies on the border between Hong Kong and mainland China, specifically the Luohu District of Shenzhen in mainland China. The area is most notable as the location of the most heavily used immigration control point for passengers travelling to and from mainland China. It is where the Lo Wu station is located.
Boundary Street is a three-lane one-way street in Kowloon, Hong Kong. It runs in an easterly direction from its start at the intersection with Tung Chau Street in the west, and ends at its intersection with Prince Edward Road West in the east, near the former Kai Tak Airport.
New Kowloon is an area in Hong Kong, bounded to the south by Boundary Street, and to the north by the ranges of the Eagle's Nest, Beacon Hill, Lion Rock, Tate's Cairn and Kowloon Peak. It covers the present-day Kwun Tong District and Wong Tai Sin District, and northern parts of the Sham Shui Po District and Kowloon City District.
The Sham Chun River or Shenzhen River serves as the natural border between Hong Kong and Mainland China, together with Deep Bay, Mirs Bay, and the Sha Tau Kok River.
Sham Shui Po District is one of 18 districts of Hong Kong. It is the second poorest district by income in Hong Kong, with a predominantly working-class population of 405,869 in 2016 and the lowest median household income of all districts. Sham Shui Po has long been home to poorer new immigrants from China. It also saw the birth of public housing in Hong Kong, as the government sought to resettle those displaced by a devastating fire in its slums. Sham Shui Po also hosted a Vietnamese refugee camp during the influx of migration in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
Lai Chi Kok Road is a road in western Kowloon, Hong Kong. It links Lai Chi Kok to Mong Kok, via Tai Kok Tsui, Sham Shui Po and Cheung Sha Wan. It starts from a junction with Nathan Road near Pioneer Centre in the south and ends near Mei Foo Sun Chuen. The road is bidirectional except the section at Lai Chi Kok, between the junction with Butterfly Valley Road and Mei Foo Sun Chuen, where it serves New Territories-bound traffic only. The Kowloon-bound traffic uses Cheung Sha Wan Road, separated by the flyover of Kwai Chung Road. The road once hosted shipyards, fish, meat and vegetable wholesale markets, which were moved closer to the coast after extensive reclamation.
The Convention between the United Kingdom and China, Respecting an Extension of Hong Kong Territory, commonly known as the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory or the Second Convention of Peking, was a lease and unequal treaty signed between Qing China and the United Kingdom in Peking on 9 June 1898, leasing to the United Kingdom for 99 years, at no charge, the New Territories and northern Kowloon, including 235 islands.
San Tin is a loosely defined area in Yuen Long District in New Territories, Hong Kong that is part of the San Tin constituency. Unlike Hong Kong's highly urbanised areas, San Tin is sparsely populated due to its marshlands.
Tai Po Market or Tai Po Hui is the name of an area within the modern-day Tai Po New Town in the Tai Po District, in the New Territories, Hong Kong. However, its exact location changed from time to time. It is considered as the town centre of the area known as Tai Po. The area was first established as a market town, at the location of the modern-day residential and commercial area Tai Po Old Market, or Tai Po Kau Hui (大埔舊墟), which is near the present-day area Tai Wo. Later on, a new market, Tai Wo Shi (太和市) was established across the river and when the Kowloon-Canton Railway British Section was opened in 1910, it was the site of a flag station named Tai Po Market. However, all three areas do not overlap, and are divided by Lam Tsuen River or Tai Po Tai Wo Road. Tai Po Market, Tai Po Old Market and Tai Wo Estate are all within modern day Tai Po New Town.
Hong Kong's rail network mainly comprises public transport trains operated by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRC). The MTRC operates the metro network of the territory, the commuter rail network connecting the northeastern, northwestern and southwestern New Territories to the urban areas, and a light rail network in northwestern New Territories. The operations of the territory's two leading railway companies, MTRC and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC), were merged in 2007 on grounds of economies of scale and cost effectiveness. The Hong Kong Government has an explicit stated transport policy of using railways as its transport backbone.
The Boundaries of Hong Kong, officially the Boundary of the Administrative Division of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, is a regulated administrative border with border control in force under the One country, two systems constitutional principle, which separates the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region from mainland China, by land border fence of 30 km (19 mi) and maritime boundary of 733 km (455 mi), enforcing a separate immigration and customs-controlled jurisdiction from mainland China.