ENG-1971 — Page 282

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Geography and Climate

THE Colony of Hong Kong is on the south-east coast of China, adjoining the province of Kwangtung. It is just inside the tropics, less than 100 miles south of the tropic of Cancer, and lies between latitudes 22°9′ and 22°37′N and longitudes 113°52′ and 114°30′E. The Colony consists of a small part of the Chinese mainland and a scattering of offshore islands, the most important of which is Hong Kong Island. Its economic heart is the magnificent natural harbour which lies between Hong Kong Island and the tip of the Kowloon peninsula on the mainland. The twin cities of Victoria, on Hong Kong Island, and Kowloon overlook the harbour on either side, and are about 90 miles south-east of Canton and 40 miles east of Portuguese Macau. The shortest air route between Hong Kong and London is almost 6,000 miles, but the jet age has brought the Colony to within less than 24 hours of Britain.

The total land area of the Colony is 403.7 square miles (including recent reclamations) of which Hong Kong Island itself, together with a number of small adjacent islands, comprise 29.2 square miles. Kowloon and Stonecutters Island comprise another 4.1 square miles. The New Territories, which consist of part of the mainland and more than 230 islands, have a total area of 370.4 square miles.

TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY

Hong Kong is situated on the edge of an eroded mountain chain which extends along the south coast of China. The chain is largely composed of folded and metamorphosed volcanic and sedimentary rocks with younger intrusions of granitic rocks mostly of the Jurassic Period. The oldest sedimentary rocks in the Colony are those of the Tolo Harbour Formation. This formation is exposed at Ma Shi Chau and contains fossils that have been dated as most probably Permian in age. However, its stratigraphic relationships are somewhat uncertain. Mineralisation, associated with the intru- sion of the granitic rocks, has been of limited economic benefit to the Colony. Lead, zinc, tungsten, beryl and graphite have been mined but only in small quantities. Iron ore mining has been of