Everything about New Territories totally explained
New Territories, abbreviated to
NT or
N.T., is a region in
Hong Kong excluding
Hong Kong Island,
Kowloon and
Stonecutters Island. Historically, it's the region described in
The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory. According to that the territories comprise the mainland area north of the
Boundary Street of
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 the establishment of
New Kowloon, the extension of urban Kowloon between the Boundary Street and the Kowloon Ranges spanned from
Lai Chi Kok to
Lei Yue Mun, the New Kowloon was gradually urbanised and absorbed into Kowloon and finally excluded from New Territories. Hence, the New Territories now is 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 952km² (368 sq mi).
(External Link
)
The New Territories were leased from
Qing China to 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 expiration of the lease, it was transferred to
People's Republic of China in
1997, together with the Qing ceded territories of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula.
In
2006, New Territories had a population of 3,573,635 and its population density was 3,748 per km².
History
Lease of New Territories
Hong Kong Island was ceded to Britain in
1841 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 over crowded. 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 has 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.
In January 1898,
Germany was given a lease of
Jiaozhouwan (Kiaochow) following the murder of two German missionaries by bandits in
Shandong (Shantung) province. Seeking to expand its own influence in northeastern China, Russia demanded
Port Arthur (Lüshunkou) in the nearby
Liaodong (Liaotung) peninsula in March 1898. One month later, France was granted a lease for
Guangzhouwan (Kwang-Chou-Wan) in
Guangdong (Kwangtung), close to its existing colonies in
Southeast Asia.
Alarmed by European encroachment 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 wall 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 or 12 times the size of the existing
Colonial Hong Kong at the time.
British assumption of sovereignty
Although the Convention was signed on the 9 June
1898 and became effective on
1 July, the British didn't take over the New Territories immediately. During this period, there was no
Hong Kong Governor and
Wilsone Black acted as administrator.
Steward 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. Lockhard suggested moving the frontier to the line of hills north of Shenzhen. This suggestion wasn't received favorably 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. A takeover date was chosen as
17 April 1899 and
Tai Po was chosen as the administrative centre. However the transfer wasn't smooth and peaceful. Before the handover in early April, 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.
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 wasn't received favourably, although if it had been acted on, Hong Kong might have remained forever in British hands.
New town development
Much of the New Territories were, and to a limited extent still are, rural areas. Attempts at modernising the area were not extensive until the late
1970s, in which many new towns were built to accommodate the overspill from the urbanized areas of
Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. Despite rapid development of the new towns which has resulted in 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.
Sovereignty transfer to PRC
As the expiration 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. This is because Hong Kong's new airport, shipping ports, reservoirs and other vital installations were (and are) all in the New Territories. Had only the New Territories been returned to China, it would also have been difficult to accommodate those New Territories residents moving to the
Kowloon Peninsula and
Hong Kong Island.
Districts
The New Territories comprise the following
districts:
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 (for example excluding the
Stonecutters Island) and the northern portion of the
Kowloon City District (portion to the north of the Boundary Street/Prince Edward Road West, as well as reclaimed land including the
Kai Tak Airport).
Further Information
Get more info on 'New Territories'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://new_territories.totallyexplained.com">New Territories Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
