Kowloon () is one of the three areas of

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, along with Hong Kong Island and the

New Territories The New Territories (N.T., Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: ) is one of the three areas of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of H ...

. It is an urban area comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a population density of in 2006. It is the smallest, second most populous, and most densely populated of the divisions.

Location

Kowloon is located directly north of Hong Kong Island across Victoria Harbour. It is bordered by the Lei Yue Mun strait to the east, Mei Foo Sun Chuen, Butterfly Valley, and Stonecutter's Island to the west, a mountain range, including Tate's Cairn and

Lion Rock Lion Rock, or less formally Lion Rock Hill, is a List of mountains, peaks and hills in Hong Kong, mountain in Hong Kong. It is located in Sha Tin District, between Kowloon Tong of Kowloon and Tai Wai of the New Territories, and is high. The ...

to the north, and Victoria Harbour to the south.

Administration

Kowloon comprises the following districts: * Kowloon City *

Kwun Tong Kwun Tong is an area in the Kwun Tong District of Hong Kong, situated at the eastern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, and its boundary stretches from Lion Rock in the north to Lei Yue Mun in the south, and from the winding paths of Kowloon P ...

* Sham Shui Po * Wong Tai Sin *

Yau Tsim Mong Yau Tsim Mong District is one of Districts of Hong Kong, 18 districts of Hong Kong, located on the western part of Kowloon Peninsula. It is the core urban area of Kowloon. The district has the second highest population density of all distr ...

Name

The name 'Kowloon' () alludes to eight mountains and a Chinese emperor: Kowloon Peak, Tung Shan, Tate's Cairn, Temple Hill, Unicorn Ridge,

, Beacon Hill, Crow's Nest and Emperor Bing of Song.Fallon, Steve. (2006) Hong Kong and Macau. Lonely Planet Publishing. It was also spelt 'Kawloong' in some 19th-century sources.

History

The part of Kowloon south of Boundary Street, together with Stonecutters Island, was ceded by Qing China to the 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 by the British as part of the

under the 1898 Second Convention of Peking for 99 years. Within New Kowloon is Kowloon City, an area of Hong Kong where the Kowloon Walled City used to be located. The Kowloon Walled City itself was demolished in 1993. The same area was called Kwun Fu Cheung () during the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

(9601279). "New Kowloon" has remained part of the

. Statutorily, "Kowloon" is only the area south of Boundary Street and Stonecutters Island, but in common use, New Kowloon is not regarded as part of the New Territories, but as an integral part of the Kowloon urban area whether north or south of Boundary Street. Large-scale development of Kowloon began in the early 20th century, with the construction of the Kowloon-Canton Railway and the Kowloon Wharf, but because of the close proximity of Kowloon's built-up area to Kai Tak Airport, building construction was limited by flight paths. As a result, compared to Hong Kong Island, Kowloon had a much lower skyline. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Kowloon became extremely congested when

slum A slum is a highly populated Urban area, urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are p ...

s for

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s from the newly established People's Republic of China gave way to public housing estates, mixed with private residential, commercial, and industrial areas. The area of reclaimed land now known as West Kowloon was once home to a

dockyard A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Compared to shipyards, which are sometimes more involve ...

for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. The 1911 census recorded a population of 7,306, with most being Hakka. The invasion of China by Japan in 1937 caused the population of Kowloon to grow drastically. Between 1937 and 1939, 750,000 refugees arrived in Kowloon and nearby areas, with many not having residence.

Demographics

, 2,108,419 people lived in Kowloon. About 94.2% of Kowloon's residents are of ethnicity. The largest ethnic minority groups are Indonesians (1.8%),

Filipinos Filipinos () are citizens or people identified with the country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various Austronesian peoples, all typically speaking Filipino language, Filipino, Philippine English, English, or other Philippine language ...

(1.5%), Indians (0.5%), Nepalese (0.4%), and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

(0.3%). Around 86% of Kowloon's residents use

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

as their usual language, while 2.3% use English and 1.2% use Mandarin.

