New Territories in the context of "Kowloon"

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. Situated on China's southern coast just south of Shenzhen, it consists of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories. With 7.5 million residents in a 1,114-square-kilometre (430 sq mi) territory, Hong Kong is the fourth-most densely populated region in the world.

Hong Kong was established as a colony of the British Empire after the Qing dynasty ceded Hong Kong Island in 1841–1842 as a consequence of losing the First Opium War. The colony expanded to the Kowloon Peninsula in 1860 and was further extended when the United Kingdom obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories in 1898. Hong Kong was occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945 during World War II. The territory was handed over from the United Kingdom to China in 1997. Hong Kong maintains separate governing and economic systems from that of mainland China under the principle of one country, two systems.

Hong Kong was under British rule from 1841 to 1997, except for a brief period of Japanese occupation during the Second World War from 1941 to 1945. It was a Crown colony of the United Kingdom from 1841 to 1981, and a dependent territory from 1981 to 1997. The colonial period began with the British occupation of Hong Kong Island under the Convention of Chuenpi in 1841 of the Victorian era, and ended with the handover of Hong Kong in July 1997.

In accordance with Article III of the Treaty of Nanking of 1842, signed in the aftermath of the First Opium War, the island of Hong Kong was ceded in perpetuity to Great Britain. It was established as a Crown colony in 1843. In 1860, the British expanded the colony with the addition of the Kowloon Peninsula and was further extended in 1898 when the British obtained a 99-year lease of the New Territories. Although the Qing had to cede Hong Kong Island and Kowloon in perpetuity as per the treaty, the leased New Territories comprised 86.2% of the colony and more than half of the entire colony's population. With the lease nearing its end during the late 20th century, Britain did not see any viable way to administer the colony by dividing it, whilst the People's Republic of China would not consider extending the lease or allowing continued British administration thereafter.

Hong Kong Island (simplified Chinese: 香港岛; traditional Chinese: 香港島; pinyin: xiāng gǎng dǎo; Jyutping: Hoeng1 gong2 dou2; Cantonese Yale: Hēunggóng dóu) is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of 16,390 per square kilometre (42,400/sq mi), as of 2023. It is the second largest island in Hong Kong, with the largest being Lantau Island. Hong Kong Island forms one of the three areas of Hong Kong, with the other two being Kowloon and the New Territories.

In 1842, following the Qing dynasty's defeat at the First Opium War (1839–1842), Hong Kong Island was formally ceded in perpetuity to the United Kingdom under the Treaty of Nanking. The City of Victoria was then established on the island by British forces, named in honour of Queen Victoria. At that time, the island had a population of about 3,000 inhabitants scattered in a dozen fishing villages.

The Battle of Hong Kong (8–25 December 1941), also known as the Defence of Hong Kong and the Fall of Hong Kong, was one of the first battles of the Pacific War in World War II. On the same morning as the attack on Pearl Harbor, forces of the Empire of Japan attacked the British Crown colony of Hong Kong around the same time that Japan declared war on Britain. The Hong Kong garrison consisted of British, Indian and Canadian units, also the Auxiliary Defence Units and Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps (HKVDC).

Of the three territories of Hong Kong, the defenders abandoned the two mainland territories of Kowloon and New Territories within a week. Less than two weeks later, with their last territory Hong Kong Island untenable, the colony surrendered. The fall of the city is regarded as Black Christmas as it marked the beginning of a brutal occupation by Japan that would last until its liberation in the summer of 1945. Britain's defeat in Hong Kong alongside the Fall of Singapore in 1942 would irreparably damage its reputation in Asia as a major military power.

The handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the People's Republic of China occurred at midnight on 1 July 1997. This event ended 156 years of British rule, dating back to the cession of Hong Kong Island in 1841 during the First Opium War.

Hong Kong was a colony of the British Empire from 1841, except during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong from 1941 to 1945. Its territory expanded after the First Opium War with the addition of the Kowloon Peninsula and Stonecutters Island in 1860 and the New Territories in 1898 under a 99-year lease. The 1984 Sino–British Joint Declaration set the terms of the 1997 handover, under which China pledged to uphold "one country, two systems" for 50 years. Hong Kong became China's first special administrative region, followed by Macau in 1999 under similar arrangements. With a population of about 6.5 million in 1997, Hong Kong made up 97 percent of the population of all the British Dependent Territories and was Britain's last major colony.

The Convention between the United Kingdom and China, Respecting an Extension of Hong Kong Territory, commonly known as the Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory or the Second Convention of Peking, was a lease and unequal treaty signed between Qing China and the United Kingdom in Peking on 9 June 1898, leasing to the United Kingdom for 99 years, at no charge, the New Territories (as the area became known) and northern Kowloon, including 235 islands.

Kowloon Walled City (Chinese: 九龍城寨) was an extremely densely populated and largely lawless enclave of China within the boundaries of Kowloon City of former British Hong Kong. Built as an imperial Chinese military fort, the walled city became a de jure enclave after the New Territories were leased to the United Kingdom in 1898. Its population increased dramatically after the end of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II, attracting mostly refugees fleeing the renewed Chinese Civil War.

By the late 1980s, the walled city contained roughly 35,000 residents within its territory of 2.6 hectares (6+1⁄2 acres), resulting in a staggering population density of over 1.2 million inhabitants per square kilometre (3 million inhabitants per square mile). As a result of the absence of any widely recognized bureaucracy, the city's residents and businesses had no municipal codes to govern them. Enabled by the enclave's anarchic nature, trade in banned products thrived, ranging from narcotics to dog meat. From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was controlled by local triad gangs and had high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug abuse.

Lantau Island (also Lantao Island, Lan Tao or Lan Tau) is the largest island in Hong Kong. Located west of Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula, it is part of the New Territories. Administratively, most of Lantau Island is part of the Islands District of Hong Kong. A small northeastern portion of the island is located in the Tsuen Wan District.

Originally an island with fishing villages, it has been developed since the late 20th century with the construction of Tung Chung New Town on its north-western coast and the completion of several major infrastructure projects, including Lantau Link (1997), Hong Kong International Airport (1998), Hong Kong Disneyland (2005), and the Ngong Ping 360 gondola lift (2006).