Chapter 22: Geography and Climate
THE Colony of Hong Kong, which consists of a number of islands and a portion of mainland on the S.E. coast of China, adjoining Kwangtung Province and situated immediately E. of the Pearl River estuary, lies between 22° 9′ and 22° 37′ N. and 113° 52′ and 114° 30′ E. The capital city, Victoria, situated on Hong Kong Island, is 91 miles S.E. of Canton and 40 miles E. of the Portuguese Colony of Macau.
The total land area of the Colony is 391 square miles, made up as follows:
(a) Hong Kong Island (32 sq. miles), including Green Island, Ap Lei Chau, and other immediately adjacent_islets. Victoria, on the north side of the island, has a population of approximately 1,000,000. Also situated on the Island are two important fishing towns, Shau Kei Wan and Aberdeen, and a number of villages, such as Stanley and Shek O, which have developed into popular residential
areas.
(b) Kowloon (34 sq. miles) and Stonecutters Island (4 sq. mile). The northern limit of the ceded territory of Kowloon is Boundary Street. Kowloon and New Kowloon (the urban zone north of Boundary Street) have an estimated popula- tion of more than 1,000,000.
(c) The New Territories (land area 355 sq. miles), leased from China for 99 years from 1st July 1898. The leased area consists of a substantial mainland section north of Kowloon, and 198 islands adjacent to it and in the vicinity of Hong Kong Island. It also includes the waters of Deep Bay and Mirs Bay. The principal centres of population in the New Territories are Tsuen Wan, with a population of 80,000; Cheung Chau, with 25,000 land-based inhabitants and approximately 7,000 people anchored there for the greater part of the year; Yuen Long, 20,000; Tai O, with 12,600 land-based inhabitants and about 2,000 boat dwellers; Shek
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