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 ofHong 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),[2] as of 2023[update]. It is the second largest island in Hong Kong, with the largest beingLantau Island. Hong Kong Island forms one of the threeareas of Hong Kong, with the other two beingKowloon and theNew Territories.[3]
In 1842, following theQing dynasty's defeat at theFirst Opium War (1839–1842), Hong Kong Island was formally ceded in perpetuity to theUnited Kingdom under theTreaty of Nanking. TheCity of Victoria was then established on the island by British forces, named in honour ofQueen Victoria; the island is also known asVictoria Island.[4][5] At that time, the island had a population of about 3,000 inhabitants scattered in a dozen fishing villages.
The northern coast of the island forms the southern shore of theVictoria Harbour, which is largely responsible for the development of Hong Kong due to its deep waters favoured by large trade ships. The island is home to many famous tourists sights, such as "The Peak",Ocean Park,Former Central Police Station Compound,Murray House, and many other historical sites and various large shopping centres. The mountain ranges across the island are also famous forhiking.
The northern part of Hong Kong Island, together withKowloon andTsuen Wan New Town, forms the core urban area of Hong Kong. Their combined area is approximately 88.3 square kilometres (34.1 square miles) and their combined population is approximately 3,156,500, reflecting a population density of 35,700 people/km2 (92,000 people/sq mi).
The island is often referred to locally as "Hong Kong side" or "Island side". The suffix "-side" is also applied to other locations in Hong Kong, the sole remnant of which being "Kowloon side" when referring to the other side of Victoria Harbour.[6][page needed][better source needed]
Human settlement of the area dates back 6,000 years ago, as evidenced byNeolithic artifacts discovered inStanley, Hong Kong Island.[7]
In 214 BC, theQin dynasty defeated theBaiyue, and absorbed areas of what is nowGuangdong,Guangxi, and northernVietnam. Hong Kong Island was part of the annexed land and was listed under the jurisdiction of Panyu County (番禺縣) of theNanhai Commandery (南海郡). On the sixth year of theEastern Jin dynasty (AD 331), Hong Kong Island was listed under the jurisdiction ofBaoan County (寶安縣).[8]
Copper coins from theSui,Tang andSong dynasty were unearthed in where theRoyal Hong Kong Yacht Club is presently located at, on whereKellett Island would have been prior to theland reclamation connecting the island toCauseway Bay in 1969. This suggests that during these periods of times, the island already had its own commercial activity. Song dynasty copper coins served as universal currency in transregional trade.[9]
The ban was lifted when the remnants of the Ming dynasty were exterminated in 1669, though not many original residents of Hong Kong Island returned to the area.[10] Piracy was rampant in the area until the island was ceded to theUnited Kingdom in 1842.[11]
Following theFirst Opium War (1839–1842), Hong Kong Island was ceded to Great Britain in 1842 under theTreaty of Nanking and the territory became aCrown colony. At the time, the island's population was only 7,450.[12]
TheSecond World War was a dark period for Hong Kong. In the 1930s, the British anticipated a Japanese attack on Hong Kong. AsWong Nai Chung Gap was a strategically important location of defence, large-scale defensive works were constructed there, includinganti-aircraft batteries,howitzers andmachine gun nests.
On 18 December, the Japanese had conqueredNorth Point, reaching theWong Nai Chung Gap on the following day. British forces and theCanadian Winnipeg Grenadiers vigorously defended the crucial point of Wong Nai Chung Gap, and for a while successfully secured the passage between Central and the secluded southern parts of the island. Japanese casualties were about 600. However, Allied forces there were ultimately defeated by the Japanese on 23 December, andWong Nai Chung Reservoir was lost. AsWan Chai Gap had also fallen that same day, the British surrendered.
Hong Kong surrendered to the Japanese on 25 December 1941, thereafter often called "Black Christmas" by locals as the surrender was on Christmas. TheGovernor of Hong Kong,Mark Young, surrendered in-person at the temporary Japanese headquarters, on the third floor of thePeninsula Hotel, thus beginning theJapanese occupation of Hong Kong.Isogai Rensuke became the first Japanese governor of Hong Kong.Hyper-inflation andfood rationing followed; and the Japanese declaredHong Kong Dollars illegal. The Japanese enforced arepatriation policy throughout the period of occupation due to the scarcity of food and the possible counter-attack of the Allies. As a result, the unemployed were deported to theMainland, and the population of Hong Kong had dwindled from 1.6 million in 1941 to 600,000 in 1945.[13]
The population of Hong Kong Island grew exponentially after theSecond World War and theCommunist revolution in China. It became apparent that the lands in the old Central District were insufficient to accommodate the population. Many undeveloped or underdeveloped areas Hong Kong Island such asNorth Point,Shau Kei Wan,Aberdeen andWong Chuk Hang began its development and urbanisation. These areas initially started off as industrialised areas, with some areas such asQuarry Bay,Wan Chai andCauseway Bay later becoming new commercial centres when Hong Kong moved away from itsperiod of industrialisation, as these areas provided relatively cheaper rent than the traditional commercial district of Central.[14][15]
Hong Kong Island is the second-largest island of the territory, the largest beingLantau Island. Its area is 78.59 km2 (30.34 sq mi), including 6.98 km2 (2.69 sq mi) ofland reclaimed since 1887 and some smaller scale ones since 1851. It makes up approximately 7% of the total territory. It is separated from the mainland of the territory (Kowloon Peninsula andNew Territories) by theVictoria Harbour.
