Kowloon

Kowloon (including New Kowloon) is an area bounded north by a mountain range. Lion Rock in the middle is a peak among the range.

In modern day Hong Kong, Kowloon (Traditional Chinese: 九龍, Simplified Chinese: 九龙; Cantonese IPA: [kɐʊ₃₅ ləʊŋ₁₁], Jyutping: gau2 lung4; Mandarin Pinyin: Jiǔlóng; literally meaning Nine dragons) refers to the urban area made up of Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon, bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait in the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen and Stonecutter's Island in the west, Tate's Cairn and Lion Rock in the north, and Victoria Harbour in the south. Population (2000): 2,071,000. Population density: 44,000 people/km² or 112,000 people/mi². The peninsula's area is approximately 47 km² or 18.1 mi². It, together with Hong Kong Island, contains 47% of Hong Kong's total population.

More accurate transcription Kau Lung or Kau-lung was often used in derived place names before World War II period, like Kau-lung Bay instead of Kowloon Bay.

Contents

1 Location
2 Administration
3 Politics
4 History
5 See also
6 External links

Location

Kowloon is located north of Hong Kong Island and south of the mainland part of the New Territories.

Administration

It comprises the following districts:

Politics

Kowloon covers two geographical constituencies for the Legislative Council of Hong Kong:

Kowloon East includes Wong Tai Sin and Kwun Tong
Kowloon West includes Yau Tsim Mong, Sham Shui Po and Kowloon City

History

Kowloon in 1915

Kowloon means nine dragons and represents the eight peaks (1.Castle Peak (583 m), 2.Tai Mo Shan (958 m), 3.Tate's Cairn (583 m), 4.Lion Rock (495 m), 5. Ma On Shan (702 m), 6. Kowloon Peak (602 m), 7. Sharp Peak (468 m), etc...) and the ninth being the Chinese emperor.

The part of Kowloon south of Boundary Street, together with Stonecutters Island, was ceded from Qing China to United Kingdom under the Convention of Peking of 1860. For many years the area remained largely undeveloped, used by the British mainly for tiger-hunting expeditions.

The part of Kowloon north of Boundary Street (New Kowloon) was leased from Qing China to Britain as part of the New Territories in 1898 for 99 years. Within New Kowloon is the Kowloon City, which refers to an area where the Kowloon Walled City used to be located. The Kowloon Walled City itself was demolished in 1993. (The same area was called 官富場 (Pinyin: Guanfuchang) during the Song Dynasty.)

In modern day conversations, however, New Kowloon is often not regarded as part of the New Territories, but as an integral part of the Kowloon urban area on both sides of Boundary Street. For rates tax purposes, New Kowloon is not considered part of Kowloon. Properties in New Kowloon are subjected to pay the land leases as those in the New Territories.

Large-scale development of Kowloon began in the early 20th century, with the construction of the Kowloon-Canton Railway, the Kowloon Wharf, and the Kai Tak Airport. Precisely because of the airport, building height restrictions had been in place for many years. Yet Kowloon still became extremely congested, especially after the Second World War, when slums for refugees from the newly established People's Republic of China gave way to public housings, mixed with private residential, commercial and industrial areas.

On July 1, 1997, both parts of Kowloon were transferred to the People's Republic of China along with the rest of Hong Kong.

External links

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[[zh-yue:九龍]]

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