Localities

Kowloon comprises these localities of Hong Kong: * Anderson Road area * Austin * Cha Kwo Ling * Cheung Sha Wan * Diamond Hill *

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

* Hammer Hill * Hung Hom * Ho Man Tin * Kai Tak * Kowloon Bay * Kowloon City * Kowloon Tong *

* Lai Chi Kok * Lam Tin * Lei Yue Mun * Ma Tau Wai * Mong Kok *

Ngau Chi Wan Ngau Chi Wan (Chinese: 牛池灣) was a bay beneath Hammer Hill (Hong Kong), Hammer Hill in New Kowloon, Hong Kong. It now refers to an area where Choi Hung Estate is situated. Features Amidst in an urban built-up area, the original Ngau Ch ...

* Ngau Tau Kok * Prince Edward *

San Po Kong San Po Kong () is an area in New Kowloon in Hong Kong. It is largely industrial and partly residential. Administratively, it belongs to Wong Tai Sin District. Location San Po Kong is located south of Wong Tai Sin, Hong Kong, Wong Tai Sin and ...

Sau Mau Ping Sau Mau Ping () is an area part of Kwun Tong District, in eastern Kowloon, Hong Kong. Name Its Chinese name was formerly So Mau Ping (), but this was often mis-rendered So Mo Ping (), meaning a place to 'Ancestor worship, visit one's ancestor ...

* Sham Shui Po * Shek Kip Mei *

Tai Kok Tsui Tai Kok Tsui is an area west of Mong Kok in Yau Tsim Mong District, Yau Tsim Mong district in the Kowloon region of Hong Kong. The mixed land use of industrial and residential is present in the old area. The Cosmopolitan Dock and oil depots we ...

* To Kwa Wan * Tsim Sha Tsui * Tsz Wan Shan * West Kowloon * Wong Tai Sin * Yau Ma Tei * Yau Tong

Education

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University east

Lists of primary and secondary schools in Kowloon by district: * List of schools in Kowloon City District * List of schools in Kwun Tong District * List of schools in Sham Shui Po District * List of schools in Wong Tai Sin District * List of schools in Yau Tsim Mong District

Tertiary education

City University of Hong Kong The City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) is a public research university in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as the City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and formally established as the City University of Hong Kong in 1994 ...

* Hong Kong Polytechnic University *

Hong Kong Baptist University Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) is a public Liberal arts education, liberal arts university with a Christian ethics, Christian education heritage in Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The university was established as Hong Kong Baptist ...

Open University of Hong Kong Hong Kong Metropolitan University (HKMU, previously known as the Open University of Hong Kong) is a public university in Ho Man Tin, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is the only self-financing university set up by the Hong Kong government. The universi ...

* Tung Wah College * Hong Kong Nang Yan College of Higher Education * Gratia Christian College

Notable people

* Sean Parry (born 1987), cricketer * Jackson Wang (born 1994), musician

Transport

Kowloon is connected to Hong Kong Island by two road-only tunnels (the Cross-Harbour Tunnel and the Western Harbour Crossing), three MTR railway tunnels ( Tsuen Wan line,

Tung Chung line The Tung Chung line () is one of the ten lines of the MTR system in Hong Kong, linking the town of Tung Chung with central Hong Kong. It was built in the 1990s as part of the Airport Railway project, part of the construction of the new ...

/ Airport Express and East Rail) and one combined road and MTR rail link tunnel ( Eastern Harbour Tunnel, containing the Tseung Kwan O line and road traffic in separate parallel conduits). No bridges connect the island and Kowloon.

Gallery

File:The Urban Council Centenary Garden Fountain 2009.jpg, Urban Council Centenary Garden fountain, Tsim Sha Tsui File:Maze Garden, Kowloon Park, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong - DSC06248.JPG, Maze Garden, Kowloon Park, Tsim Sha Tsui File:Boeing 747-428, Air France AN0278440.jpg, An Air France Boeing 747 passing above Kowloon, prior to landing at the old airport in 1998. File:Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry Pier.jpg, Star Ferry Pier, with the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and Tsim Sha Tsui Clock Tower in the background. File:Kowloon Masjid and Islamic Centre from East 2.jpg, Kowloon Masjid and Islamic Centre File:Kowloon-from-Hong-Kong-Island-2015-Luka-Peternel.jpg, Night view of Kowloon from Hong Kong Island

References

External links

* * {{Coord, 22, 19, N, 114, 11, E, display=title Populated coastal places in Hong Kong