The onlymarine reserve in Hong Kong, theCape D'Aguilar Marine Reserve, is located on the southern tip of the island inCape D'Aguilar. It was opened in July 1996 and has a sea area of approximately 20 hectares. The reserve was set up for the purpose of the conservation of marine resources, scientific studies and education for the appreciation of precious marine resources. Visits to the marine reserve by the public is discouraged, with water sports and costal recreational activities prohibited in the area. It is managed by theAgriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.[17]
As of 2023, the population of Hong Kong Island is approximately 1,188,500, making up approximately 15.8% of the 7,536,100 inHong Kong. Its population density is higher than the whole ofHong Kong, c. 18,000 per km2. However, the population is heavily concentrated along the northern shore. The combined population of Central and Western, Wan Chai, and Eastern is 925,200, giving this urbanised part of the island a density of around 22,500 per km2, or 58,000 per mi2, in its approximately 41.3 km2 (15.9 sq mi).[19]
As of 2021, 85% of Hong Kong Island's residents are ofChinese descent. The largest ethnic minority groups areFilipinos (5.6%),Indonesians (2.6%), andWhite people (2.5%)[1]
As of 2021, 80.4% of Hong Kong Island's residents useCantonese as their usual language, while 10.6% useEnglish and 3.3% useMandarin. 2.8% of the residents useChinese dialects other thanCantonese andMandarin as their usual language and 2.9% use languages not listed above as their usual language.[1]
Seven of theMTR rapid transit system's ten lines service Hong Kong Island. TheIsland line andSouth Island line run exclusively on the four districts of Hong Kong Island, with the Island line serving the north shore at 17 stations, and the South Island line connecting four stations onAp Lei Chau and inWong Chuk Hang to the north shore atAdmiralty station.[20][21] Five MTR lines – theTsuen Wan line, theTseung Kwan O line, theTung Chung line, theAirport Express – connect the north shore with Kowloon and provide onward service to theNew Territories, and theEast Rail line which provides another cross-harbour connection upon its extension fromHung Hom station to Admiralty station.[22] In future, the plannedNorth Island line infrastructure project would extend both the Tung Chung line and the Tseung Kwan O line to connect them to each other, forming a route parallel to the middle section of the Island line.
Public piers are also alongside the Victoria Harbour, such as the famous now-demolishedQueen's Pier in Central and now-relocatedBlake Pier in Stanley, which mainly provides passenger pick-up and drop-off services for small barges, yachts and sightseeing boats. Public piers are located mainly along the Victoria Harbour mainly in Causeway Bay, Central, Shau Kei Wan, Wan Chai, and also in Aberdeen, Ap Lei Chau and Stanley, places in the Southern District.[28]
Besides these harbour crossing tunnels, Hong Kong Island also has two tunnels travelling across the island itself, theAberdeen Tunnel andCentral–Wan Chai Bypass, which were opened in March 1982 and January 2019 respectively.[29]
A picture of a simulated model of a proposed bridge over theVictoria Harbour from the 1950s
There are no bridges between the island and Kowloon, although two bridges – theAp Lei Chau Bridge, a road bridge, andAberdeen Channel Bridge, part of the South Island line – connect the Hong Kong island toAp Lei Chau.
The Ap Lei Chau Bridge is a combination of two bridges, built separately in 1980 and 1994. It was built to accommodate the growing population in Ap Lei Chau, which the residents could only access the island by boats prior to the construction of the bridge.[32]
TheCentral-Mid Levels escalator and walkway system is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. It was opened in 1993 to provide relief to traffic in theMid-Levels. It travels fromQueen's Road Central toConduit Road, with the total horizontal distance being over 800 m (2,600 ft) and total vertical distance being over 135 m (443 ft). It consists of covered walkways, 16 reversible one-way escalators and 3 reversible one-way travelators. Restaurants, bars and shops can be found alongside the system. In addition to providing transportation, it is a tourist attraction for many visiting Hong Kong. As of late 2016, around 78,000 pedestrians make their trips using the system.[33]
^ Likely named after the Scottish village ofBraemar by British officials
^Named afterSir Chow Shouson, Senior official in theQing dynasty and later prominent businessman and politician in Hong Kong
^Named afterJohn Robert Morrison, Chinese interpreter andBritish linguist and Colonial Secretary. The hill was levelled Praya at the time of the Praya East Reclamation Scheme in the 1920s which used its constituent rock/earth to reclaim land from the harbour, extending the shoreline away from the area.
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