KOWLOON PENINSULA

also called Kowloon, also spelled Kaulun, or Kaulung part of Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China. It is situated on the Chinese mainland north of Hong Kong Island and is surrounded on three sides by Victoria Harbour. The chief sectors of the densely populated peninsula and contiguous urban sprawl farther east are Tsim Sha Tsui (at the tip of the peninsula, site of such hotels as the venerable Peninsula Hotel), Yau Ma Tei, Mong Kok (one of the most densely populated areas on earth), New Kowloon, San Po Kong, Kowloon City, the industrialized Kwun Tong, and the Walled City (a somewhat shady district of crime and squalour). Since the 1950s, Kowloon has become a centre of industry (particularly of textile manufacturing) and rivals Victoria as a tourist centre. The harbour accommodates oceangoing vessels. Pop. (1991) Kowloon and New Kowloon, 2,030,683; (1996) 1,987,996.