New Territories

Coordinates: 22°24′36″N 114°07′30″E / 22.410°N 114.125°E / 22.410; 114.125
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the region of Hong Kong. For the community in Houston, see New Territory, Sugar Land, Texas. For other uses, see New states.

New Territories
新界
New Territories (in green) within Hong Kong
New Territories (in green) within Hong Kong
Coordinates: 22°24′36″N 114°07′30″E / 22.410°N 114.125°E / 22.410; 114.125
Area
 • Total952 km2 (368 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total3,691,093
 • Density3,801/km2 (9,845/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+08:00 (Hong Kong Time)
New Territories
Chinese新界
JyutpingSan1gaai3
Literal meaningNew Frontier

The New Territories is one of the three main regions of

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.

Butterfly Bay in New Territories
Flag of the New Territories Regional Council which was disbanded on the last day of 1999

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

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]

History

Lease of New Territories

A map of the leased New Territories and New Kowloon during the 1898 Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory

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

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]

British assumption of sovereignty

The British ceremony in Tai Po, 1899, assuming control of the New Territories

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

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,

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.

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.

New town development

Main article: New towns of Hong Kong

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

parkland
.

Sovereignty transfer to the PRC

As the expiry date of the lease neared in the 1980s, talks between 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.

Districts

The New Territories comprises nine

District Council
:

Population

According to the

Mixed (11.2%) and Whites (10.0%).[7]

New Kowloon

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).

See also

References

  1. ^ "New Territories (region, Hong Kong, China)". Encyclopædia Britannica. britannica.com. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  2. ^ a b "2011 Population Census Fact Sheet Hong Kong". Census2011.gov.hk. Archived from the original on 3 October 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  3. ^ Cox, Wendell. "The Evolving Human Form: Hong Kong". Newgeography.com. Archived from the original on 14 August 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  4. ^ Wiltshire, Trea. [First published 1987] (republished & reduced2003). Old Hong Kong - Volume One. Central, Hong Kong: Text Form Asia books Ltd. Page 75. ISBN Volume One 962-7283-59-2
  5. ^ "The reason behind the resistance by the New Territories inhabitants against British takeover in 1899". Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  6. ^ "Hong Kong: population breakdown by language 2018". Statista. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  7. ^ "Snapshot of Hong Kong Population | 2016 Population By-census". www.bycensus2016.gov.hk. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 24 November 2020.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to New Territories.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for New Territories.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=New_Territories&oldid=1216869230"