Area description continued:
Major locations and attractions:
Happy Valley Racecourse, World Trade Center, Hong Kong Stadium, Victoria Park, Causeway Bay Area.
Hong Kong is divided into four main areas: Kowloon, Hong Kong Island, the New Territories and the Outlying Islands. Kowloon and the New Territories are on a peninsula of the Chinese mainland, north of Victoria Harbor; Hong Kong Island is on the south side of the harbor facing Kowloon; the Outlying Islands simply refers to any of the other 234 islands. The New Territories has a 12m (i20km) land border with Chinese mainland. The city itself is centered around Victoria Harbor. The main business district is Central, on Hong Kong Island. East of Central is the Admiralty commercial district, then Wan Chai, known for restaurants and clubs and then Causeway Bay, a major shopping area. Towering above it all is the "Peak," Hong Kong's premier scenic outlook and residential district. From Victoria Peak, overlooking the world's busiest deepwater port, you can see a city teaming with 24/7 life, day or night human activity never ceases. Despite its British colonial past, Hong Kong has always stuck to its roots – the city's soul is pure Chinese. The British took control of Hong Kong in 1841 following the Opium Wars. Hong Kong was formally ceded by China the following year; various adjacent lands were added later in the 19th century. Hong Kong became the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China on 1 July 1997. In this agreement, China has promised that, under its "one country, two systems" formula, China's socialist economic system will not be imposed on Hong Kong and that Hong Kong will enjoy a high degree of au