ENG-1959 — Page 365

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, on Hong Kong Island, is 91 miles S.E. of Canton and 40 miles E. of the Portuguese Colony of Macau.

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A new Military Survey map which was published in 1957 has been used to re-compute both the total land area of the Colony and its component parts. Some of the figures given in this Chapter are, therefore, different from those used in previous reports, which were based on less accurate data.

The total land area of the Colony is now calculated to be 3981 square miles, made up as follows:

(a) Hong Kong Island (29 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. 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, are also situated on the Island. (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 365 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 235 islands and islets adjacent to it and in the vicinity of Hong Kong Island. It also includes the waters of Deep Bay and Mirs Bay. The total population of the New Territories, excluding New Kowloon, is probably